**** Paradox Announces new Forum User Agreement & Rules ****

[Diet of Worms]

Hi, we do not intend to argue legal cases on this forum.
These are the rules and the terms of service under which the board operates.

Fair enough. I hope you don't mind if I briefly respond to Captain Gars post below yours since he replied directly to my post.

Film production companies (especially in the US) do something similar to protect themselves. If you want to send them anything you need to sign a waiver basically saying that if anything similar (or exactly like it) would show up in anything they produce you can't sue them.

My understanding is that the signing of the waiver is important if an actual transfer of copyright is involved, rather than simply granting a license (I don't know which it is in the example you give). I know academic journals generally demand that copyright is actually transferred, and that is done in writing.

Here is a quote from an article quoting a US Judge on the SCO vs Novell case regarding who owned the copyrights to the Unix Operating System:

Here is where those dozens of pages of tangles and troubles suddenly gets really, really simple:

"The Copyright Act requires a signed written instrument to transfer ownership of copyrights," Judge Kimball wrote. "Section 204(a) states: 'A transfer of copyright ownership, other than by operation of law, is not valid unless an instrument of conveyance, or a note or memorandum of the transfer, is in writing and signed by the owner of the rights conveyed or such owner's duly authorized agent'... This requirement is meant to 'enhance predictability and certainty of copyright ownership."'

Guess what's missing from this deal.

"A transfer of copyright is simply 'not valid' without the required written instrument," Kimball went on. An exclusion to an exclusion doesn't count. "In this case, the extrinsic evidence surrounding Amendment No. 2 strongly favors Novell's position that Amendment No. 2 was merely affirming Santa Cruz's implied license to use the UNIX and UnixWare copyrights."

Anyway, I'll shut up now, unless another Paradox staff member gives me an excuse to continue

[xcrissxcrossx]

Would you be allowed to post a link to a personal site containing an AAR that you have written. and if so, would this till be considered copywrited by PI since it is a link to another site?

[Castellon]

Would you be allowed to post a link to a personal site containing an AAR that you have written. and if so, would this till be considered copywrited by PI since it is a link to another site?

No, No external links.

[21oliver]

Fair and understanable.

[Attlerie]

all right !

[21oliver]

can we post a link thats not an active link just the address, you know where they have to copy and paste it? If not we can send it via PM to people right?

[Castellon]

No, posting a website address is the problem not how you post it.
You cannot send someone a website address unless they specifically request it from you, and it conforms to other rules. You also cannot ask for them to request it of you either.

[21oliver]

wow, thats interesting. Ok didnt get that part.

[Darken]

is there a place where modders or fans have been given written permission to make youtube or other videos of PI Games? if not, can we please get written permission concerning the copyright for modders and fans to post videos of PI Games? in my country, there has been laws that might pass that could make it so that we cannot post these videos unless we have written consent from the copyright holder.

[Castellon]

There is probably exceptions to this type of use, if not they would only proceed if complaint is made by Paradox, and I can pretty much assure you that, that will not happen. I do not see how it is different then a reviewer showing action from the game in a video review for instance.

[scholar]

Forgive my stupidity but I have two questions that I'm not sure if they have been answered or not, they revolve around user posted content on this forum:

Should you create an AAR on this forum are you allowed to post it elsewhere? If the rights are automatically transferred to Paradox I feel a sense of unease about the legality of posting an AAR elsewhere as this is something that I am guilty of. Similarly if you post an AAR elsewhere (another site, forum or otherwise) and you then post that content here is the rights to the written works transferred automatically requiring the deletion of the works where previously posted? Further if you post said content on another forum which has a similar rule of transferring copyright material to that forum, when posting said content on this site evolve into a situation where both sites share join copyright privileges to the material, or does the site that first had the material posted maintain a superior claim even if permission to share the material was given? Or rather: I post something on site A, rights are transferred to site A owners, permission to post on site B is granted, it is posted on site B, but site B now also claims ownership. Which takes prevalence? The original claimant or the later? Or a more down to earth and recent example: Anything posted on Youtube becomes the property of Youtube, which means that videos from youtube posted on Paradox will lead to a difficult situation. This is a legal nightmare that poses a legitimate concern, at least from my view.

Second revolves around mod content. There are many users all around this board dedicated to modding the game to make it more enjoyable and to fill in "niches within a niche." Another major problem that should be resolved is whether or not mods posted on this forum are transferred to Paradox for very similar reasons for the AARs, this one is far more prevalent however. AARs are just text, text that take a great deal of time to craft and mix with images, but text nonetheless and are often shared in a few places depending on the author. Mods are, however, far more appealing to the general gaming public and are far more widely spread. A popular mod (lets call it 'A') is downloaded by many people, the creators of the mod often create smaller sites to work on the mod elsewhere. Mod A is a mod that has a rather large modding team that have their own development forum thus creating an impasse as whatever content is posted at Paradox is duplicated on this modding site, further these mods may, and often are, made available on other forums. These forums may also stake a claim on ownership of the mod in direct conflict with paradox.

