Institutional Hypocrisy: FtB's role in infringing Mojang's copyright.

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bwillb

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Jul 29, 2019
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First I wold like to apologize to the OP for doubting his intention and arguments in my post on page 1. Second I would wonder what does this mean for FTB going forward? Will all mods that use textures from Minecraft in some form be removed from the packs and if so what would be left?
They'll probably just make new textures. One of the Soartex artists is working pretty closely with the FTB team, so who knows, they may end up using his textures.
 

CrafterOfMines57

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Jul 29, 2019
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Will all mods that use textures from Minecraft in some form be removed from the packs and if so what would be left?
I highly doubt it, because honestly what mods would be left? This should not be up to the FTB team alone to decide (assuming there is anything to decide, I still don't think there is), why Pariah decided to go here instead of the developers he believes are wronging Mojang is beyond me.
 

bwillb

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Well we could always try to get permission from Mojang....
Judging by the drama surrounding Tekkit, that's not good enough. Once you use something without permission you're evil even if you do eventually get permission.
 

ramdor

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Jul 29, 2019
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I highly doubt it, because honestly what mods would be left? This should not be up to the FTB team alone to decide (assuming there is anything to decide, I still don't think there is), why Pariah decided to go here instead of the developers he believes are wronging Mojang is beyond me.

Indeed. If he has so much spare time on his hands to go and look at 100+ texture resources in IC2, why doesn't he go and talk to Mojang about it directly. I am sure they will stop the hundreds of modders doing what they do without considering the financial impact of such a move.

For sure they know about it, and they probably do not want to change the status quo that exists at the moment. If another company made a minecraft clone that used minecraft graphics, then they would get involved instantly. That is how I see it anyway.

Does he also think that the 1000's of youtubers write to Mojang to ask if it is ok to make videos/lets play/etc/etc and gain financially from it? Didn't think so. No point wasting anymore bandwidth on this thread imo.
 

bwillb

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Jul 29, 2019
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Indeed. If he has so much spare time on his hands to go and look at 100+ texture resources in IC2, why doesn't he go and talk to Mojang about it directly. I am sure they will stop the hundreds of modders doing what they do without considering the financial impact of such a move.

For sure they know about it, and they probably do not want to change the status quo that exists at the moment. If another company made a minecraft clone that used minecraft graphics, then they would get involved instantly. That is how I see it anyway.
So stealing content is only bad if the content owners are motivated enough to do something about it? It's only a crime if you get caught, right?
 

CrafterOfMines57

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Jul 29, 2019
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So stealing content is only bad if the content owners are motivated enough to do something about it? It's only a crime if you get caught, right?
No, it's not stealing content in this case, it's modifying existing content to fit specific needs.
 

ramdor

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Jul 29, 2019
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So stealing content is only bad if the content owners are motivated enough to do something about it? It's only a crime if you get caught, right?

Believe me, content owners are motivated, Mojang included. Their inaction indirectly explains their stance on the matter, without having it written in black and white for the op to read. Until they shut down a mod or force a mod maker to change the graphics/textures then the precedence of inaction stands.
 

OmegaPython

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Slowpoke, when you say you will obey copyright laws does that mean that you will simply take down the pack if Mojang asks you to, or will you actually remove any mod that does use any of the Minecraft Assets.
 

bwillb

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No, it's not stealing content in this case, it's modifying existing content to fit specific needs.
Mojang said "This is mine, don't use it." and then people used it. Pretty sure that's stealing when the things in question do indeed belong to Mojang.
 

ramdor

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Jul 29, 2019
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Slowpoke, when you say you will obey copyright laws does that mean that you will simply take down the pack if Mojang asks you to, or will you actually remove any mod that does use any of the Minecraft Assets.

jeebus, anyone would think half the people in this thread want the end of mod makers/mods/mod pack, and everything that makes minecraft fun..... crikey, i'm heading out of here before my blood pressure gets to me.
 

CrafterOfMines57

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Jul 29, 2019
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Mojang said "This is mine, don't use it." and then people used it. Pretty sure that's stealing when the things in question do indeed belong to Mojang.
If Mojang actually followed through on
The one major rule is that you must not distribute anything we‘ve made. By “distribute anything we‘ve made” what we mean is “give copies of the game away, make commercial use of, try to make money from, or let other people get access to our game and its parts in a way that is unfair or unreasonable”. So the one major rule is that (unless we specifically agree it – such as in brand and asset usage guidelines) you must not:
  • give copies our Game to anyone else;
  • make commercial use of anything we‘ve made;
  • try to make money from anything we‘ve made; or
I'm pretty sure every mod out there using adfly and every person that has ever made money off a Minecraft YouTube video would be liable for cease and desist orders. Mojang makes an exception for mods, why are the textures of all things considered important?
 

