After reading the Why do not people upload maps on sc2mapster? thread, I felt (again) very concerned about my maps, and just found while browsing the web that my Ikari Warriors map was included in a package of maps on " a gaming website with file sharing".
Lots of maps are taken from sc2mapster, even assets. Anyway, as you can guess I don't really agree with these packages, where our maps were included without aksing us first. Here's why I'm against it:
Hmm let's say sharing is OK... but could they at least leave our NAMES?!? I think it's really the minimum they could do, if they take our maps at least say who it was done by (and include a decent map description, not what we say about it in the topics!).
We don't have any idea of which kind of people download these packages, so no idea of what they will do with our maps (clone them, steal ideas, add content that would make the map banned by Blizzard...).
Files in the package are most likely outdated, if not completely pointless if they were unfinished at that time. People who download these packages will probably not update the files anytime, so they'll stick to the idea the maps are bad while they may just be unfinished (ie. alpha or beta)...
We don't get any feedback from these players (even on the Blizzard official forums), and no real estimation of our daily/total download rates. In my case I'd like to be able to show these numbers to companies who might want to hire me, because making maps is not only my passion but also my job...
They never asked us if they could include these maps in a package, which is against the licence (All Rights Reserved) I personally put on each of my projects. I never gave my consent to any website, aside from sc2mapster and Curse, and I want to keep it that way.
I may be wrong here, but something tells me that sharing maps from sc2mapster and/or Curse on another not affiliated website is against the copyright policy of the websites themselves. If we agreed to share our maps on sc2mapster, it theorically means that we do not accept other websites to share our files without our consent. Stealing these maps is not only against our own copyrights, it's going against the sc2mapster and Curse copyright policies we accepted when sharing our maps.
I was about to send them an e-mail to complain about this, but I thought it would be better to show this to you first, so that we can decide what to do together. The more people are OK with me complaining, the better. I only checked the package where my Ikari Warriors map was in, but I'm pretty sure many of you will find one or more of their maps shared in another package. If you find your map in any package and agree with me that it shouldn't be shared, I'll make a list and ask them to stop sharing these files.
Maybe post a comment in there and redirect people where you want them to download your maps?
That's what I wanted to do but you can't leave comments...
EDIT: I found out that 2 of my maps were included in these packages, which seriously starts to piss me off... Even if I don't care that much about my melee maps, I don't want to see them shared that way for the reasons stated above.
The solution is simple, or at least in my case: All my maps have the All Rights Reserved policy. Which means people need my consent BEFORE doing anything with these maps. It is my right to ask them to stop sharing the files in which my maps are included, that's what the policies are for! It's a matter of intellectual property, if I ask them to stop sharing they have to do it. Going against my rights is not in their interest, they could get sued for that.
This happens. (did you check that they are not affiliated with curse?)
"Arousal" of the sc2 mapmaking community is the only way to go. For some (if not for all)l the reasons you stated, you are entitled to "throw a fit".
There is no real (sensible) drawback to voicing your concerns on forums (every forum you can find/think off).
The fact is you will do quite a bit of harm to these people (which i know nothing about) by accusing them of said "theft".
If they are "legit", all your concerns will be addressed.
If they are not (ie: they don't respond/ignore your "request") f..K them.
then.. GO FOR IT... involve other mapmakers concerned, throw a tantrum... and fuck up their "image" with a swift back hand...
Players might be lazy and "not feel concerned" (as they are usually), but i don't think that description fits for mapmakers... do you?
Reputation is everything on the www, so people advertising your map is cool... :)
Not ask you (who's going to say no?) and not giving credit where/when it is due...
equals :( [insert immediate personal resentment]
There has to be a "contact us" function there... state your issue... and see what happens before you do though :)
Again, if they do not give you satisfaction with your demands, this is what i advise:
The fact is you will do quite a bit of harm to these people (which i know nothing about) by accusing them of said "theft".
I dare say that this one falls under "Any publicity is good publicity."
Most of those files have 20-40 downloads. I bet even posting of that site here will increase their figures. Furthermore I doubt many people on this forum knew of that site before this thread was created, you're basically advertising for them and "There is no real (sensible) drawback to voicing your concerns on forums (every forum you can find/think off)" will only cause more traffic to the site, and more downloads.
The fact is you will do quite a bit of harm to these people (which i know nothing about) by accusing them of said "theft".
