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The Silver Lining - Cease and Desist

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

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blahmoomoo

The petition campaign is being handled by the fans.  POS didn't put up the campaign themselves because they felt that they might step on Activision's legal department's toes.

Erpy

I'm very skeptical of the public donation idea and I doubt POS will go that route. First of all, you probably need WAY more money than a handful of fans can bring together and if no deal could be made, it'd be a big hassle getting the refunds to people with the cut entities like Paypal take. And even if the rights were bought and a few years later sold again for a higher price, how would you go about giving each of the original contributors his fair share? It's probably better for the worms to remain in that particular can. If POS intends to go commercial, they probably have a funding party already.


atec123

sorry if the petition is being handled poorly.

It isn`t official.  It was started mainly by oberonqa on the forums here, with help from lotsa people, including me.
you may notice, if you go to the website, that my screen name is under all the posts, and not someone on the team.

it was started a week later because that`s how long it took for us to organised something.  I didn`t see the announcement until the day after it was posted, because I was busy with school.

annnnyyway....

i will stop venting, now you understand.

sign tha petition and all that jazz.
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

Your work on the Save TSL campaign has been great guys, don't doubt that at all! We appreciate it immensely. :)

And though we appreciate that people would be willing to donate to support us, as Erpy said, that's a complicated thing that I highly doubt we'd ever end up doing. But again, the spirit of that willingness and support is what keeps us going and keeps us fighting. :)

Katie Hallahan
~Designer, PR Director~

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

I have a blog!

waltzdancing

I think the petition organization is going really well. We are fans scattered all around the world, certainly it was going to take time. I was so shocked when I read that email and it took me awhile to finally come to an understanding and raise my sword and start to fight. It really was only a day or two after the C&D when the Save TSL Movement began, it took a week before we were noticed.

The donations probably aren't a good idea, but it is always the thought that counts. POS said they would look into the idea of buying if the on-line movement of ours doesn't work, we need to keep fighting everyone and encourage POS to never give up hope.

Petra Rocks

Out of idle curiosity, about how many signatures and such did it take to get VU to talk to you, and how many do you have now?  :P

Erpy

I don't think it took any signatures. VU was open to considering alternative options pretty much from the get-go...the C&D was merely to make certain that no matter how things would play out, unauthorized development would not continue.


koko_99_2001

For us, it was at least a couple hundred petitions that I sent in to VU for SaveKQIX. I think Cesar or Neil said it arrived right at the same time that they were going to talk to VU.
<3 Happily married to FataliOmega since July 11, 2009 <3

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

Catherine DaCosta

thecopyrightdestroyer

Quote from: Erpy on February 28, 2010, 03:49:34 AM
To the people wondering if Activision-Blizzard can do this...legally, I'm afraid they can. The contract the TSL-team went into with VU a few years ago could be terminated by either party at any time.

To the posters asking...the difference with AGD Interactive was the fact that by the time VU Games was taken over by Activision, KQ1VGA, KQ2+ and QFG2VGA were already out and even Activision probably realized that shutting down the official source would just result in a lot of unofficial mirrors. So we were allowed to keep going for the time being. (yeah, that last part was not my imagination, so if any of you fans are planning to write an angry letter to Activision...kindly focus on TSL and keep AGD Interactive out of it...it's too late for them to pull KQ1, KQ2 and QFG2, but I'd hate to see the site being ordered to close)

I knew how harsh Activision's ideas about their IP were and expected TSL's "review" to be a vicious tug-of-war to get it out, but I didn't think they'd pull the rug from under you at this stage. That word litigation set the hairs of my neck on end. I'm very sorry to hear this. I can't imagine a more anticlimactic way years of work can end. You've achieved a lot over the years. It's a shame this ends in such a downer. :-[



Shut the hell up Erpy.

waltzdancing

I'm guessing by your forum name that you aren't fond of copywrite but Erpy is correct, whether you like it or not. We are all on the same side, Erpy is the realist and every group needs one. Negative comments don't get us anywhere if we start to fight amongst ourselves.

charles c. mann prize

#730
We're all in this together!



KITTY EDIT: Got rid of spam :cat:

Rider Jetfire

What thing is it without a name that brings my mind ere back the same to thee?

atec123

Quote from: waltzdancing on April 22, 2010, 05:25:49 PM
I'm guessing by your forum name that you aren't fond of copywrite but Erpy is correct, whether you like it or not. We are all on the same side, Erpy is the realist and every group needs one. Negative comments don't get us anywhere if we start to fight amongst ourselves.
yes.  We are all on the same side.

