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Copyright Protection

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Successful Сases: 13



Map creators, modelers, artists working with passion on Warcraft 3 - all these people
spend their time, skill and love to contribute to our favorite game modding scene.



These people deserve respect for their work, don't they?


Unfortunately there are people who do not think so. Many websites
dedicated to Warcraft 3 publish resources fond all over the internet and especially on Hiveworkshop.com
without permission or giving proper credit to the authors or the to site hosting the resources.
Sometimes, they even try to pass the resources as their own, which is even worse.
This is all extremely unprofessional and violates copyrights.



If you witness such a case, please feel free to contact Steven Maxwell by private conversation,
or just click on the button below.


 
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DISCLAIMER: Do not badmouth the sites or their users in comments bellow. If you have problems with copyrights contact me in PM only! I have promissed @Ralle to keep the thread nice and clean and focused on solving the problems, not to disccus them here. Thank you for attention.





C o p y r i g h t P r o t e c t i o n

4 March 2018
Time of execution 00:19:34


Today, the User of third party russian site dedicated to Warcraft 3, that have stolen 9 resources of members of Hiveworkshop was banned by administration of that site for copyright infringement.

 
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Ku, Maxwell! Can you please tell me if it is possible to protect copyright from Blizzard? And how?! For example, player-created map.​

 
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You cant. As far as I know after Reforge all rights on content created via World Editor belongs to Blizzard Ent. You can read about it on WE starting screen.
That is, if the version of the map is earlier than the reforge, then the rights remain with me?
 
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Nope. Even if you dont own Reforge you are still forced to launch it's WE and have same launcher (if you are not using pirated version of Wc3 wich is bad).
You forget about the days of "licensed discs". I have one of these from the time when dinosaurs ran the earth. 😂

You forget about the days of "licensed discs". I have one of these from the time when dinosaurs ran the earth. 😂
True, I'm not completely sure that he is a license
 
As far as I know after Reforge all rights on content created via World Editor belongs to Blizzard Ent.

Do you have any reason to believe the contents of this post are not accurate?

The author said they were reading from a "Warcraft 3 Handbook" printed in 2002 that came with the CD, and that the printed paperwork seemed to have essentially the same custom map policy as Reforged.
 
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Do you have any reason to believe the contents of this post are not accurate?

The author said they were reading from a "Warcraft 3 Handbook" printed in 2002 that came with the CD, and that the printed paperwork seemed to have essentially the same custom map policy as Reforged.
No, Retera! Up to a certain version (up to 1.31 in my opinion. I can't say for sure right now) Blizzard completely refused support and responsibility for WorldEditor. Because of this, they even missed Dota!
 
Can you quote me from the old version of the Battle.net or Warcraft III legal documents and policies where it previously stated that Blizzard completely refused responsibility for World Editor (and don't own a custom map, like dota)? It would be really encouraging to me to see a primary source on that.
 
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Can you quote me from the old version of the Battle.net or Warcraft III legal documents and policies where it previously stated that Blizzard completely refused responsibility for World Editor (and don't own a custom map, like dota)? It would be really encouraging to me to see a primary source on that.
I'll let you know tomorrow. I'm on the phone now
 
Ok, thanks! Yea it would definitely be really cool to see the source on that one. There are quite a lot of maps that I created in the old days. It would be fun to declare myself the ideological owner of their custom content, such as the Retera hero that I later named my online accounts after.

Otherwise maybe I should change my Hive account name to werasdfqwerasdgfjaikgha because I just made that up by hammering the keyboard and so I own that name.
 
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Ok, thanks! Yea it would definitely be really cool to see the source on that one. There are quite a lot of maps that I created in the old days. It would be fun to declare myself the ideological owner of their custom content, such as the Retera hero that I later named my online accounts after.

Otherwise maybe I should change my Hive account name to werasdfqwerasdgfjaikgha because I just made that up by hammering the keyboard and so I own that name.
Old license!