There IS theft at the very moment they use maps without the authors consent, when these maps are under the All Rights Reserved policy. There is nothing to discuss about this. You're right though, I'll have to check their (lack of) affiliation with Curse first to be sure...
I agree with advertisement for our maps, I just don't want it to be done without consent, and it's even more true in that case since they didn't leave our names (or a link to sc2mapster to know who we are). Maps are in a package and nobody knows who made them, where they're from, or if there are other maps of interest by these authors available somewhere... I doubt people will browse the web after playing one of the maps to check who's the author and what he has done. This is just wrong in so many ways... That's bad advertising, at best.
I have to agree though that real mapmakers might care about who did the maps... But I don't want to see players/mapmakers publishing maps on other servers without telling us (with the risk of the map being stolen in the process), or even getting maps banned on BNet by adding content that should never have been there. I also agree that blaming the website is advertising the website in a way, so I'll just edit and remove the links for now.
I was planning on uploading one more version of my map onto sc2mapster (Simply to have one version that is similar to the current one on bnet instead of the ancient outdated ones i have uploaded), but i don't think i'm gonna do that now...
Also, not exactly sure about Blizz's legal stuff in their terms of service and all those things no one reads but agrees to, but our maps might actually be 100% the property of blizzard so even an affiliation with Curse doesn't give them the right to put these in packages :p
When you write them a letter/complaint, ask them to at the very least ask authors whether they can put those maps in packages, leave author names and links, etc. If the site makes money from ads, we could even ask them to pay something small like 1 cent for each DL of our map :p Even though that'll probably end up with our map not being included in packages, lol.
the site is a an add tabloid apparently, they are getting add revenue on a regular product (?!) map pack n°?
(what i said earlier:
1/contact them and ask
2/rally people concerned,throw a tantrum if op feels it's in his interest, most assuredly if they brush him off)
Don't care much about the theft, i do have a lot of feathers stacked up though :)
(any publicity is good Eiviyn ? i agreed on your analysis of the situation (sort of) but i don't agree with this generalization ;)
i agree he does not stand to lose anything, but THEY do (well, he might pass for a wiener)
What would happen? i don't know... i could recap what happened on tl...
the guys responsible fixed it right away, claiming they only wanted to make the maps accessible...
..all in all "decent mapmaking hosting" came out of it... but they were "legit"... just foolishly impetuous... this might not be the case ?
the content of these map packs might better explain/allow discussion here:
1/what does it consist of?
2/who cares enough?
3/most important: what else is this "stuff" associated with on this site (that i care not enough about to surf)...?
4/credit is always due...
Do consider what Eiviyn said, advertising is a tricky gear/spiral... once you are caught up in it, it'll take a lot of your time/patience
(i did not care to download the pack (my editor is soooo slow, won't open some of my maps under 3 minutes...(lol)
..and the "pack" is gift wrapped in pc virtual casing: baaa :( )
I don't have anything against people sharing my content. However, I like my name to be there. Uploaders are lazy and won't include it, so there's a fast solution for that: include it inside.
By this I mean putting advertisements and stuff inside your map (not the one at Battle.net, the one off the system) and be sure to put a "may be outdated, check here for updates" tag in the middle of the screen. Being offsystem and whatnot gives you different possibilities that you don't have in-game. If I get to upload any map, be sure my name and this site's will be all over it, so everyone knows where it comes from.
That's all you can do, really. I don't think there's any bad on people sharing your map, while they respect whatever source information you put inside. Don't expect anyone to write some info on you, as I already said, most people are lazy and don't care, they just click "upload" and forget about it.
Map theft has always existed, really, but with Bnet 2.0 and updates by the author, the thieves would need to be good to compete, and if they're good, they'll make their own stuff anyway. What worries me is people visiting those other sites instead of the original one, but that could be fixed with advertisements inside the files.
In the end, part of this situation is Blizzard's fault, for not integrating downloaded maps and content downloaded from Bnet 2.0 properly.
OK, here's my thought so far...
By browsing the website a bit, I can't be sure the website/webmaster itself have a complete control of what is uploaded. The packages might have been uploaded by a random member of the website, so I'll have to ask them first. Anyway the next step is probably the most important, to sum up I'll ask them to:
A - add the names of the authors, either in a text file somewhere or directly in the map files names.
