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The Silver Lining - Cease and Desist

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

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crayauchtin

Quote from: waltzdancing on March 04, 2010, 02:47:47 PM
Now, he said that taking down the forum was not right, we had a right to talk about the content we wanted.
That's what I thought -- I was pretty sure Activision had no legal foot to stand on as far as the removal of the forums. Even the parts regarding TSL -- it was all just speech, not any IP violation.
"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!

waltzdancing

That is right but anthing associated with the game had to be taken down. Now the forum can stay up with the TSL Content removed. AKA pictures, music demo, becuase it all goes with the kings quest theme but the forum and "The Silver Lining" Title, Activision has no hold on us. We are hear to stay people and they can't stop us talking about it beucase that is agaisnt the law.

Punish Stone

I bet if everyone canceled their World of Warcraft accounts in protest this would get cleared up real fast.   I just canceled mine a few mins ago in support of TSL and I mad sure to mention 'why' in the comments.

I'm not sure if activisionblizzard is the exact same company as activision; They have to be some kindda partners anyway.

Go ahead. Drop yer WoW accounts if you truly are disgusted with Activision.   It feels good.

Vingador

I don't know much about the project, but from what I've seen Activision has no right to claim his IP if the game doesn't make use of anything related to King's Quest series.

So, get rid of King's Quest references, change the title and continue the project. It's simply as that.

Cynbad

8 years of hard work? It can't end here, there would just be no justice left in this world if it ended like this!!!

oberonqa

Quote from: ErpyIs there any reason why you even paint the scenario of going to court? If Activision changes its mind on this matter, it'll be done through negotion of the team members or some other inside factor, but not through a court decision...their moral basis may be shaky, but their legal position is frighteningly solid. I mean no offense, you're doing a great job organizing the petition, but the whole court-thing isn't and won't be your decision to make. (and besides, I'm not even sure what the goal would be...force Activision to let the project resume? Or define the fair use clause in US copyright law?)

It should go to court to define the fair use clause in US copyright law.  This wouldn't be a gray area if the fair use clause was properly defined to either include or exclude  fan-based derivative work.  Since it isn't properly defined, it's open to interpretation and I've shown through this conversation that there is at least the possibility that TSL could be covered by fair use and therefore exempt from copyright law.  A possibility is a lot better than nothing.

And thank you waltzdancing for the feedback from your boss.  Sorry it took me so long to respond but I had to goto work and I just got home.
 
Chronicling the history of Sierra through the conversion of it's premiere magazine into an easy-to-use, searchable wiki format.

Erpy

QuoteIt should go to court to define the fair use clause in US copyright law.  This wouldn't be a gray area if the fair use clause was properly defined to either include or exclude  fan-based derivative work.  Since it isn't properly defined, it's open to interpretation and I've shown through this conversation that there is at least the possibility that TSL could be covered by fair use and therefore exempt from copyright law.  A possibility is a lot better than nothing.

And thank you waltzdancing for the feedback from your boss.  Sorry it took me so long to respond but I had to goto work and I just got home.

The whole point of my posts the last couple of pages was to indicate that if you want to do something on TSL's account, get signatures or spread the word to kindred spirits, but forget about the legal part. It's a done deal. In addition to it simply being a waste of money to pay a lawyer to try and get the fair use clause to include unofficial sequels (which in itself is 100x as ambitious as TSL's initial 9-chapter incarnation), fair use stopped covering the TSL project the moment the team signed over the ownership to Vivendi in exchange for being able to continue. So even if you could get the fair use clause defined (which I severely doubt), it wouldn't cover TSL anymore.

QuoteGo ahead. Drop yer WoW accounts if you truly are disgusted with Activision.  It feels good.

In addition to that, you'll find you'll suddenly have 10 additional hours a day that weren't there before plus the monthly sum that used to go to Blizzard. I applaud your dedication, though I'm having the hunch that the more hardcore/addicted WoW-players wouldn't cancel their account if it meant their neglected wife would reconsider signing those divorce papers.  :D

QuoteThat's what I thought -- I was pretty sure Activision had no legal foot to stand on as far as the removal of the forums. Even the parts regarding TSL -- it was all just speech, not any IP violation.

