Cease and desist letter from FIA

I stumbled on this Bsimracing article about modding teams receiving this "cease and desist" letter from fia: http://www.bsimracing.com/fia-sends-out-cease-and-desist-letter-to-modding-teams/
What do you guys feel about this?
Will this modding teams be persuaded to stop their work?
How will they go after someone which release something annonimous in some fórum?
Will modding be a obscure place in near future? Full of undercover modders?
If FIA do this much probably theres not much time left till car brands do the exact same thing?

 

You shouldn't name something after a trademark. It's stupid. If gamers stopped being little babies and enjoyed the Formula Extreme and the FXO for what they are, there wouldn't be any drama.

 

That's business !

There could be lot of reasons why someone reacts like this, as example after the money, the bad replica of the original car. I for one wouldn't like to see my car driving like a wheel barrow in a sim when it actually is different in real as one example.

Edit: about the hardware. It could look like, as if the original product isn't good enough or has flaws in general why it gets modded, to standard customer who aren't deeply involved in the sim racing scene. Bad promotion !

 

Synopsis: someone got a letter.

Don't waste your time reading thinking there is more info about it in that link.

 

Very good article, very usefull discussion in that thread.
Many solutions and bypasses offered, there should be some internal discussion about the issues between modders about it imho.
This situation is utterly stupid and frustrating and to sum it up, its a perfect case of bullying from the companies to the individuals.

(with behaviour like that from the companies, I just cant wait the moment 3d printers will widely be used, then I will LMAO)

 

From the comments section (bunch on fake non-sense):

Bram Hengeveld • a day ago

We have had the same letter at www.racedepartment.com a year ago and keep getting them from time to time. The sender is not the FIA but a company that acts on behalf of the FOM.

All they do is roam the internet for so called breach of their rights but if you read the letter closely its not a cease and desist letter, but good old internet bullying, but apparently for some teams and websites this is already enough to get (and spread) panic.

Just answer the email kindly, ask for proof (which they don't have as they just focus on trigger words, not actual content) and carry on. Their emails have a nice case number in the subject line to impress the receiver. I have returned all the emails kindly and added my own case number (looks really professional )

By posting this kind of news constantly you are giving them exactly what they want: publicity and successfully spreading of fear.

We will not remove any F1 mods that are created by users from scratch unless they provide and submit exact proof of what rule the particular modder is breaching. Still waiting on a proper explanation.

What they should go after instead are teams and individuals that sell F1 branded content for money without a license.

PS: those that keep claiming that Codemasters are the evil genius behind all this are wrong and should really check their facts before publishing comments on the internet. We have contacted them and they weren't even aware this is happening to websites and modding teams.

PS2: in case there is a letter being sent from the FIA directly then please post it as a source for reference.

Source to read more about this kind internet bullying (can be F1, Dakar or even Premier League football): http://www.lmgtfy.com/?q=netre...

 

You should also have read the first reply to Bram:

 

Yeah. It was updated since I saw it yesterday. And I didn't read the latest replies.

Guess the easiest solution is to just go the Reiza route. Personally I could care less what the Mclaren Honda is called. Everyone knows what car it is. And yet, legally, they're above the law going this route. I personally could care less what type of generic names anything is given.

 

"Copyright disclaimer under section 107 of the Copyright act 1976:
allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Non-profit, educational or personal use tips the balance in favor of fair use.

This mod follows Fair-Use rules. The mod was only made for artistic expression, it is purely fan-made. This mod is in no way associated with (name cars, tracks, and companies in mod)."

If that is in every read me of a mod/car/trackpack etc they can not take up legal action other then politely asking you to stop. So long as they remain free content OR go the Reiza and URD route and rename them there's not much more they can do. Either way its NOT going to kill modding and worrying about it is not warranted.

 

You could still get sued ..........you think changing a badge would help you once court proceedings commence. ?

They could go after you for any likeness. .........after all how many F1 cars are there in the world.



Changing badges is a myth portrayed by modders to make themselves feel like they don't do anything wrong.