"Welkom to World Editor Warcraft 3"
Attention Blizzard does not support the editor! The technical support service does not answer questions related to it.
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YOU SHOULD CAREFULLY READ THE FOLLOWING END USER LICENSE AGREEMENT BEFORE INSTALLING THISSOFTWARE PROGRAM.
This software program including any and all subsequent patches, any printed materials, any on-line or electronic documentation, and any and all copies and derivative works of such software program and materials (the "Program") are the copyrighted work of Blizzard Entertainment, Inc., a Delaware corporation, and/or its licensors and/or its suppliers. All use of the Program is governed by the terms of the End User License Agreement which is provided below ("License"). The Program is solely for use by end users according to the terms of the License. Any use, reproduction or redistribution of the Program not in accordance with the terms of the License is expressly prohibited.

END USER LICENSE AGREEMENT

1. Limited Use License. Blizzard Entertainment,Inc. ("the Licensor"), hereby grants, and by installing the Program you thereby accept, a limited, non-exclusive license and right to install and use one (1) copy of the Program for your use on either a home, business or portable computer; You may not network the Program or otherwise install it or use it on more than one computer at a time, except if expressly authorised otherwise in the applicable documentation which you should refer to if :(a) The Program contains a Level / World Editor (“Editor”) that allows you to create custom levels or other materials for your personal use in connection with the Program (“New Materials”).(b) The Program has a multi-player capability. This multi-player capability allows users to utilize the Program over the Internet exclusively through Blizzard Entertainment’s online game network Battle.net or other hosting services dully authorized by Blizzard Entertainment. Use of the Program over Battle.net or other hosting services dully authorized by Blizzard Entertainment is subject to your acceptance of Battle.net’s Terms of Use Agreement. Blizzard Entertainment reserves the right to update, modify or change the Battle.net Terms of Use Agreement at any time. The Program is licensed not sold. Your license confers no title or ownership in the Program.

2. Ownership. All title, ownership rights and intellectual property rights in and to the Program and any and all copies thereof(including but not limited to any titles, computer code, themes, objects, characters, character names, stories, dialog, catch phrases, locations, concepts, artwork, animations, sounds, musical compositions, audio-visual effects, methods of operation, moral rights, any related documentation, and "applets" incorporated into the Program) are owned by the Licensor or its licensors. The Program is protected by the English copyright laws , international copyright treaties and conventions and any other applicable laws. All rights are reserved. The Program may contain certain licensed materials and the Licensor's licensors may act to protect their rights in the event of any violation of this Agreement.

3. Responsibilities of End User.
A. Subject to the Grant of License herein above, you may not, in whole or in part, copy, photocopy, reproduce, sublicense, translate, reverse engineer, derive source code, modify, disassemble, decompile, create a source code equivalent, create derivative works based on the Program, or remove any proprietary notices or labels on the Program, or allow others to do so, without the prior consent, in writing, of the Licensor.
B. The Program is licensed to you as a single product. Its component parts may not be separated for use on more than one computer.
C. You are entitled to use the Program for your own use, but you are not be entitled to:
(i) sell, grant a security interest in or transfer reproductions of the Program to other parties in any way, nor to rent, lease or license the Program to others without the Licensor prior written consent ;
(ii) publish and/or distribute the computer images, sound, files, fonts, graphics, clipart, animations, photographs, databases or other content of the Program (including without limitation, for resale printed materials for your personal or business use (e.g., flyers and brochures) and on your personal and business website);use any of the computer images related to identifiable individuals or entities in a manner which suggests their association with or endorsement of any product or services ;
(iii) exploit the Program or any of its parts, computer images, sound files, fonts, graphics, clipart, animations, photographs, databases or other content in the Program, for any commercial purpose including, but not limited to, use at a cyber café, computer gaming centre or any other location-based site.
(iv) use or allow third parties to use the Editor and the New Materials created thereby for commercial purposes including, but not limited to, distribution of New Materials on a stand alone basis or packaged with other software or hardware through any and all distribution channels, including, but not limited to, retail sales and on-line electronic distribution without the express written consent of Licensor;
(v) host or provide matchmaking services for the Program or emulate or redirect the communication protocols used by the Licensor in the network feature of the Program, through protocol emulation, tunnelling, modifying or adding components to the Program, use of a utility program or any other techniques now known or hereafter developed, for any purpose including, but not limited to network play over the Internet, network play utilising commercial or non-commercial gaming networks or as part of content aggregation networks without the Licensor prior written consent.
(vi) create or maintain, under any circumstance, more than one simultaneous connection to Battle.net or other hosting services authorized by Blizzard Entertainment. All such connections to Battle.net or other hosting services authorized by Blizzard Entertainment, whether created by the Program or by other tools and utilities,may only be made through methods and means expressly approved by Blizzard Entertainment. Under no circumstances may you connect, or create tools that allow you to connect to Battle.net’s private binary interface or interfaces other than those explicitly provided by Blizzard Entertainment for public use.

