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The Silver Lining - Cease and Desist

Started by Yonkey, February 27, 2010, 08:59:56 PM

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PirateKingChris

This is just...ridiculous. I don't think I can say anything else that hasn't already been said about the game itself. I just feel horrible for the team who worked many many hours and I wish them all good luck.

As far as the forums go, how can they legally force you to take them down? Most of the activity was just fun talk about past Sierra games and forum games and random chatter. How can they say it's illegal for you to use "TSL" anyway, even if it just exists as a forum?
"Take it from someone who knows sick:  licking corpses is going waaay beyond demented."

Defender Of All Things Against Connor  :stabs:

Long Hair 4 Life XB

TEAM COCO

atec123

Quote from: PirateKingChris on February 28, 2010, 05:37:01 PM
This is just...ridiculous. I don't think I can say anything else that hasn't already been said about the game itself. I just feel horrible for the team who worked many many hours and I wish them all good luck.

As far as the forums go, how can they legally force you to take them down? Most of the activity was just fun talk about past Sierra games and forum games and random chatter. How can they say it's illegal for you to use "TSL" anyway, even if it just exists as a forum?
That is breaking apart an innocent community of people.  That is really wrong.  Is that even legal?

We really need to start figuring out what we can do here...  I wish I could look to the past for help, but... the FORUMS ARE DOWN!

I am still a little overwhelmed and not thinking right...
Official maintainer of TSL in linux via Wine. TSL AppDB page
Maintainer of TSL in OSX via Wine
TSL IRC Chatroom Maintainer
We are the Defenders of Jazz Ballet
People say, when they see us:
Hey, folks! It's the Saviours of Jazz Ballet
Fearless heroes of kick and spin

franzrogar

Hum...

Then this means that all KQ remakes over the net will be pull off too?

If not, why? They also had previous agreements and if Activision says no free-fan...
Franz Rogar

atec123

Quote from: franzrogar on February 28, 2010, 05:46:36 PM
Hum...

Then this means that all KQ remakes over the net will be pull off too?

If not, why? They also had previous agreements and if Activision says no free-fan...
http://www.postudios.com/blog/forum/index.php?topic=8394.msg271648#msg271648
read that post from erpy.  He is the main guy at AGDinteractive if im not mistaken.
Official maintainer of TSL in linux via Wine. TSL AppDB page
Maintainer of TSL in OSX via Wine
TSL IRC Chatroom Maintainer
We are the Defenders of Jazz Ballet
People say, when they see us:
Hey, folks! It's the Saviours of Jazz Ballet
Fearless heroes of kick and spin

KatieHal

Maybe we should clarify--Activision asked us to remove all TSL-related material from the website. In order to comply with that in a timely fashion, it was easier to take down all of the forums right away than to sift through everything for what was and wasn't TSL-related.

I don't handle the running of the forums, so I don't know if there will be some of the forums re-appearing in time or not based on that criteria, but that's the why of it right now.

Katie Hallahan
~Designer, PR Director~

"Change is the constant, the signal for rebirth, the egg of the phoenix." Christina Baldwin

I have a blog!

Tage7

At risk of being completely wrong, the way I understand it is that Neil and Cat are sifting through the forums for topics they can recover which do not contain any copyright-infringing material. The forum removal was necessary for such an undertaking as it would surely take multiple hours to complete. If they were left up and Activision saw any copyright-infringing material being "distributed" within the forum, they would have grounds to take legal action.

It may seem drastic, but I think undershooting their compliance with the C & D would be more detrimental to the project we love than overshooting it.

Hopefully, the forums will recover in time.

All I can say is, HAIL :suffer:

Haids1987

Quote from: Tage7 on February 28, 2010, 05:55:20 PM
At risk of being completely wrong, the way I understand it is that Neil and Cat are sifting through the forums for topics they can recover which do not contain any copyright-infringing material.
I'm pretty sure you're right.  A slow but sure process, but worthwhile.  I wish we could help somehow.
STATUS:
-Drinking water
-Checking the forum. 

