Official Everybody Edits Forums

AK712

Member

Joined: 2015-02-16

Posts: 94

I Can Dig It and Copyright Laws

Hello everyone,

So there have been a lot of digbots made based off of FLD I Can Dig It. Many of them copy a lot from it. Recently I've seen one that is almost an exact copy. This brings to mind copyright laws, especially since I Can Dig It the game has been in development since August/September 2014 (http://www.newgrounds.com/dump/item/bd4 … fdc8a63a80). Given Floddy and I own the game, is it legal to make an almost exact copy? Is there a way where I/Floddy can shut down all bots that explicitly rip off his bot?

Thanks,
AK712

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XxAtillaxX

Member

Joined: 2015-11-28

Posts: 4,202

Re: I Can Dig It and Copyright Laws

Not really, no.

Additionally, you underestimate the proceedings and costs an actual court case requires.
Suffice to say, it would be likely thrown out of court, with you paying for the legal costs.

You would have to prove that Everybody Edits is in some way, infringing upon your works.
You can't quite legally copyright a concept - which is the only similarity in this case.

Your best bet is to beg and whine to the moderators.
(Predictably, it would be met with laughter unless you have serious money to spend on a lawsuit.)

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*u stinky*

N1KF

Wiki Mod

From: ဪဪဪဪဪ From: ဪဪဪဪဪ From: ဪဪဪဪဪ

Joined: 2015-02-15

Posts: 11,100

Website

Re: I Can Dig It and Copyright Laws

Your best bet is to beg and whine to the moderators.

Begging and whining would likely exacerbate things; politely speaking to them would likely be more appreciated and accepted.
Politely speaking gives off the attitude that you respect them - this will make them more likely to respond to you as a result.

(Predictably, it would be met with laughter unless you have serious money to spend on a lawsuit.)

I would find a lack of humor within this predicament - the staff have to deal with an excruciating amount of people with problems and contact the staff for good or bad reasons.
Simply seeing more of the same is usually not humorous; comedy comes from unexpected.
Additionally, copyright issues are not typically seen as humorous due to their generally unexciting nature - this lowers the possibility that the staff will laugh at this.
Your statement stating that the staff will probably laugh is improbable; it states an action that is improbable is probable.

Nou

Member

Joined: 2015-02-24

Posts: 2,762

Re: I Can Dig It and Copyright Laws

By copy, you mean a copy-copy or a simulation within EE? In case of the latter, there is nothing you can do. In case of the former, you'd have to have your creation registered for copyright to be able to make a claim (expensive).

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No u.

mrjawapa

Corn Man 🌽

From: Ohio, USA

Joined: 2015-02-15

Posts: 5,840

Website

Re: I Can Dig It and Copyright Laws

By copy, you mean a copy-copy or a simulation within EE? In case of the latter, there is nothing you can do. In case of the former, you'd have to have your creation registered for copyright to be able to make a claim (expensive).

Actually, it's already protected. He just needs to be able to submit evidence that he is the original creator.
Then it can be taken to court, where everyone would lose money

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Discord: jawp#5123

icepegasus

Member

Joined: 2015-08-21

Posts: 86

Re: I Can Dig It and Copyright Laws

Well, to be honnest. U cannot do to me anything. I don't use his codes or anything, i use my own style of codes witch is mostly hardcoding. And also. This wont be as good. Alos the only reason i did this is because Original FLD wasnt online for a while and the owner has quit EE. he probably doesnt even care.

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mrjawapa

Corn Man 🌽

From: Ohio, USA

Joined: 2015-02-15

Posts: 5,840

Website

Re: I Can Dig It and Copyright Laws

I don't use his codes or anything, i use my own style of codes witch is mostly hardcoding.

Case closed.

/lock topic

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Discord: jawp#5123

Kira

Guest

Re: I Can Dig It and Copyright Laws

Hello everyone,

So there have been a lot of digbots made based off of FLD I Can Dig It. Many of them copy a lot from it. Recently I've seen one that is almost an exact copy. This brings to mind copyright laws, especially since I Can Dig It the game has been in development since August/September 2014 (http://www.newgrounds.com/dump/item/bd4 … fdc8a63a80). Given Floddy and I own the game, is it legal to make an almost exact copy? Is there a way where I/Floddy can shut down all bots that explicitly rip off his bot?

Thanks,
AK712

Didn't you quit?

Zumza

Member

From: root

Joined: 2015-02-17

Posts: 4,645

Re: I Can Dig It and Copyright Laws

Lets just say the truth not even Everybody Edits copyright would be considered valid in the court.

