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My Boston T map used in “The Last of Us” PS3 game

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Re: My Boston T map used in “The Last of Us” PS3 game

#21

Post by donutdan4114 »

bigiain wrote: post #14
donutdan4114 wrote: post #6

Yea, I think the author could have approached this issue with a little more grace. He should have tried to contact Naughty Dog and try to work something out before spiddling his rage into that post. Then, if Naughty Dog chooses to ignore the author's claims of copyright infringement, he could make a big stink over it. Personally, if I was the author, I'd be honored to be in a game of that magnitude at all. In other w…

If I released a compilation of games with an unauthorised copy of a Naughty Dog title, how much "grace" do you suppose they'd extend? Do you think they'd "try to contact me and work something out"? You can't have it both ways - if copyright protects Naughty Dog and their work, how can it possibly not also protect the OP's maps?

Do you think Naughty Dog would contact you, and ask that you take down your work or pay damages? Or would make an angry blog post stating how furious they are and that they demand compensation, making it public for the whole world to see?

I am thinking they would contact you first.

Re: My Boston T map used in “The Last of Us” PS3 game

#22

Post by shock-value »

jeffgreco wrote: post #4

What likely happened: Developer needs an official MBTA map. They do an image search. That map is one of the first five results. They take it from there and use it. Seems like getting " fucking furious " is a bit overkill.

Yeah and that's completely negligent if you are an artist working on the game. This is like intellectual property 101, and people in the game design field, especially at that level, should know better. Absolutely inexcusable and obviously illegal as well.

Re: My Boston T map used in “The Last of Us” PS3 game

#23

Post by to3m »

donutdan4114 wrote: post #6

Yea, I think the author could have approached this issue with a little more grace. He should have tried to contact Naughty Dog and try to work something out before spiddling his rage into that post. Then, if Naughty Dog chooses to ignore the author's claims of copyright infringement, he could make a big stink over it. Personally, if I was the author, I'd be honored to be in a game of that magnitude at all. In other w…

No, no, no. Don't be ridiculous. The level of grace exhibited is, I think, quite within acceptable bounds. Naughty Dog are professionals, and I think they can be reasonably expected to pay attention to copyright, or face some flak.

Re: My Boston T map used in “The Last of Us” PS3 game

#24

Post by bigiain »

bluetooth wrote: post #8
jaytaylor wrote: post #2

You made a map, then someone used the map. Isn't that nice? If someone using the work you published on the internet is a big problem then contact them, and if they won't remove it then file a lawsuit. This comes off as the rantings of a childish whiner.

> You made a map, then someone used the map. Isn't that nice? Yeah, if that map was free to use, then sure. But that's not the case. It's become all too common I see this type of argument used in cases where big name studios rip work of others without attribution. This is an extremely weak (not to mention somewhat offensive) argument which is analogous to telling a rape victim "you should be happy the rapist found yo…

In the inimitable words of @mike_ftw

http://vimeo.com/22053820

(marginally NSFW)

Re: My Boston T map used in “The Last of Us” PS3 game

#26

Post by chimeracoder »

LoganCale wrote: post #17
benguild wrote: post #13

I think this is a load of baloney and a huge flaw in the "copyright" system. Those maps are everywhere in Boston … in tourists' photographs, floating around on the street, on peoples' phones. If that's not public domain, I don't know what it is. It seems like this guy is just upset that he feels entitled to additional compensation when in reality he's already had his work licensed by the MBTA for their system … which…

This is not the official MBTA map, this is an unsanctioned redesign he made of it to demonstrate his idea for how to improve the official map. It is his property alone.

To the untrained eye, this probably looks indistinguishable from the actual map.

I lived in Boston for many years, took the T on a regular basis, had that map committed to memory at one point, and I still didn't realize until I looked a second time that it wasn't the official map.

They should certainly have double-checked this before copying it, but I can see why the confusion would arise.

Re: My Boston T map used in “The Last of Us” PS3 game

#28

Post by tylerritchie »

I don't understand the commenters saying that it's cool that a large company flush with cash shouldn't be expected to pay for copyrighted works it uses to make a profit.

I'm a biologist, not a lawyer, but it seems like our system is setup pretty well to protect the rights in this case. He should have consulted with a copyright attorney and started with a bill and cease and desist for $10,000 or whatever makes him happy. If they don't pay he can file a lawsuit. At this point someone would look at what the cost of the legal battle would be, and the cost of having to pull all of the existing copies of the game and re-issue it if they lose and offer to cut him a check.

Re: My Boston T map used in “The Last of Us” PS3 game

#29

Post by to3m »

donutdan4114 wrote: post #21
bigiain wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If I released a compilation of games with an unauthorised copy of a Naughty Dog title, how much "grace" do you suppose they'd extend? Do you think they'd "try to contact me and work something out"? You can't have it both ways - if copyright protects Naughty Dog and their work, how can it possibly not also protect the OP's maps?

Do you think Naughty Dog would contact you, and ask that you take down your work or pay damages? Or would make an angry blog post stating how furious they are and that they demand compensation, making it public for the whole world to see? I am thinking they would contact you first.

Acceptable standards of behaviour are very different for corporate entities. I'm sure I'm not the only one who feels they could demand a corporate entity to behave with a certain amount of class when looking out for what its owners see as its interests. By contrast, I think it actually perfectly acceptable for an individual to call out a corporation's poor behaviour, without warning, in a public post, with profanity.

Re: My Boston T map used in “The Last of Us” PS3 game

#30

Post by bigiain »

piratebroadcast wrote: post #11

I wouldnt have thought that that map was a single persons property- I thought it was a city made map. Way to be a drama queen about it.

Do you think Naughty Dog would be any more "in the right" if they'd used a "city made map" without authorisation?

(And cynical follow-up question: Do you suspect as I do that the reason they _didn't_ use the official Boston map is because they knew damn well that the Boston Metro people have lawyers on retainer, where some random designer on the internet selling his own personally created version of the Bostem T Map - which are arguably better then the official versions - has probably no on-hand legal representation, and can probably do no more that whine on his blog when we "steal" from him?)

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