OmegaPython

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If Mojang actually followed through on

I'm pretty sure every mod out there using adfly and every person that has ever made money off a Minecraft YouTube video would be liable for cease and desist orders. Mojang makes an exception for mods, why are the textures of all things considered important?
Yes, but they also say that YouTube videos are allowed and you may make money of them using ads as long as you include some form of unique content such as audio commentary.
 

CrafterOfMines57

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Jul 29, 2019
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Yes, but they also say that YouTube videos are allowed and you may make money of them using ads as long as you include some form of unique content such as audio commentary.
Mods are unique content are they not? By extension, the textures they contain are part of the mod, and therefore can be seen as not liable for legal action by Mojang because very unique content was in fact added.
 

bwillb

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Jul 29, 2019
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If Mojang actually followed through on

I'm pretty sure every mod out there using adfly and every person that has ever made money off a Minecraft YouTube video would be liable for cease and desist orders. Mojang makes an exception for mods, why are the textures of all things considered important?
I'd actually very much like to see them crack down on adfly. People get obnoxious with that shit. Some people break their mods down into like 10 different files all behind separate adfly links. Pathetic.
 

Spacevagrant

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Jul 29, 2019
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So at this point I suppose it is a wait and see period. We have to wait and see what Mojang will do now to know how things will pan out for the future. That is what it really comes down to at the end of the day anyway, what does Mojang allow or not.
 

57782

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Jul 29, 2019
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Using that logic, I could take any mod add a few things, change it and redistribute it and the original author can do precisely nothing. Try doing that with RP2 and see how much the community likes you. This is the real issue to me, it's ok for some people but not ok for others.

It's also worth noting that IP holders don't always get involved instantly, there have been projects that never saw a release after years of development because a cease and desist order showed up one day. They may not care now, but that may change, because the Mojang of today may not be the Mojang of tomorrow. Odds are, it's all a formality at this point and I think odds of there being huge changes to the pack are very slim (I can only speculate, I haven't seen the conversations and I'm not an FTB dev.)
 

CrafterOfMines57

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Jul 29, 2019
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Using that logic, I could take any mod add a few things, change it and redistribute it and the original author can do precisely nothing. Try doing that with RP2 and see how much the community likes you. This is the real issue to me, it's ok for some people but not ok for others.
The way I see it, it's more of a case by case situation, for your example, no that would be wrong, but for much more minor things like textures where no money is being lost by this happening, I see that as perfectly acceptable.
 

Enigmius1

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Jul 29, 2019
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At this point, I'm with the "who cares?" crowd. If the modders are in violation of an IP protection mandate by common law or agreement, that's for Mojang to address, not us. We don't need to be stirring up shit and drama over stuff that's none of our business. If you think you do then knock yourself out.
 

Bahnmor

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Jul 29, 2019
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It's been mentioned already by a few that Mojang have not taken action, which grants implicit approval.
Legality and ethics debate aside of modifying texture content, a massive part of Copyright Law is consistent enforcement. In order to have a viable legal position from which to defend your trademark you must be seen to have always taken action when made aware of infringemt. A classic example is Kleenex, who's name is no longer defendable (though the brand itself remains so). A closer-to home example is the action by Bethesda Softworks over Mojang's other game called Scrolls. Their actions seem pointless and petty over the simple name which no reasonable person (a legal entity that sadly no longer exists) would confuse with their own successful franchise.

So why take action? Because they have to be seen to be doing so in the eyes of the law so they can better defend against a real infringement further down the line. At least, that is what Bethesda's legal team will be telling them in order to justify their exorbitant fees.

Which brings me to my point. I'm not disagreeing with the OP, nor debating the legality, nor flaming anyone. I'm merely expanding on what has already been mentioned: by not taking action in the past, the legal position of Mojang is unsteady on this issue.
 

CoderJ

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Jul 29, 2019
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(Changed my mind. I don't want to be part of this conversation. OP is being a dramatic wanna-be hero by making claims in public versus private message to slowpoke or e-mailing Mojang; only reason there is any discussion on potential validity of individual mods is because Slowpoke has asked Mojang, not because of flame bait hero.)
 
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