B - provide a link to the sc2mapster front page, or the topics (in project workplace or any relevant page/link) associated with each map, or even both
C - remove the packages if they don't agree with either A or B (for not respecting the custom licences of our maps, and probably going against the Curse policy)
If anyone does not agree with this for some reason, feel free to discuss it here. It's quite fair and reasonable in my opinion, and I'm not in a hurry.
@TheAlmaity: Concerning Blizzard, I'll try to explain it quickly (copyrights are never really easy to explain). Blizzard is the distributor of both the game and editor. Which basically means they keep under control/surveillance whatever is done thanks to their tools. If they do not agree with something, at any step of publication, wherever it is done and whoever does it, they have the law on their side because we used their own tools AND agreed with their publishing policy first. So basically, we have no right to complain about/to Blizzard, we accepted this when installing the game. HOWEVER, if someone steals your map and makes it his own, or makes money out of it, you CAN complain thanks to the rights of intellectual property.
Which basically means, in our case, that a website sharing our maps without our consent is "stealing a piece of art" of which WE are the author. You cannot ask Blizzard to interfere in this, and you actually don't need to. The contract you agreed with when installing SC2 is not linked to the rights of intellectual property. The rights of intellectual property are "universal", in the sense that they can be applied to anyone who created something, wherever he lives and whoever he is, as long as he declared a copyright policy prior to publishing his work (which we all did here on sc2mapster). You can't turn the rights of intellectual property against Blizzard though, because you agreed with their publishing policy prior to creating content with their tools... But you can still complain against anyone stealing your work, as long as you can prove you are the original author and did not give your consent. It's basically only a matter of dates, who comes first have more rights than the others. Blizzard is the king of the hill, you are a tiny little hobbit... and this website sharing our maps is an ugly troll.
The solution is simple, or at least in my case: All my maps have the All Rights Reserved policy. Which means people need my consent BEFORE doing anything with these maps. It is my right to ask them to stop sharing the files in which my maps are included, that's what the policies are for! It's a matter of intellectual property, if I ask them to stop sharing they have to do it. Going against my rights is not in their interest, they could get sued for that.
Unfortunately you surrender all rights to your work by agreeing to the EULA in the Editor and creating the map in it. Therefore you have no right to claim that "all rights are reserved." Your map and every other map is made by you and you surrender all copyright rights to Activision Blizzard.
You also seem to have a fundamental misunderstanding of how copyright law works. By default, as soon as I make something, it's copyright to me, and all rights are reserved to me. I don't need to say it, I don't need to include an EULA or anything. It's mine. Only by stating something to the effect of cancelling that right out will let anyone legally copy my work for anything but fair use exceptions.
Unfortunately you surrender all rights to your work by agreeing to the EULA in the Editor and creating the map in it. Therefore you have no right to claim that "all rights are reserved." Your map and every other map is made by you and you surrender all copyright rights to Activision Blizzard.
That's exactly what I said to TheAlmaity just above your post... The All Rights Reserved policy is a matter of intellectual property, the EULA from Blizzard gives the rights to Blizzard to do whatever they want to your maps because you used their tools (only giving them the right to bypass your rights of intellectual property as they please, and only in case they are directly concerned). Please read, we're saying exactly the same!
Quote:
You also seem to have a fundamental misunderstanding of how copyright law works. By default, as soon as I make something, it's copyright to me, and all rights are reserved to me. I don't need to say it, I don't need to include an EULA or anything. It's mine. Only by stating something to the effect of cancelling that right out will let anyone legally copy my work for anything but fair use exceptions.
Actually, you're wrong. By default, any creative material is under the Creative Commons licence. This licence states that, unless said otherwise, your creation can be used by anybody in any way he wants. The All Rights Reserved licence is pretty much the contrary of the CC licence, you do not authorize any kind of use of your creation unless you say otherwise. By submitting a map on sc2mapster, we gave the website the right to do whatever they please with our files. But we can still forbid a third-party website from sharing our files, thanks to the various licences available when publishing our maps here (amongst which you can find both the CC and All Rights Reserved licences). Same principle applies to Blizzard, with the only difference that Blizzard can actually ask sc2mapster to stop sharing our maps if they get banned eventually from BNet, because Blizzard is the original author of the tools which allowed us to create content shared here.
