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How are they not being sued?
lordpenquin
Member Posts: 129
You've all heard "this game is a rip-off of that game" before and most of the time it's just a silly argument with no basis.
However in Perpetuum's case, how are they not being sued by CCP? I was in beta and not only was almost the entire GUI taken directly from eve, they had the SAME EXACT symbols for the buttons! There's a difference between being "inspired" by and just plain ripping off. I felt like I was playing eve. It's like that case where white wolf sued sony pictures for making Underworld. They listed hundreds of exact instances where that movie was a total rip off of world of darkness. CCP could do the same thing.
I don't know if the game is any good or not, but if you're going to steal a GUI, at least have the decency to move it around a bit and for Crom's sake make your own graphics!
Comments
maybe there gonig to do what all companies do.
wait a year until Perpetuum has made a nice profit then sue.. more money for them. ?
You need to do some research on the ui, then come back.
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The person who is certain, and who claims divine warrant for his certainty, belongs now to the infancy of our species.
Bad example. It was 60 examples, and the case for infringement was never settled. In fact, if you look at the complaint, WW listed many items as 'original' that in fact were, by comparison, direct rip offs of Bram Stoker or Anne Rice. Sony and WW settled out of court without Sony admitting any guilt. It certainly didn't stop them from making another Underworld movie.
In fact, this example you provide proves the very opposite of what you think it proves: copywrite infringement is hard to prove.
"Look and feel" cannot be copyrighted. This was settled back in the late 1980s/early 1990s. You *can* copyright specific graphics (icons), but not the general style of an interface.
Ideas cannot by copyrighted; only the specific implementation of an idea can be. There's no copyright on "Orphan boy goes to wizarding school" or "Adventurers go into a dungeon and kill monsters".
The vast bulk of copyright lawsuits would be settled in the defendent's favor IF the matter actually went to court. Most are settled out of court because it's cheaper to do that and companies which have an IP to market don't want any investors seeing that there's "pending legislation". Thus, for Sony, paying a bribe to White Wolf to go away was quicker and easier than a long, slow, court battle that would have made it impossible to move forward with Underworld 2.
If lawyers who knowingly file lawsuits that have no merit were sent to jail, instead of getting a fat percentage of the out of court settlement, we'd be a lot better off. But that's another thread.
Good summary on the copyrightability of interfaces: http://groups.csail.mit.edu/mac/classes/6.805/articles/int-prop/software-copyright.html#Lotus
Basically, the First Circuit Court of Appeals held that a user interface is an uncopyrightable "method of operation", the Supreme Court split 4-4, and as far as I know, that's there the law currently stands.
{Mod Edit}
Even if people do consider it a ripoff, im glad its here, i always wanted to play a game like EvE, but didnt like spaceship, and didnt like the fact that i would be jumping in new to a game that has been around so long, when its time based progression.
Its a great game for anyone who missed out on EvE, or just dont like the EvE style and community.
{Mod Edit}
I'm just going to say 2 things:
After trying Perpetuum out in beta, I am keeping my eye on any news about it, because it's bound to get some flack from CCP. I know that it's not 'true copywrite infringement" but I'll be damned if it isn't obvious as hell that they even took some of the UI graphics out of their EVE folder.
That being said, I personally don't mind. Like some of the others who posted before me, I think it's great that a company chose EVE to get inspiration from for another scifi game. The story/lore and world environment is nothing like EvE whatsoever, so they do have their own ideas.
They aren't the biggest and richest developers in the world, so I don't know what would have been the end product if they hadn't copied EVE's interface and mechanics. Doubtful that their own design implimentation would have got the job done.
k maybe 3 things. ;-)
Maybe its the ole "can't squeeze blood out of a turnip" argument, perpetuum isn't exactly raking it in from what i can tell...
Besides that, the core game is different enough that borrowing the ui feel is probably not something CCP is worried about.
Eve has remained top dog in the sandbox space genre for a long time, I doubt they are concerned enough by perpetuum as a competitor that they are feel its worthwhile to seek damages from them. Or maybe CCP just isnt a very litigious group.
If your going to rip of a UI the least you could do is rip off a GOOD one...
-Currently looking forward to FFXIV
-Currently playing EvE and Global Agenda
LOL@ this ;-)
couldn't agree more, even though I don't mind the UI after playing for so many years... If I was a dev for Perpetuum, the last thing I would have taken from EVE is the UI hahahah