4. Program Transfer. You may permanently transfer all of your rights under this License, provided the recipient agrees to the terms of this License and you agree to remove the Program from you home, business, or portable computer.

5. Termination. This License is effective until terminated. You may terminate the License at any time by destroying the Program and any New Material. The Licensor may, at its discretion, terminate this License in the event that you fail to comply with the terms and conditions contained herein. In such event, you must immediately destroy the Program and any New Material.

6. Export Controls. The Program may not be re-exported, download or otherwise exported into (or to a national or resident of) any country to which the U.S. has embargoed goods, or anyone on the U.S. Treasury Department’s list of Specially Designated National or the U.S. Treasury Department’s Table of Denial Orders. By installing the Program, you are agreeing to the foregoing and you are representing and warranting that you are not located in, under the control of, or a national or resident of any such country or on any such list.

7. Customer Service/Technical Support. Licensor agrees to provide Customer Service and Technical Support for this Program until such time as the Program is “out of publication.” The Program shall be considered “Out of Publication” one (1) year following the date that the Program is no longer manufactured and/or distributed by Licensor, or its licensors. “Customer Service” as used herein may be provided to you by Licensor representatives by telephone and/or by electronic message (e-mail). “Technical Support” may be provided to you by Licensor by telephone, electronic message(e-mail), or by posting of information related to known technical support issues on a website. Unless otherwise stated in the Program’s packaging or in the Program’s user manual, nothing herein shall be construed so as toplace a duty upon Licensor to provide Customer Service or Technical Support via a toll free telephone numberfor an unlimited period of time.

8. Duration of the “On-Line” component of the Program. This Program contains an ‘on-line’ component that allows you to utilize the Product over the internet utilizing servers and software maintained or authorized by Licensor. Licensor agrees to provide the servers and software technology necessary to utilize the “on-line”component of the this Program until such time as the Program is Out of Publication, as defined above. Thereafter, Licensor may, in its sole discretion, continue to provide the servers and software technology necessary to utilize the “on-line” component of the this Program, or Licensor may license to third parties the right to provide the servers and software technology necessary to utilize the “on-line” component of this Program. However, nothing contained herein shall be construed so as to place an obligation upon Licensor to provide the servers and software technology necessary to utilize the “on-line” beyond the time that the Program is Out of Publication.

9. Limited Warranty. THE LICENSOR EXPRESSLY DISCLAIMS ANY WARRANTY FOR THE PROGRAM, EDITOR, AND MANUAL(S). THEPROGRAM, EDITOR AND MANUAL(S) ARE PROVIDED "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EITHEREXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY,FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, OR NON-INFRINGEMENT. The entire risk arising out of use or performance of the Program, Editor and Manual(s) remains with you. However, the Licensor warrants that the media containing the Program shall be free from defects in material and workmanship under normal use and services and the Program will perform substantially in accordance with the accompanying written materials, for a period of 2 (two) years from the date of your purchase of the Program. In order to enforce the above mentioned warranty Publisher should be informed of the defect at least 2 (two)months following its discovery. In the event that the media proves to be defective during that time period, and upon presentation to the Licensor of proof of purchase of the defective Program, the Licensor will then be able to choose between the following possibilities 1) correct any defect, 2) provide you with a product of equal value, or 3) refund your money. Some states/jurisdiction do not allow limitation on duration of an implied warranty, so the above limitation may not apply to you. This Limited Warranty does not affect the application of any legal warranty provided by the applicable laws and regulations.