 

Oh sure, sure ..................... I had a real chuck here over 2 1/2 years ago about unofficial unlicenced payware being allowed here , I said it should not be connected to ISI


I got hate mail, abuse, I got a bannned because I responded to hateful comments badly , my blue.


Now you telling me your all come full circle !!!

We have unlicenced unoffical payware here for 2 years now you decide to speak up ???


wtf ?

 

Make up some cars like in LFS then. I like that too.

 

FIA Masters Historic Formula One Championship


They go by the name of Lotus, Brabham, Ferrari, Tyrrell, Williams, Arrows, Wolf, Osella, Ligier, Matra, Surtees, Shadow, Ensign, Trojan, Hesketh, March, Copersucar, Theodore...


So what about GSC ? and our Eagle. ?



We are spoiled rotten these days, we want everything. done better and pay less.

Make all sims $100 again like old days .......give 1/2 to the FiA

 

It's that simple, huh..? Lol!

Sendt fra min LG-E400 med Tapatalk2

 

If this is correct here is the modders answers to all things. free mods..... i dont mod, but if i did, would want to know these type of things...maybe more of these laws need to be sought by modders b4 they start to know there rights..something in the wiki would be nice for modders to follow and use.

 

You "can" say it's for teaching purposes and personal use. You can't charge for it, though.

 

Bear in mind copyright law is different depending on your country. In countries where fair-use applies, fine... but would only cover the mod in countries where fair-use actually applies. You wouldn't be able to distribute the mod in countries where it doesn't so then you need to geographically screen your downloads.

Eg;

"Factors that have been identified by the courts as relevant in determining whether a particular dealing with a work is fair include:

Does using the work affect the market for the original work? If a use of a work acts as a substitute for it, causing the owner to lose revenue, then it is not likely to be fair.

Is the amount of the work taken reasonable and appropriate? Was it necessary to use the amount that was taken? Usually only part of a work may be used.

The relative importance of any one factor will vary according to the case in hand and the type of dealing in question."

(UK IPO notes regarding 'fair-dealing' - http://www.ipo.gov.uk/c-exception-fairdealing.htm)

 

Lots of excited emotions here...

If you want to see how to do a historical mod and a current-year mod very well without getting into trouble check-out Reiza Studios (GSC Extreme). They started as modders and now have a full company selling a commercial product. Some of their car are officially licensed. Some are "replicas" or close variants that only an idiot would not be able to identify as "copies" of F1 cars, but...

Nowhere do you see "F1" or "FIA" or any name of any team or driver that would show-up in an automated web crawler search by FIA. Nowhere are they trying to leverage excitement from current GPs or do have any link to actual races or racing on their site. That's the only way it can be done.

Are there authentic skins for the cars available from Reiza--of course not. Has to be done separately and not acknowledged or linked by them on Websites or social media. Could modders come-out with super accurate body shapes that mimic the real cars--of course. But same procedures as above.

Another example staring us right in the face--ISI Formula Masters. Why is FIA not chasing these down???

It's common sense that anything that looks remotely like F1 2014 from Codemasters or any similar title FOM/FIA might want to license in the future will be pursued. It doesn't mean we can't have mods (including from commercial studios!!!) that replicate the essence of what we want. It does mean a two-step process to turn things into near-perfect replicas, but that's they way it is and will always be as long as F1 is a money-printing machine for Bernie and/or future owners.

So it's very simple--if the creators doing all the work are OK with this two step process AND can live with minimal fame and glory, we will have what we want at the end of the day. If fame and glory are desired, a giant brick wall is awaiting all who proceed. The only way to become famous from this type of work is to create something completely made-up that captures a lot of attention. Making full-fledged replicas that are packaged conveniently for all of us to enjoy will only make the author infamous

 

Everybody is getting letters but no one posts the letter that they received, strange. This story is incomplete without the actual "letter".

I agree with lord, the only thing this says in the link is "we and others have received a letter". lol.

 

I have seen the letter. It doesn't add or subtract from the discussion. It doesn't change any legal realities. It doesn't change the options and avenues open to modders.