EDIT: Guess what... I checked the CC licence details. We could actually complain if the website shares our maps to make profit out of it, even if we only published them with a CC licence, and especially since they did not mention our names. So basically I was completely right about complaining, they do not have the rights to share our maps if they are not affiliated with Curse to begin with. And I'm pretty sure Blizzard won't agree with that either anyway (EULA or not), since Blizzard has not allowed marketplace.
Hah, some people in China ripped my map straight from the US servers just so they could play it via the editor.
Funny thing is, if they just found someone who speaks English and contacted me, I'd happily host it there too and then they wouldn't have to play an ancient version.
By default, copyright works do not default to any license at all. There is no "All rights reserved" license. All rights reserved is a phrase only that explicitly forbids modification and re-release rather than implicitly, either way it's illegal with the exception of the usage of fair use doctrines.
Anything you make is not under a license unless you explicitly, as the copyright holder, authorize the use of a particular license.
As you are not the copyright holder to anything you make in the Starcraft 2 Editor, you are unable to tell people that all rights are reserved, or that you will employ the creative commons license, or anything else.
You are a maintainer and may make changes to the copyrighted work, but ultimately, Blizzard Entertainment owns the copyright rights. Hence why Blizzard can release "Blizzard DotA" today and not rename it from "DotA." The map was copyrighted to them all along.
First I should probably note that this got me very interested although I am not a lawyer I just did about 2 hours of research into the subject.
Normaly you would be correct and under the old editor licence (In which you gave Blizzard an irrevokable license to use your map) you would be correct. However the new licence quite clearly states that you give Blizzard exclusive rights to the map.
"You understand that the content required to create or modify STARCRAFT® II Modified Maps (as defined below) is included in the STARCRAFT® II game client, and that all such content is owned by Blizzard and governed by this Agreement. YOU ACKNOWLEDGE AND AGREE THAT ALL MAPS, LEVELS AND OTHER CONTENT CREATED OR MODIFIED USING THE MAP EDITOR (COLLECTIVELY, “MODIFIED MAPS”) ARE AND SHALL REMAIN THE SOLE AND EXCLUSIVE PROPERTY OF BLIZZARD. WITHOUT LIMITING THE FOREGOING, YOU HEREBY ASSIGN TO BLIZZARD ALL OF YOUR RIGHTS, TITLE AND INTEREST IN AND TO ALL MODIFIED MAPS, AND AGREE THAT YOU WILL EXECUTE FUTURE ASSIGNMENTS PROMPTLY UPON RECEIVING SUCH A REQUEST FROM BLIZZARD. "
This means that if you accept the validity of Blizzards licence they have full exclusive rights to your map meaning you have no rights whatsoever including no right to take action against a third party.
However there is significant legal president to challenge the validity of the EULA. In some states "shrink rapped" Contracts like EULA that are agreed to after purchasing the contract have been deemed to be unenforceable.
It is also possible that copyright laws may take precedence over the contract you sign with Blizzard.
But in practice if you don't want to try to have a legal battle with blizzard over the enforceability of there EULA (which would probably just end with them revoking your game licence no matter what the court ruled), you cannot do anything to a third party redistributing your map (assuming you made it with the editor).
Giving exclusive rights to Blizzard does not involve losing your rights of intellectual property entirely. That's precisely what I'm trying to tell you...
It's not because the car you crashed with was a Volkswagen that you cannot sue the guy who crashed against your car. Volkswagen won't have a word to say in this... They have no influence in your decision to complain, it's completely legit. So, again, EULA and rights of intellectual property are not linked.
These rights also apply to 2D or 3D artists... Their work is the property of Adobe (Photoshop) or Autodesk (3DS Max) because they are end-users, but it doesn't mean they can't protect their work from people stealing/modifying their artworks without their consent. Again (twice), the EULA is a matter of establishing who is the owner of the tools, it means the company creating the tools can do as they please with the content created. BUT it does not mean they do not need to ask to the authors their consent if they want to do something with the creations of their end-users, because creations can still be under licences protecting their intellectual property. Whatever is the licence used by the artist, his work deserves at the very least to have his name appearing in any circumstances. If he did not choose any kind of licence for his work, and in that case only, YES, bad for him, credit isn't due and it's indeed the property of the tools owner without any way for him to complain...