*starts singing*

WERE ALL IN THIS TOGETHER!

hahahahahaahaha

anyway, yes.  Erpy has been very helpful.  If you disagree with him, that is your own decision, but I think he is right on with 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

Petra Rocks

Quote from: Erpy on April 21, 2010, 03:09:22 AM
I don't think it took any signatures. VU was open to considering alternative options pretty much from the get-go...the C&D was merely to make certain that no matter how things would play out, unauthorized development would not continue.


Huh. Sounds a little grim, I doubt a couple of thousand people signing an online petition will really have anyone quaking if they are really determined not to budge. Yonkey might be right, you might have better luck buttonholing someone of the Activision brass and talking him over than trying to do overawe them with your petition. Can't hurt to at least get somebodies attention though.

Anyway, I am speculating about internal negotiations that I don't know anything about, so maybe I'm totally off. :P

KatieHal

Quote from: thecopyrightdestroyer on April 21, 2010, 10:15:19 PM

Shut the hell up Erpy.

That's not how we do things around here. Show the other people on the forum due respect. Erpy's been a supporter of our game for years, and we appreciate that, as well as his insight. On top of which, nothing he said in that post wasn't true.

If you disagree with someone, you can express that without being rude or nasty.

Katie Hallahan
~Designer, PR Director~

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

I have a blog!

splat44

Quote from: thecopyrightdestroyer on April 21, 2010, 10:15:19 PM
Quote from: Erpy on February 28, 2010, 03:49:34 AM
To the people wondering if Activision-Blizzard can do this...legally, I'm afraid they can. The contract the TSL-team went into with VU a few years ago could be terminated by either party at any time.

To the posters asking...the difference with AGD Interactive was the fact that by the time VU Games was taken over by Activision, KQ1VGA, KQ2+ and QFG2VGA were already out and even Activision probably realized that shutting down the official source would just result in a lot of unofficial mirrors. So we were allowed to keep going for the time being. (yeah, that last part was not my imagination, so if any of you fans are planning to write an angry letter to Activision...kindly focus on TSL and keep AGD Interactive out of it...it's too late for them to pull KQ1, KQ2 and QFG2, but I'd hate to see the site being ordered to close)

I knew how harsh Activision's ideas about their IP were and expected TSL's "review" to be a vicious tug-of-war to get it out, but I didn't think they'd pull the rug from under you at this stage. That word litigation set the hairs of my neck on end. I'm very sorry to hear this. I can't imagine a more anticlimactic way years of work can end. You've achieved a lot over the years. It's a shame this ends in such a downer. :-[



Shut the hell up Erpy.

Yea! How is it possible not leave out AGD Interactive out of it in those letters?

Activision needs to realize how un fair they treated us!

Erpy

#736
To people wondering...at AGDI we have a guy who calls himself Copyright Destroyer on our boards about once a year. He pops up, tries to stir up as much trouble as possible and then he either leaves or he gets tired of reregistering new accounts that are subsequently banned/deleted. Ignore him. He never contributes anything substancial. He merely wants to mess with people.

QuoteYea! How is it possible not leave out AGD Interactive out of it in those letters?

Activision needs to realize how un fair they treated us!

Because "you let AGDI release stuff" is a rather weak "tu quoque" argument that's unlikely to convince anyone at Activision of letting TSL off the hook...it doesn't point out why it'd be of benefit to them to revoke the C&D and suggests that Activision is playing favorites while there may be different circumstances applying to AGDI and POS that people don't know about.


index vegas two times.mp3

#737
I'm not a spam bot



KITTY EDIT: No spam anymore! :cat:

night-owl2

I see spm bots are already trying to flood this place. please be careful.
Well I tried to help out  this project and I hope the petitions will work but actually...I think maybe only if Ken and Roberta Williams were to support it..maybe then Activiosion would  be more cooperative. At least to return to negotiating this. I'm not holding much breath. Apparently, insert irony here:  KQ 8 are their best-selling games right now and they desperately need to protect the brand value.  

I know there have been some mentions of license purchase and I know i would buy the game from you guys were it to be a commercial release it's just that all of this is disheartening.  
I'm still keeping fingers crossed for this though.

Regards,
The constant observer, Margaret.





ToToNo

As far as I know, you really don't have to remove your forums (and I feel u overreacted by doing this), despite what they asked you to do. They do not own the title and even if they did, you forum is yours, no matter what you call it.

Ask for a legal advice. All you have to do is remove any previews, demos or pictures of the game and they can't do ANYTHING to close the forum.