It wasn't Activision's demand to shut down the forum to begin with, that the decision of the team in order to make it easier to filter out what stuff had to be removed and what stuff could stay.


koko_99_2001

Quote from: Erpy on March 05, 2010, 02:25:28 AM

QuoteGo ahead. Drop yer WoW accounts if you truly are disgusted with Activision.  It feels good.

In addition to that, you'll find you'll suddenly have 10 additional hours a day that weren't there before plus the monthly sum that used to go to Blizzard. I applaud your dedication, though I'm having the hunch that the more hardcore/addicted WoW-players wouldn't cancel their account if it meant their neglected wife would reconsider signing those divorce papers.  :D


Of course, some of the men have wives who play WoW with them :angel:
<3 Happily married to FataliOmega since July 11, 2009 <3

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

Catherine DaCosta

Erpy

Quote from: koko_99_2001 on March 05, 2010, 04:26:01 AM
Quote from: Erpy on March 05, 2010, 02:25:28 AM

QuoteGo ahead. Drop yer WoW accounts if you truly are disgusted with Activision.  It feels good.

In addition to that, you'll find you'll suddenly have 10 additional hours a day that weren't there before plus the monthly sum that used to go to Blizzard. I applaud your dedication, though I'm having the hunch that the more hardcore/addicted WoW-players wouldn't cancel their account if it meant their neglected wife would reconsider signing those divorce papers.  :D


Of course, some of the men have wives who play WoW with them :angel:

Indeed. Those will merely file a divorce when they catch their hubby practicing virtual adultery. (i.e: snogging up avatars controlled by other people)


B'rrr

Bet there are even woman that divorce their hubbies when they catch them practicing normal adultery! Seriously, whatever we do, it is never good enough for them...  ::) ::) ::)
~Mary Jane supporter~
~Legend~

oberonqa

A CALL TO ARMS has been issued.  It's time to email Activision and give them a taste of the heat we, the fans of The Silver Lining, are capable of bringing to their door!

Information on this CALL TO ARMS is available at http://www.postudios.com/blog/forum/index.php?topic=8424.0
 
Chronicling the history of Sierra through the conversion of it's premiere magazine into an easy-to-use, searchable wiki format.

CageyJay

POS TSL Team:

Though I've only been aware of this project for about two years, please accept my sympathies that this has happened to you again. You do excellent work, have been doing said excellent work for a long time, and this has to have been a shock to your collective systems. As outrageous as this circumstance is, from all sides, you are doing the right thing and have my applause for your moral uprightness.


Is there any way we can get the COMPLETE and EXACT wording of the original Vivendi agreement here, on the forum, or was that made under a non-disclosure policy? I mean the precise, full, and entire contractual wording (not just the circumstances, like to whom the work ends up belonging upon break of contract), including numeric designations. Some of us can write darned-good individual letters (have even been trained in the technical communication that renders a letter transparent to both management and programmers), but it works better if we know the specific documentary grounds of the situation.

Apologies if it's already here... I've read the whole forum and most of the links, and can't find it.


Best wishes.

tessspoon

Quote from: CageyJay on March 05, 2010, 01:20:15 PM
Apologies if it's already here... I've read the whole forum and most of the links, and can't find it.
Best wishes.
I vaguely remember something about non-disclosure, but I might be making that up. Almost certain though that's never been posted, at least not in the 3.5 years I've been here.

CageyJay

Quote from: tessspoon on March 05, 2010, 01:29:55 PM
Quote from: CageyJay on March 05, 2010, 01:20:15 PM
Apologies if it's already here... I've read the whole forum and most of the links, and can't find it.
Best wishes.
I vaguely remember something about non-disclosure, but I might be making that up. Almost certain though that's never been posted, at least not in the 3.5 years I've been here.

*Nods.* I thought it would probably be so, but there was no harm in asking. Ah well.

A couple of us tech-writers and writing/rhetoric students will be sending some letters to Activision. Perhaps the differing forms will escape from whomever they set to the task of receiving and answering the TSL petition, and get a few more levels of management involved.

As always, best wishes!


*Wanders away, grousing.* First they swallow the InfoCom catalogue... now this....

