Various missing levelsets.

[BigOto2]

Well, all I can say now is that I feel sorry for those who had their levels falsely claimed copyright on, and that they have lost the unjust battle. The way copyright is run these days may now continue to bring adversity into my life.

[jblewis]

I'm not going to comment on the nuances of copyright law, as I'm still becoming familiar with it myself as a photographer. But Andrew ultimately is in a position to establish the boundaries within which everyone is to operate with respect to material submitted to a site he owned and operated.

What I do object to, however, is the use of that position as a bargaining chip when soliciting the favor of other community members.

[M11k4]

Please don't lock this topic. If it needs to come out, why not let it happen here?

If thepondersim had first promised to give everyone back what he took down, maybe in time a staff position could have been possible. But his way of thinking wasn't like that, but I don't feel he realized it looked like black mail either. Now he will feel everyone is out to get him, which he shouldn't, because it's not true. I'd like to think that given a smoother approach to the subject, he would have uploaded everything again at some point. I hope he still can do that, considering a lot of the archives were originally from CC Zone.

As for the "lost levels", I for one didn't enter the create comps because of the rules. I didn't upload any other sets either, so I'm not sure if those ones had similar exclusiveness clauses, but I'd think not. I feel that the clause was perhaps unfair, (since people want to enter the comps, but still keep their levels) but it was there and we should accept the consequences. Maybe he'll create a set that contains them all and thus make them at least available for everyone. Or maybe he'll be nice and give the rights back. But all this argueing, it won't make things better, so sometimes it's good to hold your tongue, even if you're right. (not aimed at anyone in particular)

-Miika

[KeyboardWielder]

However, copyright can be reassigned if the person expressly agrees.

...

If the creator ... signs an exclusive contract, only the record company can use it. And that's exactly what happened at Chip's Portal because of the word "exclusive" I put in the conditions.

Except that nobody "signed" anything...

"Under the U.S. Copyright Act, a transfer of ownership in copyright must be memorialized in a writing signed by the transferor. For that purpose, ownership in copyright includes exclusive licenses of rights. Thus exclusive licenses, to be effective, must be granted in a written instrument signed by the grantor."

[lookatthis]

How would you know that if you live in India?

[budugoo]

*Rajinikanth*



BTW, should we make some sort of legal documentation regarding the copyright of the levels uploaded here?

@AdrenalinDragon: would you be interested in actually exercising your rights on the levels before the notice has been created?



Edit: This is the first post I've made... the other one was "lookatthis"

[AdrenalinDragon]

Don't double post please, budugoo. Edit your post or wait for a response. I'll let you off the hook only this time.

*Rajinikanth*



BTW, should we make some sort of legal documentation regarding the copyright of the levels uploaded here?

@AdrenalinDragon: would you be interested in actually exercising your rights on the levels before the notice has been created?

Basically, what happened was Andrew R. had a website prior to CC Zone: The Next Level called Chip's Portal. Not too long after I launched this site, he shut the website down without any warning, and many levelsets were lost in the process. Thankfully, Andrew R. eventually allowed us to re-download the missing levelsets off Chip's Portal before he deleted the site permanently.

As far as I know, no custom levels, including CCLP levels currently have any copyright attached to them, but someone else probably can give you a better answer for that.