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Everybody edits, but some edit more than others

icepegasus

Member

Joined: 2015-08-21

Posts: 86

Re: I Can Dig It and Copyright Laws

Case closed?

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realmaster42

Formerly marcoantonimsantos

From: ̍̍̍̍̍̍̍̍̍̍̍̍̍̍̍̍̍̍̍̍̍̍̍̍̍̍̍̍̍

Joined: 2015-02-20

Posts: 1,380

Website

Re: I Can Dig It and Copyright Laws

witch is mostly hardcoding

*<insert picture of witch hardcoding here>*

Is there a way where I/Floddy can shut down all bots that explicitly rip off his bot?

you are basically asking "can i delete everybody edits because i made a simmiliar game called flixer???"

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capasha

Member

Joined: 2015-02-21

Posts: 4,066

Re: I Can Dig It and Copyright Laws

Well, to be honnest. U cannot do to me anything. I don't use his codes or anything, i use my own style of codes witch is mostly hardcoding.

I don't think that people care how you are coding the bot. They care that you are "stealing" the way that FLD did on his dig bot.

mrjawapa

Corn Man 🌽

From: Ohio, USA

Joined: 2015-02-15

Posts: 5,840

Website

Re: I Can Dig It and Copyright Laws

Why was this even brought up?

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Discord: jawp#5123

Zumza

Member

From: root

Joined: 2015-02-17

Posts: 4,645

Re: I Can Dig It and Copyright Laws

Why was this even brought up?

The topic is a question if they can own copyrights or not for it.

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Everybody edits, but some edit more than others

Mylo

Master Developer

From: Drama

Joined: 2015-02-15

Posts: 829

Re: I Can Dig It and Copyright Laws

Maybe ask https://www.reddit.com/r/legaladvice, since no one here is able to give you real help.

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https://m-k.io

Bimps

Member

Joined: 2015-02-08

Posts: 5,067

Re: I Can Dig It and Copyright Laws

Maybe ask https://www.reddit.com/r/legaladvice, since no one here is able to give you real help.

u wot

Anak

Guest

Re: I Can Dig It and Copyright Laws

Maybe ask https://www.reddit.com/r/legaladvice, since no one here is able to give you real help.

u wot

He said, "Maybe ask https://www.reddit.com/r/legaladvice, since no one here is able to give you real help."

Bimps

Member

Joined: 2015-02-08

Posts: 5,067

Re: I Can Dig It and Copyright Laws

Maybe ask https://www.reddit.com/r/legaladvice, since no one here is able to give you real help.

u wot

He said, "Maybe ask https://www.reddit.com/r/legaladvice, since no one here is able to give you real help."

are you sure

Anak

Guest

Re: I Can Dig It and Copyright Laws

Maybe ask https://www.reddit.com/r/legaladvice, since no one here is able to give you real help.

u wot

He said, "Maybe ask https://www.reddit.com/r/legaladvice, since no one here is able to give you real help."

are you sure

To be honest, it's a little ambiguous. I think I'm right, but you never know.

Kaslai

Official Caroler

From: SEAͩT̓͑TLͯͥͧͪ̽ͧE͑̚

Joined: 2015-02-17

Posts: 787

Re: I Can Dig It and Copyright Laws

Just to be clear, there is no IP protection for ideas, short of Trademark and Patent laws. If the rip-off used no images or code from your project, and does not violate any patents or trademarks you hold, then they have not infringed on any of your rights.

Copyright applies only to instantiated works, not the ideas that drove the formation of those works. You could literally tell someone an entire plot for a story, and even if he went and wrote that whole story for his self, he would then hold the copyright on the story. However, that would not preclude you from using that plot yourself, since you cannot put any IP protection on an idea.

Likewise, if you made a game, and someone else made an exact copy of the game (provided they don't use any of your code or art), you would not be able to pursue legal action.

As others have said, even if they were in violation of your IP, taking them to court would not be worthwhile, as you would likely see no winnings and you'd spend many thousands of dollars in legal fees alone. If you lawyer up (which is stupid for small claims) then you'd be looking at 20 billable hours minimum. Lawyers run you $100-$500 per hour, so you'd end up spending $2,000-$10,000 just for a lawyer.

Bimps

Member

Joined: 2015-02-08

Posts: 5,067

Re: I Can Dig It and Copyright Laws

Maybe ask https://www.reddit.com/r/legaladvice, since no one here is able to give you real help.

u wot

He said, "Maybe ask https://www.reddit.com/r/legaladvice, since no one here is able to give you real help."

are you sure

To be honest, it's a little ambiguous. I think I'm right, but you never know.

are you sure