In our case, the website I'm complaining about did NOT put our names anywhere, not even a link to sc2mapster... Even though, when submitting our maps, we had the right to choose a licence to protect our work from this kind of abuse (which I personally did, and I'm far from being alone). Our maps are protected as a creation (or a part of it anyway), being an end-user only means that Blizzard can decide to do whatever they want with these, not that they will. And still, even if Blizzard wants to do something with our maps, they have to ask us first and they have to put our name anyway. Don't underestimate the CC and ARR licences, people... You are creators, and as such you still have rights EVEN IF you're an end-user!
The only reason why Blizzard can release DotA as they please is because DotA is not a trademark. That's what Valve did, even if not being related in any way to Blizzard or the original authors. If the original authors of DotA wanted to protect their map, even from companies like Blizzard or Valve, they still could have registered DotA as a trademark (which is really expensive by the way, only a few people can afford it). So, again, even an end-user have rights, as long as they can prove they are the original authors. It is strongly advised to always keep a copy of the original work, to be able to prove you are the right person behind the idea/project. NEVER forget about this.
ZealNaga, stop being such a jerk. Just give it up and let people do whatever they like with the map. That's how you build a modding community, and modding requires free flow of resources.
If it was up to you WarCraft III wouldn't be such a huge success.
PS: If you're so concerned about your 'rights' you should just include your name everywhere inside of the map.
After reading the Why do not people upload maps on sc2mapster? thread, I felt (again) very concerned about my maps, and just found while browsing the web that my Ikari Warriors map was included in a package of maps on " a gaming website with file sharing".
Lots of maps are taken from sc2mapster, even assets. Anyway, as you can guess I don't really agree with these packages, where our maps were included without aksing us first. Here's why I'm against it:
I was about to send them an e-mail to complain about this, but I thought it would be better to show this to you first, so that we can decide what to do together. The more people are OK with me complaining, the better. I only checked the package where my Ikari Warriors map was in, but I'm pretty sure many of you will find one or more of their maps shared in another package. If you find your map in any package and agree with me that it shouldn't be shared, I'll make a list and ask them to stop sharing these files.
Maybe post a comment in there and redirect people where you want them to download your maps?
Whatever you do, wholeheartedly, moment by heartfelt moment, becomes a tool for the expression of your very soul.
That's what I wanted to do but you can't leave comments...
EDIT: I found out that 2 of my maps were included in these packages, which seriously starts to piss me off... Even if I don't care that much about my melee maps, I don't want to see them shared that way for the reasons stated above.
If maps we make are Blizzard's property maybe Blizzard can... bah!
I can't think of a solution.
Whatever you do, wholeheartedly, moment by heartfelt moment, becomes a tool for the expression of your very soul.
The solution is simple, or at least in my case: All my maps have the All Rights Reserved policy. Which means people need my consent BEFORE doing anything with these maps. It is my right to ask them to stop sharing the files in which my maps are included, that's what the policies are for! It's a matter of intellectual property, if I ask them to stop sharing they have to do it. Going against my rights is not in their interest, they could get sued for that.
This happens. (did you check that they are not affiliated with curse?)
"Arousal" of the sc2 mapmaking community is the only way to go. For some (if not for all)l the reasons you stated, you are entitled to "throw a fit".
There is no real (sensible) drawback to voicing your concerns on forums (every forum you can find/think off).
The fact is you will do quite a bit of harm to these people (which i know nothing about) by accusing them of said "theft".
If they are "legit", all your concerns will be addressed.
If they are not (ie: they don't respond/ignore your "request") f..K them.
then.. GO FOR IT... involve other mapmakers concerned, throw a tantrum... and fuck up their "image" with a swift back hand...
Players might be lazy and "not feel concerned" (as they are usually), but i don't think that description fits for mapmakers... do you?
Reputation is everything on the www, so people advertising your map is cool... :)
Not ask you (who's going to say no?) and not giving credit where/when it is due...
equals :( [insert immediate personal resentment]
There has to be a "contact us" function there... state your issue... and see what happens before you do though :)
Again, if they do not give you satisfaction with your demands, this is what i advise:
I dare say that this one falls under "Any publicity is good publicity."
Most of those files have 20-40 downloads. I bet even posting of that site here will increase their figures. Furthermore I doubt many people on this forum knew of that site before this thread was created, you're basically advertising for them and "There is no real (sensible) drawback to voicing your concerns on forums (every forum you can find/think off)" will only cause more traffic to the site, and more downloads.
