**** Forum User Agreement & Rules ****

[Castellon]

You can't make any external links? So if I'm in a historical discussion about say... the First World War and I want to link to the Wikipedia article to show something (Like this: World War I) I'm not allowed to?

I doubt anyone is going to follow a rule like that, good luck enforcing it.

Oh I have no doubts on the staffs ability to enforce any of these rules. However Wiki links are okay as I mention just 2 posts above yours.

 

[Castellon]

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.

 

[Captain Gars]

Could this not be accomplished by something along the lines of: "Paradox has a worldwide, irrevocable and perpetual license to all material... etc. etc."

I'm no lawyer, certainly not a Swedish one, but I did at one point read a lot of Groklaw... I'm pretty sure the actual assignment of copyright by forum Ts&Cs would be impossible under US law - a specific written instrument would be needed to transfer a copyright that was not created as a work for hire. I was under the impression this came from the Bern Convention.

I know this is something of a nitpick - I realise you aren't trying to do anything under hand and I'm not trying to be purposefully annoying. But surely there is something wrong with the idea that an AAR writer would need a license from Paradox to distribute their own work (in a case where no actual Paradox authored intellectual property was involved)?

More to the point, there doesn't seem to be anything else about copyright beyond the assertion of Paradox's ownership. If this was invalid in some jurisdictions, would Paradox still have any sort of explicit license to it?

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.

 

[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.

 

[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.

 

[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.

 

[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.

 

[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.

 

[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.

 

[Castellon]

Saddly that is correct.

 

[Castellon]

That situation does not exist here, and the rules are not EULA, they are continuing terms of service agreement.
Plus the rules are not some complicated legalese, they are plain logical rules, that everyone could stand to review.

 

[Castellon]

Thanks for your comments, obviously we do not pay our lawyers to come on the forum to debate people, and I don't have a degree in international copyright law, so I will not debate the issue either.
I will say that you should keep in mind that Most AARs and user mods on the forum are composed of and based on our IP to begin with so it is not like You would be free to go sell it even if you never posted it here.

If you have specific questions feel free to PM me, I am sure I can help you out, as I have done for everyone else that had a concern.

 

[Castellon]

Bump as it fell victim to the Expire thread bug.

 

[TinyWiking]

And another bump for visibility.