These are two issues that I can see causing serious legal issues should Paradox wish to enforce ownership on written works or user made modifications. Now for every day posts I do not see this becoming an issue as most posts and comments will be spontaneous and only shared readily in very select and few circumstances. I do not intend for this to in any way challenge or oppose the paradox staff, I will remove it myself immediately and take it via PM or email should it be construed this way. It is just something I feel should be resolved, if at all possible. People are often proud of the work they do here in both Mods and AARs, they would not choose to showcase it otherwise. This invariably leads to them showcasing it elsewhere, sharing it with friends and exposing it to new audiences. There are three things that I can see happening: The removal of AARs and Modifications from Paradox Interactive Forums, thus removing all potential legal conflict regarding these issues, the removal of AAR posts and Modifications from Paradox ownership, or the formal request that any AARs or Mods posted on Paradox be unique and never be reproduced. The first I believe would hurt the Paradox community greatly, the second would allow for a sigh of relief but would compromise Paradox's position making it unlikely, and the third... well, will be almost impossible to enforce as Paradox has no access nor control over what members do outside the forum. They could post this on a major scholastic journal or computer company's page and Paradox would never know until it tried to enforce ownership over the property.

I apologize again if this in any way seems like a challenge to Paradox's authority or rules, and stand by my statement that I will remove it immediately if it is seen as such. Hopefully I'm just acting like an idiot and over complicating a rather simple issue.

[Castellon]

Answered many times even in this thread, Not unclear at all.
We have said it nice, even our CEO has commented in this very thread about our intent.
So I will say it bluntly, Paradox owns anything and everything posted here.
If you feel a concern about it, then do not post it here, simple as that.

If you read all the posts here and you still have fears, then simply do not participate in the AAR or User Mod forums.
This is the way it needs to be to protect Paradox, and the policy will not change.

Also your situation with user mods having an external forum does not apply since external links are not allowed.
The rules state you or Paradox must be the copyright holder to post it here.If you post it here you cede the rights to Paradox.

[scholar]

My concern about it is not so much that you have the rights, but that the AAR or Mod may be posted elsewhere (and that can cause ownership conflict as different forums will claim ownership, either in part or total). I am not suggesting that those links would be made available on Paradox, I'm inquiring about content displayed here being displayed elsewhere, on other forums or sites, which may or may not also claim ownership of any posted material. I, in no way, meant to suggest that you have been anything other than kind about what you've said in this topic. I apologize if this was the case. I enjoy coming here, I really do. I enjoy sharing what I write and do here, it builds a sense of community. I'm not upset about you getting the rights to anything I or others post here. If you feel like you've already addressed this, then just forget I asked anything at all.

[Castellon]

No Worries I am not upset, sometimes posts on the forum appear harsher than intended because they lack tone of voice and body language.

My point is really that in a decade there has not been any problems related to AARs and I doubt there ever will, so what I tell members is get a publishing deal then contact me and I will take care of you. Otherwise don't worry about possibilities and what ifs. Paradox is very reasonable, and look at it this way, if you are publishing an AAR related to one of our games, that is indirect advertising for us, why would we hamper that effort.

As for other sites claiming ownership, remember that if you use our IP in the story, you cannot give away the rights to it since you do not own them in the first place.

[scholar]

Alright, I guess I was just making a situation too complex.

[Dragassa]

I don't know if this is the right area, but I need to know how to join my two accounts. I am Vara del Rey and Dragassa( due to computer problems) now I am under the old "dragassa" and therefore games I am registered under "Vara Del Rey" I can't get into some areas of the forums. How do I go about joining both accounts? Thank you. If not the right place please point me in the right direction.

[Castellon]

You are not allowed to have more than one account. Accounts cannot be merged this is one of the reasons why the rules specifically prohibit this, and why the login message says not to start a new account.
For anyone else that encounters a problem they need to contact us, we can sort out any problem right up until you register a second account and put games on it.

[Dragassa]

I read your reply, am I then to assume there is no remedy to my issue?

[Castellon]

Saddly that is correct.

[Ordo Impavidus]

He could just repurchase the games he had wanted to transfer. So, for example, if "Vara del Ray" is the account he wants to keep using, then he needs only to repurchase 3 titles (EUIII collector's edition, Rome and In Nomine) and add those to the preferred account. Well, that is what I would do.