There IS theft at the very moment they use maps without the authors consent, when these maps are under the All Rights Reserved policy. There is nothing to discuss about this. You're right though, I'll have to check their (lack of) affiliation with Curse first to be sure...
I agree with advertisement for our maps, I just don't want it to be done without consent, and it's even more true in that case since they didn't leave our names (or a link to sc2mapster to know who we are). Maps are in a package and nobody knows who made them, where they're from, or if there are other maps of interest by these authors available somewhere... I doubt people will browse the web after playing one of the maps to check who's the author and what he has done. This is just wrong in so many ways... That's bad advertising, at best.
I have to agree though that real mapmakers might care about who did the maps... But I don't want to see players/mapmakers publishing maps on other servers without telling us (with the risk of the map being stolen in the process), or even getting maps banned on BNet by adding content that should never have been there. I also agree that blaming the website is advertising the website in a way, so I'll just edit and remove the links for now.
This is why I name my maps after myself...
I was planning on uploading one more version of my map onto sc2mapster (Simply to have one version that is similar to the current one on bnet instead of the ancient outdated ones i have uploaded), but i don't think i'm gonna do that now...
Also, not exactly sure about Blizz's legal stuff in their terms of service and all those things no one reads but agrees to, but our maps might actually be 100% the property of blizzard so even an affiliation with Curse doesn't give them the right to put these in packages :p
When you write them a letter/complaint, ask them to at the very least ask authors whether they can put those maps in packages, leave author names and links, etc. If the site makes money from ads, we could even ask them to pay something small like 1 cent for each DL of our map :p Even though that'll probably end up with our map not being included in packages, lol.
the site is a an add tabloid apparently, they are getting add revenue on a regular product (?!) map pack n°?
(what i said earlier:
1/contact them and ask
2/rally people concerned,throw a tantrum if op feels it's in his interest, most assuredly if they brush him off)
Don't care much about the theft, i do have a lot of feathers stacked up though :)
(any publicity is good Eiviyn ? i agreed on your analysis of the situation (sort of) but i don't agree with this generalization ;)
i agree he does not stand to lose anything, but THEY do (well, he might pass for a wiener)
What would happen? i don't know... i could recap what happened on tl...
the guys responsible fixed it right away, claiming they only wanted to make the maps accessible...
..all in all "decent mapmaking hosting" came out of it... but they were "legit"... just foolishly impetuous... this might not be the case ?
the content of these map packs might better explain/allow discussion here:
1/what does it consist of?
2/who cares enough?
3/most important: what else is this "stuff" associated with on this site (that i care not enough about to surf)...?
4/credit is always due...
Do consider what Eiviyn said, advertising is a tricky gear/spiral... once you are caught up in it, it'll take a lot of your time/patience
(i did not care to download the pack (my editor is soooo slow, won't open some of my maps under 3 minutes...(lol)
..and the "pack" is gift wrapped in pc virtual casing: baaa :( )
I don't have anything against people sharing my content. However, I like my name to be there. Uploaders are lazy and won't include it, so there's a fast solution for that: include it inside.
By this I mean putting advertisements and stuff inside your map (not the one at Battle.net, the one off the system) and be sure to put a "may be outdated, check here for updates" tag in the middle of the screen. Being offsystem and whatnot gives you different possibilities that you don't have in-game. If I get to upload any map, be sure my name and this site's will be all over it, so everyone knows where it comes from.
That's all you can do, really. I don't think there's any bad on people sharing your map, while they respect whatever source information you put inside. Don't expect anyone to write some info on you, as I already said, most people are lazy and don't care, they just click "upload" and forget about it.
Map theft has always existed, really, but with Bnet 2.0 and updates by the author, the thieves would need to be good to compete, and if they're good, they'll make their own stuff anyway. What worries me is people visiting those other sites instead of the original one, but that could be fixed with advertisements inside the files.
In the end, part of this situation is Blizzard's fault, for not integrating downloaded maps and content downloaded from Bnet 2.0 properly.
OK, here's my thought so far...
By browsing the website a bit, I can't be sure the website/webmaster itself have a complete control of what is uploaded. The packages might have been uploaded by a random member of the website, so I'll have to ask them first. Anyway the next step is probably the most important, to sum up I'll ask them to:
If anyone does not agree with this for some reason, feel free to discuss it here. It's quite fair and reasonable in my opinion, and I'm not in a hurry.
