It's not as much a copyright violation as it is a EULA violation, (which I guess is a type of Copyright violation, with a very small difference). In the Renderosity EULA it says that the textures cannot be used in a form that the texture could be extracted out since Sims bodyshop extracts these files into a flat bitmap, and as Anton shows in the linked discussion the textures would be close enough to be able to be used as a lowres version of the original.

If the Sims kept the texture in a non-extractable form (ie as a part of a propritary file format that was only usable by the Sims) then it would fall into a grey area that's best left to judges and lawyers to agrue.

Compairsons also show that most likely the author is using the promo pics rather then the texture it's self which makes the arguement that it's a violation of the EULA null and void, but a copyright on the promo pic is violated.

Either way it falls into the same catagory as yours, the author is using it in a manner outside of the EULA/Fair Use depending if it's the texture or the promo pic with out the permission of the original author.

I wonder if a simple e-mail to Shahara asking permission first could of avoided a messy situation. I'd be flattered if someone wanted to use a peice of mine as a sim character, but I'd expect to be asked for permission first.

Message edited on: 03/28/2006 11:15