Japster83

Bah this sucks! I was really lookin forward to this project, I have lurked for too long! I will be sending an email to Activision, this decision clearly needs to be rethought. My sympathies to the entire team and also you fans! I would suggest sending in as many paper letters as you guys can, they hold more weight. You guys are doing a great job though I think with the battle cries, they won't go unnoticed, and if they do ignore them it will make them look like complete A@#holes. Anyways guys I am disheartened, but never give up, there is hope! I'm behind you guys.

waltzdancing

Hard copy letters come in everyday. I have even taken in copies to work to have my comrads there sign, even my mom and dad are going to take letters in to their work. People don't have to know what it is, the more names the better in my opinion.

I do have to say, at work a stron g activision supporters works with me and its funny to see the tension build up in the room when we are in the lounge together.

crayauchtin

Quote from: Japster83 on March 05, 2010, 01:57:22 PM
Bah this sucks! I was really lookin forward to this project, I have lurked for too long! I will be sending an email to Activision, this decision clearly needs to be rethought. My sympathies to the entire team and also you fans! I would suggest sending in as many paper letters as you guys can, they hold more weight. You guys are doing a great job though I think with the battle cries, they won't go unnoticed, and if they do ignore them it will make them look like complete A@#holes. Anyways guys I am disheartened, but never give up, there is hope! I'm behind you guys.
Well, when the project comes roaring back to life don't lurk, Japster! Come hang with us in the Asylum! (Well, with the people left in the Asylum... I escaped with a spork. :P)

Waltz, how does Activision even HAVE strong supporters? I don't just mean because of this -- I mean ALL of the BS they pull? Maybe you should write up a list of every offense Activision has performed since under the direction of Bobby "I-Hate-Video-Games" Kotick (who has actually admitted that he doesn't play video games and doesn't care about video games, just profit)  and see how your coworker feels upon viewing that!

In case you're curious (and these are only the ones I know of, I'm sure there's more.)
-raised prices on video games for no real reason, and admitted that he would raise them higher if he thought he could get away with it (and plans to raise prices again some time in the future)
-attempted not to pay royalties to Valve (followed by a lawsuit)
-used the band No Doubt in the game Band Hero without the permission of No Doubt
-fired Diablo team members (from the previous two games) as soon as they had completed the specific items that they were needed for in Diablo III
-fired the heads of Infinity Ward, the creators of Call of Duty and Modern Warfare -- Activision's biggest selling items -- just before they got paid for royalties, with vague reasons as to why
-canceled TSL after eight years of work

Why?
Most likely because Activision wasn't directly making money from it and/or couldn't guarantee a sequel every 10 months until no one cares anymore (I mean, what? there's only NINE chapters?? NOT ENOUGH!) I mean, that's why Activision didn't produce the Ghostbuster game, because they didn't think the guy who wrote it would be able to come up with a new one every year.
"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!

waltzdancing

He is a hard core WoW player. He has all the games and he is into the Guitar hero. He brings his laptop to work to play WoW while he is off tutor hours. Aside from working at a lawfirm I also work at the math center for the university.

He says that TSL stepped over a line when they wanted to use Activisions property he is defending that point while I argue that there is no harm to be done. He isn't sold. He says there is no proof that the release of TSL will raise the awareness for the series or of the amount of KQC sold.

He's weird. I didn't get along with him before but he has to sign our petition which all tutors have to do because we support each other at work. Oh the irony.  :suffer:

crayauchtin

Quote from: waltzdancing on March 05, 2010, 03:02:45 PM
He is a hard core WoW player. He has all the games and he is into the Guitar hero. He brings his laptop to work to play WoW while he is off tutor hours. Aside from working at a lawfirm I also work at the math center for the university.

He says that TSL stepped over a line when they wanted to use Activisions property he is defending that point while I argue that there is no harm to be done. He isn't sold. He says there is no proof that the release of TSL will raise the awareness for the series or of the amount of KQC sold.

He's weird. I didn't get along with him before but he has to sign our petition which all tutors have to do because we support each other at work. Oh the irony.  :suffer:
Hey, as long as he signs it.

And if he wants evidence that TSL will improve awareness and sales, simply point out that the previous remakes did just that when they were released.
"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!

oberonqa

It would be easy enough to get sales data from Amazon, which keeps track of item sales (even those items sold through Amazon Marketplace) for the months following the release of KQ1VGA and KQ2VGA....
 
Chronicling the history of Sierra through the conversion of it's premiere magazine into an easy-to-use, searchable wiki format.