Perpetually. ;D
Erica Reed is Katie Hallahan.
Leader of the "I <3 Doon" Fanclub

crayauchtin

I'm not sure if I can write a good petition but I am willing to be the one to whom everything is sent and I will send it all to Activision.

As for the forums -- I'm not sure if it's legal to ask that all TSL-related material be removed. It's certainly legal to ask such discussions to end, yes, but to remove them from a public forum? I'm 95% sure they can't force that. They can force the discussions to be locked and archived, I'm pretty sure about that, but as those were public discussions doesn't that make them a matter of public record, irregardless of the topic?
"If your translation is correct, that was 'May a sleepy hippopotamus lie down on your house keys,' but you're not sure. Unfortunately, your fluency in griffin-speak is too low."

We're roleplaying in the King's Quest world: come join in the fun!

atec123

Quote from: crayauchtin on February 28, 2010, 06:12:53 PM
As for the forums -- I'm not sure if it's legal to ask that all TSL-related material be removed. It's certainly legal to ask such discussions to end, yes, but to remove them from a public forum? I'm 95% sure they can't force that. They can force the discussions to be locked and archived, I'm pretty sure about that, but as those were public discussions doesn't that make them a matter of public record, irregardless of the topic?
I think you are right.

Quote from: Haids1987 on February 28, 2010, 06:11:00 PM
Quote from: Tage7 on February 28, 2010, 05:55:20 PM
At risk of being completely wrong, the way I understand it is that Neil and Cat are sifting through the forums for topics they can recover which do not contain any copyright-infringing material.
I'm pretty sure you're right.  A slow but sure process, but worthwhile.  I wish we could help somehow.
me too.
QuoteI'm not sure if I can write a good petition but I am willing to be the one to whom everything is sent and I will send it all to Activision.
cool.  I say we start getting a team together.  Dunno what I Could do but I Could setup a website.  (Keep in mind it probably won't be ultra professional but I can setup an ok site better than what you could get with one of those free site maker thingies.

so...
I say we go for it, what do you guys think?
Official maintainer of TSL in linux via Wine. TSL AppDB page
Maintainer of TSL in OSX via Wine
TSL IRC Chatroom Maintainer
We are the Defenders of Jazz Ballet
People say, when they see us:
Hey, folks! It's the Saviours of Jazz Ballet
Fearless heroes of kick and spin


Farquhar

Wow...

It's ridiculous that they'd shut it down after you guys have come so far.... I understand that with the change of ownership contracts and such can be null and void, but you think that they'd be more reasonable given past circumstances. It's almost as if most game developers are out to prevent the renewal of the Adventure genre, for I feel that the release of TSL would be beneficial in renewing interest with a wide audience. That would be a very good thing indeed for the copyright holder of what was THE most successful series in that genre.

Anyways, enough ranting....

I don't think I can give enough kudos to everyone involved in the development of TSL. All of you guys have put so much work into the project over the years, and all because of your love for King's Quest. You'd think with your perseverance throughout the history of development, and the constant support from fans people would realize how much returning to the tales of Graham and his family mean to all of us. But either way, TSL will mean something special to a lot of people. The quality of your work has proven that any of your future endeavors will definitely be worth the wait. Keep up the good work, you guys rock! :)

Official waiter of the TSL Asylum ©

Loyal Knight and Viscount serving under Queene Deloria

Husband of THUNDRkitty

I <3 The Silver Lining!

Tage7

Keep in mind that any pictures taken from development that were posted inside the forum is still hosted on the tsl-game.com domain (Such as my old avatar now replaced by Winnie the Pooh). Such materials could be classified by Activision as being distributed by the owners of tsl-game.com (i.e. POStudios). That's just the most general example I can come up with. I'm sure there are much more obscure "materials" they could deem as copyright infringing that I am unaware of (me not being a law student and all).

