So here's the thing. I actually make mobile apps, some of which are free to play.
That's a different ballpark than an adopted design which, again, you never informed me of the terms of use.
If you react to a mobile app user base in such a manner - for example, someone taking a screenshot of their character and posting it on Twitter - you should probably quit while your ahead because that's not just bad business, but outright being a dick.
And for the record, if a game makes changes to their TOS, they are requires to inform their users upon them opening the app after an update. Failing to do so would cause the app to be pulled from both the iStore and Google Play which I actually know from experience
Unless you explicitly state in your TOS that it covers things you don't explicitly state within (which, as of this moment, it does not) you can not penalize a person for doing something not covered by your TOS.
And, as mentioned before, you waived your right to enforce the TOS when you failed to explicitly mention it to me prior or during purchase.
You have the copyright to the image, yes, but you also sold me the right to use that image as a character with proper attribution which I did have. Your BS "revoke usage without payment" is an additional clause which, again, does not apply to me because you never required me to agree to your TOS, nor did you inform me of the updates to the TOS so I can agree to them.
Some TOS do apply retroactively but as you do not explicitly state this, nor was a retroactive clause in the version of the TOS that was active when I purchased, nor did you require me to agree to your TOS you /still have no leg to stand on/.
Well, I've only seen some games notify of an updated TOS. Which, since my TOS is basically rehashing my rights as copyright owner, all I really need to do is specify what you ARE allowed to do. The rest is automatically disallowed. Websites basically never notify, from what I've seen.
That's not how the law works. At all. If you don't explicitly state a user can or cannot do something, the user can do that action without penalty.
And by not notifying they run the risk of getting in trouble with both their userbase and the law, as AOL did in the 90s. You may have updated the TOS but a failure to inform all users of that change does forefit your ability to complain that users are not notified. You have to actively inform the userbase of the change for it to be permissible to enforce. As no attempt was made at outreach that argument is invalid :/
Copyright law states that I own all rights to images I create unless I state that I give some of those rights away. And every time I change my TOS, I have it give a notification, but it's just a rehash of all the rights I'm not giving away, which legally I still have.
You own the image, yes, but you also sold over some usage rights to it with attribution - which I stated before.
And again, having your TOS give a notification works /if I was following you/. I am not your follower and as such would not be notified. There was no notification given /to me/ of the updates or even of the existence of the TOS, not at the adoption of the design or the subsequent year after.
_featherweather
Also a lot of online games have the same business practice as me, and those aren't considered scams.
7 years, 1 month ago
7 years, 1 month ago
MMOs and the like mostly. My game is based on free to play mobile apps specifically, in terms of execution.
7 years, 1 month ago
7 years, 1 month ago
I actually am running this as a business, and I have been dealing with getting legal advice.
7 years, 1 month ago
7 years, 1 month ago
So here's the thing. I actually make mobile apps, some of which are free to play.
That's a different ballpark than an adopted design which, again, you never informed me of the terms of use.
If you react to a mobile app user base in such a manner - for example, someone taking a screenshot of their character and posting it on Twitter - you should probably quit while your ahead because that's not just bad business, but outright being a dick.
And for the record, if a game makes changes to their TOS, they are requires to inform their users upon them opening the app after an update. Failing to do so would cause the app to be pulled from both the iStore and Google Play which I actually know from experience
7 years, 1 month ago
As you said, this is different. And as an artist, my rights are mine unless I explicitly give them away, which I did not.
7 years, 1 month ago
No. They aren't.
Unless you explicitly state in your TOS that it covers things you don't explicitly state within (which, as of this moment, it does not) you can not penalize a person for doing something not covered by your TOS.
And, as mentioned before, you waived your right to enforce the TOS when you failed to explicitly mention it to me prior or during purchase.
You have the copyright to the image, yes, but you also sold me the right to use that image as a character with proper attribution which I did have. Your BS "revoke usage without payment" is an additional clause which, again, does not apply to me because you never required me to agree to your TOS, nor did you inform me of the updates to the TOS so I can agree to them.
Some TOS do apply retroactively but as you do not explicitly state this, nor was a retroactive clause in the version of the TOS that was active when I purchased, nor did you require me to agree to your TOS you /still have no leg to stand on/.
7 years, 1 month ago
Those games also require you to agree to their terms of service prior to playing which you did not require.
They also require that they inform users of changes of TOS which you also did not do. :)
7 years, 1 month ago
Well, I've only seen some games notify of an updated TOS. Which, since my TOS is basically rehashing my rights as copyright owner, all I really need to do is specify what you ARE allowed to do. The rest is automatically disallowed. Websites basically never notify, from what I've seen.
7 years, 1 month ago
That's not how the law works. At all. If you don't explicitly state a user can or cannot do something, the user can do that action without penalty.
And by not notifying they run the risk of getting in trouble with both their userbase and the law, as AOL did in the 90s. You may have updated the TOS but a failure to inform all users of that change does forefit your ability to complain that users are not notified. You have to actively inform the userbase of the change for it to be permissible to enforce. As no attempt was made at outreach that argument is invalid :/
7 years, 1 month ago
Copyright law states that I own all rights to images I create unless I state that I give some of those rights away. And every time I change my TOS, I have it give a notification, but it's just a rehash of all the rights I'm not giving away, which legally I still have.
7 years, 1 month ago
You own the image, yes, but you also sold over some usage rights to it with attribution - which I stated before.
And again, having your TOS give a notification works /if I was following you/. I am not your follower and as such would not be notified. There was no notification given /to me/ of the updates or even of the existence of the TOS, not at the adoption of the design or the subsequent year after.
7 years, 1 month ago