@TheAlmaity: Concerning Blizzard, I'll try to explain it quickly (copyrights are never really easy to explain). Blizzard is the distributor of both the game and editor. Which basically means they keep under control/surveillance whatever is done thanks to their tools. If they do not agree with something, at any step of publication, wherever it is done and whoever does it, they have the law on their side because we used their own tools AND agreed with their publishing policy first. So basically, we have no right to complain about/to Blizzard, we accepted this when installing the game. HOWEVER, if someone steals your map and makes it his own, or makes money out of it, you CAN complain thanks to the rights of intellectual property.
Which basically means, in our case, that a website sharing our maps without our consent is "stealing a piece of art" of which WE are the author. You cannot ask Blizzard to interfere in this, and you actually don't need to. The contract you agreed with when installing SC2 is not linked to the rights of intellectual property. The rights of intellectual property are "universal", in the sense that they can be applied to anyone who created something, wherever he lives and whoever he is, as long as he declared a copyright policy prior to publishing his work (which we all did here on sc2mapster). You can't turn the rights of intellectual property against Blizzard though, because you agreed with their publishing policy prior to creating content with their tools... But you can still complain against anyone stealing your work, as long as you can prove you are the original author and did not give your consent. It's basically only a matter of dates, who comes first have more rights than the others. Blizzard is the king of the hill, you are a tiny little hobbit... and this website sharing our maps is an ugly troll.
Unfortunately you surrender all rights to your work by agreeing to the EULA in the Editor and creating the map in it. Therefore you have no right to claim that "all rights are reserved." Your map and every other map is made by you and you surrender all copyright rights to Activision Blizzard.
You also seem to have a fundamental misunderstanding of how copyright law works. By default, as soon as I make something, it's copyright to me, and all rights are reserved to me. I don't need to say it, I don't need to include an EULA or anything. It's mine. Only by stating something to the effect of cancelling that right out will let anyone legally copy my work for anything but fair use exceptions.
That's exactly what I said to TheAlmaity just above your post... The All Rights Reserved policy is a matter of intellectual property, the EULA from Blizzard gives the rights to Blizzard to do whatever they want to your maps because you used their tools (only giving them the right to bypass your rights of intellectual property as they please, and only in case they are directly concerned). Please read, we're saying exactly the same!
Actually, you're wrong. By default, any creative material is under the Creative Commons licence. This licence states that, unless said otherwise, your creation can be used by anybody in any way he wants. The All Rights Reserved licence is pretty much the contrary of the CC licence, you do not authorize any kind of use of your creation unless you say otherwise. By submitting a map on sc2mapster, we gave the website the right to do whatever they please with our files. But we can still forbid a third-party website from sharing our files, thanks to the various licences available when publishing our maps here (amongst which you can find both the CC and All Rights Reserved licences). Same principle applies to Blizzard, with the only difference that Blizzard can actually ask sc2mapster to stop sharing our maps if they get banned eventually from BNet, because Blizzard is the original author of the tools which allowed us to create content shared here.
EDIT: Guess what... I checked the CC licence details. We could actually complain if the website shares our maps to make profit out of it, even if we only published them with a CC licence, and especially since they did not mention our names. So basically I was completely right about complaining, they do not have the rights to share our maps if they are not affiliated with Curse to begin with. And I'm pretty sure Blizzard won't agree with that either anyway (EULA or not), since Blizzard has not allowed marketplace.
Hah, some people in China ripped my map straight from the US servers just so they could play it via the editor.
Funny thing is, if they just found someone who speaks English and contacted me, I'd happily host it there too and then they wouldn't have to play an ancient version.
@Zantai: Go
By default, copyright works do not default to any license at all. There is no "All rights reserved" license. All rights reserved is a phrase only that explicitly forbids modification and re-release rather than implicitly, either way it's illegal with the exception of the usage of fair use doctrines.
Anything you make is not under a license unless you explicitly, as the copyright holder, authorize the use of a particular license.
As you are not the copyright holder to anything you make in the Starcraft 2 Editor, you are unable to tell people that all rights are reserved, or that you will employ the creative commons license, or anything else.
You are a maintainer and may make changes to the copyrighted work, but ultimately, Blizzard Entertainment owns the copyright rights. Hence why Blizzard can release "Blizzard DotA" today and not rename it from "DotA." The map was copyrighted to them all along.