As far as petitions go, I believe it's solely up to the fans. It's my opinion that the team has to bite their tongues to demonstrate how well natured their intentions are. If the fans are outraged, then it is solely up to them to let it be known. So if you want to petition, I wish you the best. I would start one myself, but I believe I am held under the same conditions as the POStudios team as I am one of the Beta Testers.

atec123

Quote from: Tage7 on February 28, 2010, 06:31:10 PM
As far as petitions go, I believe it's solely up to the fans. It's my opinion that the team has to bite their tongues to demonstrate how well natured their intentions are. If the fans are outraged, then it is solely up to them to let it be known. So if you want to petition, I wish you the best. I would start one myself, but I believe I am held under the same conditions as the POStudios team as I am one of the Beta Testers.
AMEN!
Official maintainer of TSL in linux via Wine. TSL AppDB page
Maintainer of TSL in OSX via Wine
TSL IRC Chatroom Maintainer
We are the Defenders of Jazz Ballet
People say, when they see us:
Hey, folks! It's the Saviours of Jazz Ballet
Fearless heroes of kick and spin

theroachyjay

Oh... oh man.  I am so sorry to hear this.  I just dropped by and saw the news.  :(
Jules Ismail

zmeisel

I see that Activision became a subsidiary of Viviendi after the 2007 merger, with Viviendi holding the majority of shares within Activision.  Is there any way we can exploit this to have Viviendi force its subsidiary to honor its previous agreement?

Also, we should ensure that there is a single petition going.  I would be more than happy to contribute my effort behind the cause to revive TSL.

crayauchtin

Quote from: atec123 on February 28, 2010, 06:16:47 PM
I Could setup a website.  (Keep in mind it probably won't be ultra professional but I can setup an ok site better than what you could get with one of those free site maker thingies.

so...
I say we go for it, what do you guys think?
In that case it's likely to be better than anything I could set up. You're hired! We are going to fight this tooth and nail.
"If your translation is correct, that was 'May a sleepy hippopotamus lie down on your house keys,' but you're not sure. Unfortunately, your fluency in griffin-speak is too low."

We're roleplaying in the King's Quest world: come join in the fun!

Andy

Very sorry to hear about the C&D letter.  Kudos to the team who kept this project going for almost a decade and I am thankful for the years I got to believe I was going to give King Graham another whirl.  The fact that it isn't going to happen doesn't take away the joy I got from anticipating the game while the Dev team did their thing.

Andy Roark
Web Admin
http://www.sierragamers.com/

koko_99_2001

<3 Happily married to FataliOmega since July 11, 2009 <3

The Unofficial The Silver Lining Official Sarcasm Cleaner Upper :cat:

Catherine DaCosta

atec123

Quote from: crayauchtin on February 28, 2010, 06:58:40 PM
Quote from: atec123 on February 28, 2010, 06:16:47 PM
I Could setup a website.  (Keep in mind it probably won't be ultra professional but I can setup an ok site better than what you could get with one of those free site maker thingies.

so...
I say we go for it, what do you guys think?
In that case it's likely to be better than anything I could set up. You're hired! We are going to fight this tooth and nail.
Cool man.  I will start working on some stuff tomorrow if I have time.  Too bad this didn't start earlier, haha, Saturday I would have had enough free time to set the whole thing up.

well...

We still need someone to write the petition.  Who would be good at that.....?
Official maintainer of TSL in linux via Wine. TSL AppDB page
Maintainer of TSL in OSX via Wine
TSL IRC Chatroom Maintainer
We are the Defenders of Jazz Ballet
People say, when they see us:
Hey, folks! It's the Saviours of Jazz Ballet
Fearless heroes of kick and spin

DOS4dinner

Whatever the team decides, I will be happy to help. I have been monitoring this for years, waiting for its release; I hate to see years of hard work go to waste because of some company policy.