Wanting To Clarify About Addons - and Mod PBO's

[mattchicago 10]

So i have been using Arma,arma2, arma2 OA, a very long time however i really never ventured on creating my own MP Mission / MAP and adding different units, vehicles and other things so i wanted to get some things out in the open and get some answers from the developers and or moderation team.

Ok so i have played a lot of missions that require addons or mod folder and i have downloaded them to my computer so i wanted to see what was in all these PBO files so i created 1 general addon folder and dumped everything into 1 folder and i have found some pretty cool cars, buildings, units and other things and i want to use everything i like on my MP Mission i am creating

However since i did not texture, model or make these vehicles or units where does that fall into copyright and also copyright laws and regulations since technically all items made for Arma2 Arrowhead would be under direct copyright under BI Studio's since you technically made the platform and people have just dumped there own designs and creativity into the platform.

I have seen this a lot on the forums about people "stealing" this or that yet for most of the vehicles i have seen they are using major brand names on the vehicles as well like ford, chevy, subaru, tahoe and a assortment of other things.

As for Scripts and stuff i would think as long as you keep the script in "tact" as in credits in the script that also should be under CCC since its made for the actual gaming platform its not exclusive to someones own game they have created and have copyright ownership (trademark) or registered under the copyright office for intellectual property.

The only thing i am good at is just object (placement) and map redecorating or re-building and road placement. As for scripts and getting units to work properly and also vehicles to work properly i have been learning on the forums how to use the init line but i do not see my RPG map coming out anytime soon, i can say everything that will be in the map will be made by someone else i am just pushing the boundries making a new mission / map people can enjoy playing on arma2 arrowhead once its done and all these scripts i have downloaded over time are implimented.

as for MPMissions Cache folder i have extracted some of the PBO's to see how they were layed out and made and that is where i got most of the scripts from playing online with a lot of missions. and also some that people have sent me.

Edited April 9, 2012 by mattchicago

[max power 21]

However since i did not texture, model or make these vehicles or units where does that fall into copyright and also copyright laws and regulations since technically all items made for Arma2 Arrowhead would be under direct copyright under BI Studio's since you technically made the platform and people have just dumped there own designs and creativity into the platform.

Copyrights for custom addons are retained by the creators of those addons. Use of that addon would be restricted by the scope of the license provided. In the absense of a license would would assume the most restrictive license possible in terms of re-distribution or derivative works. Licenses applied to an entire pack of addons would apply to the pack as a whole.

I have seen this a lot on the forums about people "stealing" this or that yet for most of the vehicles i have seen they are using major brand names on the vehicles as well like ford, chevy, subaru, tahoe and a assortment of other things.

Artwork may be made under the doctrine of nominative fair use, where a work of art is created to portray a certain object, and has marks on that object, or a label put on that object in line with that portrayal or the identity of that object. This is not the same as making a business that uses Ford's logo to associate itself with Ford.

If I make a work of art, and that art is not infringing on anybody's rights, that artwork is mine. Say I make a model of a porsche, and that model is legally correct under the doctrine of nominative fair use. Other people are free to make their own models of porches, but they may not use portions of my artwork to do that without permission. They may even attempt to recreate my model if they so choose, but they may not use portions of my model to do that. If they do, they have plagerized my artwork.

As for Scripts and stuff i would think as long as you keep the script in "tact" as in credits in the script that also should be under CCC since its made for the actual gaming platform its not exclusive to someones own game they have created and have copyright ownership (trademark) or registered under the copyright office for intellectual property.

Use of any intellectual property would be restricted by the license it is distributed with.

The only thing i am good at is just object (placement) and map redecorating or re-building and road placement. As for scripts and getting units to work properly and also vehicles to work properly i have been learning on the forums how to use the init line but i do not see my RPG map coming out anytime soon, i can say everything that will be in the map will be made by someone else i am just pushing the boundries making a new mission / map people can enjoy playing on arma2 arrowhead once its done and all these scripts i have downloaded over time are implimented.

as for MPMissions Cache folder i have extracted some of the PBO's to see how they were layed out and made and that is where i got most of the scripts from playing online with a lot of missions. and also some that people have sent me.

It might be more ethical to find missions that you like in a form that you can inspect the license to find out what the authors' wishes are, or to speak to the author him or herself.

[jedra 11]

Ok so i have played a lot of missions that require addons or mod folder and i have downloaded them to my computer so i wanted to see what was in all these PBO files so i created 1 general addon folder and dumped everything into 1 folder and i have found some pretty cool cars, buildings, units and other things and i want to use everything i like on my MP Mission i am creating

If you are intending to release the mission to the community, just bear in mind that everyone who plays the mission will need all the addons you used to create it. Generally speaking, the more addons that a mission requires, the smaller the audience who will try it. Also, as you have dropped all your pbos into one folder, you will need to remember which addon they came from as when you release it you will need to tell people which additional addons they will need!

[mattchicago 10]

thanks to both of you all for clearing that up for me. I have started weeding out the addon folder for things that i am not interested in using on the mission.

---------- Post added at 10:56 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:54 PM ----------

Also what about RPGS and communities that have broken apart and no longer around? i have seen a lot of RPG missions on arma2 and arrowhead start out then people break off and make there own RPG then use other peoples addons yet they say they own them when other people actually made them, so that is why i was so curious about the ADDON Copyright stuff since it seems a lot of these addons are just a mess right now with different "so called owners"

[max power 21]

I'm not quite sure about how actual missions work. It seems like there is quite a lot of people plagiarizing each other and versioning other peoples' work in that part of the community. I don't know what the situation is and I don't feel qualified to make a judgment call on it, but if it was me I would treat scripts in missions the same way as I treat other authors and talented people in the community, and I would respond to complaints made by mission makers in the same way I respond to complaints made by addon makers.

[mattchicago 10]

well i guess i am glad i got permission from a assortment of different RPG communities to use there scripts and addons. I always ask first anyways before using anything i just wanted to clarify the legalities due to the game platform being owned by bistudio's and theoretically anything made for a entity is owned by the entity in retrospect. Since if say a act of god happened and all the arma2 servers shut down all of everyone's addons and scripts would be invalid anyways.

I have always delt with copyright but mostly music entertainment industry wise nothing ever video game content wise.

[max power 21]

anything made for a entity is owned by the entity in retrospect. Since if say a act of god happened and all the arma2 servers shut down all of everyone's addons and scripts would be invalid anyways.

BIS has stated a while back that anything created by an individual remains the property of that individual (in terms of addon making). It stands to reason that any unique idea or concept created for a mission or script would still be applicable in another medium.