@ZealNaga: Go
First I should probably note that this got me very interested although I am not a lawyer I just did about 2 hours of research into the subject.
Normaly you would be correct and under the old editor licence (In which you gave Blizzard an irrevokable license to use your map) you would be correct. However the new licence quite clearly states that you give Blizzard exclusive rights to the map.
"You understand that the content required to create or modify STARCRAFT® II Modified Maps (as defined below) is included in the STARCRAFT® II game client, and that all such content is owned by Blizzard and governed by this Agreement. YOU ACKNOWLEDGE AND AGREE THAT ALL MAPS, LEVELS AND OTHER CONTENT CREATED OR MODIFIED USING THE MAP EDITOR (COLLECTIVELY, “MODIFIED MAPS”) ARE AND SHALL REMAIN THE SOLE AND EXCLUSIVE PROPERTY OF BLIZZARD. WITHOUT LIMITING THE FOREGOING, YOU HEREBY ASSIGN TO BLIZZARD ALL OF YOUR RIGHTS, TITLE AND INTEREST IN AND TO ALL MODIFIED MAPS, AND AGREE THAT YOU WILL EXECUTE FUTURE ASSIGNMENTS PROMPTLY UPON RECEIVING SUCH A REQUEST FROM BLIZZARD. "
This means that if you accept the validity of Blizzards licence they have full exclusive rights to your map meaning you have no rights whatsoever including no right to take action against a third party.
However there is significant legal president to challenge the validity of the EULA. In some states "shrink rapped" Contracts like EULA that are agreed to after purchasing the contract have been deemed to be unenforceable.
It is also possible that copyright laws may take precedence over the contract you sign with Blizzard.
But in practice if you don't want to try to have a legal battle with blizzard over the enforceability of there EULA (which would probably just end with them revoking your game licence no matter what the court ruled), you cannot do anything to a third party redistributing your map (assuming you made it with the editor).
Giving exclusive rights to Blizzard does not involve losing your rights of intellectual property entirely. That's precisely what I'm trying to tell you... It's not because the car you crashed with was a Volkswagen that you cannot sue the guy who crashed against your car. Volkswagen won't have a word to say in this... They have no influence in your decision to complain, it's completely legit. So, again, EULA and rights of intellectual property are not linked.
These rights also apply to 2D or 3D artists... Their work is the property of Adobe (Photoshop) or Autodesk (3DS Max) because they are end-users, but it doesn't mean they can't protect their work from people stealing/modifying their artworks without their consent. Again (twice), the EULA is a matter of establishing who is the owner of the tools, it means the company creating the tools can do as they please with the content created. BUT it does not mean they do not need to ask to the authors their consent if they want to do something with the creations of their end-users, because creations can still be under licences protecting their intellectual property. Whatever is the licence used by the artist, his work deserves at the very least to have his name appearing in any circumstances. If he did not choose any kind of licence for his work, and in that case only, YES, bad for him, credit isn't due and it's indeed the property of the tools owner without any way for him to complain...
In our case, the website I'm complaining about did NOT put our names anywhere, not even a link to sc2mapster... Even though, when submitting our maps, we had the right to choose a licence to protect our work from this kind of abuse (which I personally did, and I'm far from being alone). Our maps are protected as a creation (or a part of it anyway), being an end-user only means that Blizzard can decide to do whatever they want with these, not that they will. And still, even if Blizzard wants to do something with our maps, they have to ask us first and they have to put our name anyway. Don't underestimate the CC and ARR licences, people... You are creators, and as such you still have rights EVEN IF you're an end-user!
The only reason why Blizzard can release DotA as they please is because DotA is not a trademark. That's what Valve did, even if not being related in any way to Blizzard or the original authors. If the original authors of DotA wanted to protect their map, even from companies like Blizzard or Valve, they still could have registered DotA as a trademark (which is really expensive by the way, only a few people can afford it). So, again, even an end-user have rights, as long as they can prove they are the original authors. It is strongly advised to always keep a copy of the original work, to be able to prove you are the right person behind the idea/project. NEVER forget about this.
@ZealNaga: Go
ZealNaga, stop being such a jerk. Just give it up and let people do whatever they like with the map. That's how you build a modding community, and modding requires free flow of resources.
If it was up to you WarCraft III wouldn't be such a huge success.
PS: If you're so concerned about your 'rights' you should just include your name everywhere inside of the map.