10. Limitation of Liability. NEITHER BLIZZARD, ITS PARENT, SUBSIDIARIES, AFFILIATES OR LICENSORSSHALL BE LIABLE IN ANY WAY FOR LOSS OR DAMAGE OF ANY KIND RESULTING FROM THE USE OF THEPROGRAM OR EDITOR OR BLIZZARD ENTERTAINMENT’S ONLINE GAME NETWORK, BATTLE.NET OR OTHERON-LINE PROVIDED AUHTORIZED BY BLIZZARD ENTERTAINMENT, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, LOSSOF GOODWILL, WORK STOPPAGE, COMPUTER FAILURE OR MALFUNCTION, OR ANY AND ALL OTHERCOMMERCIAL DAMAGES OR LOSSES. Some countries do not allow the exclusion or limitation of incidental or consequential damages, or allow limitations on how long an implied warranty lasts, so above limitations or exclusion may not apply to you.

11. Equitable Remedies. You hereby agree that the Licensor would be irreparably damaged if the terms of this License were not specifically enforced, and therefore you agree that the Licensor shall be entitled, without bond, other security, or proof of damages, to appropriate equitable remedies with respect to breaches of this License, in addition to such other remedies as the Licensor may otherwise have available to it under applicable laws.

12. Miscellaneous. The License shall be deemed to have been made and executed in England, and any dispute arising hereunder shall be resolved in accordance with the English law. This License may be amended, altered or modified only by an instrument in writing, specifying such amendment, alteration or modification, executed by both parties. In the event that any provision of this License shall be held by a court or other tribunal of competent jurisdiction to be unenforceable, such provision will be enforced to the maximum extent permissible and the remaining portions of this License shall remain in full force and effect. The terms and conditions of a paper printed licence eventually accompanying the Program prevail on any terms and condition of a license eventually included in the Program and that could appear on screen. You hereby acknowledge that you have read and understand the foregoing License and agree that the action of installing the Program is an acknowledgement of your agreement to be bound by the terms and conditions of the License contained herein. You also acknowledge and agree that this License is the complete and exclusive statement of the agreement between the Licensor and you and that the License supersedes any prior or contemporaneous agreement, either oral or written, and any other communications between the Licensor and you including any inconsistent written license agreement or on-line help accompanying the Program.
 

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This license appears to be the same or incredibly similar to the one quoted in that post that I linked, though. What makes you confident that your interpretation of this license is correct? It still contains the clauses:
The Program contains a Level / World Editor (“Editor”) that allows you to create custom levels or other materials for your personal use in connection with the Program (“New Materials”).

(iv) use or allow third parties to use the Editor and the New Materials created thereby for commercial purposes including, but not limited to, distribution of New Materials on a stand alone basis or packaged with other software or hardware through any and all distribution channels, including, but not limited to, retail sales and on-line electronic distribution without the express written consent of Licensor;

5. Termination. This License is effective until terminated. You may terminate the License at any time by destroying the Program and any New Material. The Licensor may, at its discretion, terminate this License in the event that you fail to comply with the terms and conditions contained herein. In such event, you must immediately destroy the Program and any New Material.
 
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This license appears to be the same or incredibly similar to the one quoted in that post that I linked, though. What makes you confident that your interpretation of this license is correct? It still contains the clauses:
Well, I didn't change it. And there is a very interesting point 9. When installing a game from a disc, your Warcraft will always have a license text.
 
I gotta go and will be away from Hive for a while so I can focus on work, but Reforged WE links to the online agreements that seem similar (this is from clicking the URL inside Reforged WE):

Limited Warranty. TO THE FULLEST EXTENT ALLOWED BY APPLICABLE LAW, THE PLATFORM, ACCOUNTS, AND THE GAME(S) ARE PROVIDED ON AN “AS IS” AND “AS AVAILABLE,” BASIS FOR USE, WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION ANY IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF CONDITION, UNINTERRUPTED OR ERROR-FREE USE, MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, NONINFRINGEMENT, TITLE, AND THOSE ARISING FROM COURSE OF DEALING OR USAGE OF TRADE, and the entire risk arising out of use or performance of the Platform and the Game(s) remains with the user. Notwithstanding the foregoing, Blizzard warrants up to and including ninety (90) days from the date of your purchase of a license to the Game, that the physical media on which the Game was distributed, if any, shall be free from defects in material and workmanship. In the event that such media proves to be defective during that time period, and upon presentation to Blizzard of proof of purchase of the defective media, Blizzard will at its option: (a) correct any defect, (b) provide you with a similar product of similar value, or (c) refund your money. TO THE FULLEST EXTENT ALLOWED BY APPLICABLE LAW, THE FOREGOING IS YOUR SOLE AND EXCLUSIVE REMEDY FOR THE EXPRESS WARRANTY SET FORTH IN THIS SECTION.
It just seems really similar to point 9.
 
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Even before reforged from what I understand you couldn't copyright per se anything made on the editor - even DotA is not : not the idea, not the war3 version.
When a publisher is chill towards modding it usually means : do what you want as long as you don't gain money from it. Nowadays with paypal, patreon etc. it's a bit murkier.

If you made, say, a character on a map I guess it would depend if blizzard has any interest in using it : if they want to put it in overwatch2 you can't stop them. :smile:
 
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@Drake53 and all custom models while at it, so the only thing that's left are the game mechanics, the interface shape and terrain

@Retera that Blizzard forum guy cannot read. In that license (which may be different from the one presented on in-game Battle.net registration screen) Blizzard clearly claims all their assets as part of the agreement and because you couldn't have done anything without WorldEdit, the demand to delete these resources if the agreement is terminated. This is very different from spreading hands to also claim the end product (a map) in the new agreement:
Custom Games are and shall remain the sole and exclusive property of Blizzard. Without limiting the foregoing, you hereby assign to Blizzard all of your rights, title and interest in and to all Custom Games, and agree that should Blizzard decide that it is necessary, you agree to execute future assignments promptly upon receiving such a request from Blizzard. - 2019
If they are the same, you shall quote me the corresponding text (in spirit, not literal) in the old agreement. Example: custom code I release as part of the map in Reforged is now their property.
New 2019 | New 2020 (current)
PS: Isn't it weird that despite the PR shitstorm they couldn't dedicate a few hours of their lawyers to """debunk""" the apparent """misinterpretation"""? It was on the media, so it was not insignificant or under the radar.
 
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@Drake53 and all custom models while at it, so the only thing that's left are the game mechanics, the interface shape and terrain

@Retera that Blizzard forum guy cannot read. In that license (which may be different from the one presented on in-game Battle.net registration screen) Blizzard clearly claims all their assets as part of the agreement and because you couldn't have done anything without WorldEdit, the demand to delete these resources if the agreement is terminated. This is very different from spreading hands to also claim the end product (a map) in the new agreement:

If they are the same, you shall quote me the corresponding text (in spirit, not literal) in the old agreement. Example: custom code I release as part of the map in Reforged is now their property.
New 2019 | New 2020 (current)
PS: Isn't it weird that despite the PR shitstorm they couldn't dedicate a few hours of their lawyers to """debunk""" the apparent """misinterpretation"""? It was on the media, so it was not insignificant or under the radar.
Well, in my language, it actually looks like Blizzard is telling us "Did you do it? It's not yours, it's mine! Give it back! Agr!". And in general, the behavior of Blizzard is very strange. People don't dislike Reforged! They do not dislike bugs and when something is taken away from them!
 
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