Sued For Making A Counter Strike Map

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I'm not familiar with Canadian law but what would you actually sue this guy for? Thanks to Yakk for the heads up.

An independent video game concept designer is in legal trouble for helping to virtually recreate the city's metro system for one of the most popular games in the world. Montreal's public transit authority, the Societe de transport de Montreal (STM), threatened to sue Diego Liatis, 35, if he published his version of the popular game Counter Strike online.
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/facepalm

They probably need some money to pay for all the corruption.
 
It's Quebec. They are all morons over there. (Except the ones on [H] :D )
 
"(The STM representative ) told me that they feared the game could create panic among the city's public transit users," Liatis said.

Until now, I doubt any of those passengers would've known about it.
 
And if it would have been the US it would be spun as something that could help terrorists train.
 
I daresay that I suspect that there might be a little Streisand effect and somebody will do the Toronto subway, or worse... Ottawa; oh wait, it's not built yet...:rolleyes:
 
"Unfortunately for Liatis, the city's transit authority didn't want its copyrighted metro network to be used for the game."

You can copyright the design of a subway? lol
 
Well, in all fairness, if they actually did copyright their design (as the article indicated) then it is protected legally ... also, if you are going to use a real location for something would it hurt to discuss that with the location owner ... if I owned a bank or a school I might not be happy with someone using that setting without discussing it with me ... I also think the use of these "real locations" is more a symptom of lack of imagination on the designers part that they can't think of something totally new ... of course, your mileage may vary :)
 
kbrickley said:
Well, in all fairness, if they actually did copyright their design (as the article indicated) then it is protected legally ... also, if you are going to use a real location for something would it hurt to discuss that with the location owner ... if I owned a bank or a school I might not be happy with someone using that setting without discussing it with me ... I also think the use of these "real locations" is more a symptom of lack of imagination on the designers part that they can't think of something totally new ... of course, your mileage may vary :)
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Hey! Logic and the internet is a DANGEROUS mix!
 
/usr/home said:
It's Quebec. They are all morons over there. (Except the ones on [H] :D )
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If you are trolling people from Qubec you should include a bad translation of your comment into French. Maybe even add a spelling error to the translation.
 
flatrock said:
If you are trolling people from Qubec you should include a bad translation of your comment into French. Maybe even add a spelling error to the translation.
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Ooo la la! Zee people from Quebec as zee morons.

How's that.

Really though, they mostly speak English but they just refuse to as an identity thing that the Federal government subsidizes.
 
wasnt there a case where someone tried to release map of schools for some fps... this was after some columbine or some other major school shooting incident. that didnt go over well.

sides i dont think they should use actual maps of real world locations... could be used by folks to train for attacks. i do see the possibility of that.

if you want to use a real world place, I dont have a problem with that. just design the layout yourself and dont base it on the real world location.
 
This is what happens when Canadians don't have their daily maple syrup in the morning.
 
didn't this also happen with the WMATA metro for fallout 3? Some of the names were kept but they couldn't map a replica of the system?
 
BettiePage said:
wasnt there a case where someone tried to release map of schools for some fps... this was after some columbine or some other major school shooting incident. that didnt go over well.

sides i dont think they should use actual maps of real world locations... could be used by folks to train for attacks. i do see the possibility of that.

if you want to use a real world place, I dont have a problem with that. just design the layout yourself and dont base it on the real world location.
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That was worse than this, imo. That was a highschooler, so it's not like he had access to actual design software. The map making tools were the closest thing he had, and he actually did a pretty outstanding job for a 15 year old or whatever. And instead of just suing, I think they made him change schools. :/
 
ah... montreal...

anything to make a scene ... bunch of whiners.
 
Hey Canadians, it seems your government has solved poverty and hunger, just like our government.
 
Flip the map around and release anyway. In mirror mode the city is no longer 1:1, so fuck em.
 
They'll play the National Security Card.

Oh, wait. Does Canada have those?
 
"Counter Strike is open source, meaning that just about anyone can make modifications to it."
this sounds like one of those times people like to just throw around words without researching them.
 
TechLarry said:
They'll play the National Security Card.

Oh, wait. Does Canada have those?
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According to the article this is copyright violation ... the design for the transit system is protected under copyright (for right or for wrong) ... if the person had asked and been granted permission there wouldn't have been an issue ... they didn't ask and it appears permission wouldn't have been granted if they had so they are facing the same penalties they would if they used anyone else's copyrighted materials without permission ;)
 
It's not uncommon to have real world locations in games slightly modified because they couldn't get permission to use it. Racing games deal with this frequently, even on tracks which are public roads they often mix up the scenery and change the name of the location.
 
How can they copyright the layout of a subway?

I mean, a lot of video games use real-world buildings and locations in them

off my head:
Driver : san franciso
The Getaway
Tomb Raider (which used the Aldwych subway in London)
Fallout 3 (lot of well known landmarks and buildings in it).
Assassins Creed series has featured some buildings that are still around

You telling me they had to all get permission for each building used in their games?
 
RogueTadhg said:
So you can copy right a building layout?
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Here is the relevant portion of the US Copyright rules: http://www.copyright.gov/help/faq/faq-protect.html

Does copyright protect architecture?
Yes. Architectural works became subject to copyright protection on December 1, 1990. The copyright law defines “architectural work” as “the design of a building embodied in any tangible medium of expression, including a building, architectural plans, or drawings.” Copyright protection extends to any architectural work created on or after December 1, 1990. Also, any architectural works that were unconstructed and embodied in unpublished plans or drawings on that date and were constructed by December 31, 2002, are eligible for protection. Architectural designs embodied in buildings constructed prior to December 1, 1990, are not eligible for copyright protection. See Circular 41, Copyright Claims in Architectural Works
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Apparently it is only in the last 20 years ... Canada law could be similar ... I was too lazy to keep looking :)
 
jpm100 said:
Ooo la la! Zee people from Quebec as zee morons.

How's that.

Really though, they mostly speak English but they just refuse to as an identity thing that the Federal government subsidizes.
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And the stupid comment of the day goes tooooooooooooooo
 
As someone who lives in Quebec, I can honestly say that the only real morons here are the ones in charge, oh and the people who voted for them. As for this story, I'm pretty sure you need to have permission to put images etc in a game or whatever.
 
slugbug said:
As someone who lives in Quebec, I can honestly say that the only real morons here are the ones in charge, oh and the people who voted for them. As for this story, I'm pretty sure you need to have permission to put images etc in a game or whatever.
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I don't buy this, mainly because game slike Driver: San Francisco you had people that talked about how they could navigate the city and find old apartments/buildings they used to live in.

It's just not feasible for a gam emaker to go to thousands and thousands of buildings to "recreate" a well known city in a game.
 
Stiler said:
I don't buy this, mainly because game slike Driver: San Francisco you had people that talked about how they could navigate the city and find old apartments/buildings they used to live in.

It's just not feasible for a gam emaker to go to thousands and thousands of buildings to "recreate" a well known city in a game.
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In the US the architectural copyright rules only apply to buildings after 1990 ... anything built prior to that is not covered by copyright ... TAKE THAT Frank Lloyd Wright :cool:
 
I expected someone to make a Map of their highschool and have people go completely bezerk.
 
Stiler said:
I don't buy this, mainly because game slike Driver: San Francisco you had people that talked about how they could navigate the city and find old apartments/buildings they used to live in.

It's just not feasible for a gam emaker to go to thousands and thousands of buildings to "recreate" a well known city in a game.
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There was one based in London too which used the actual buildings. (it was supposed to anyway)
 
Counter Strike is open source, meaning that just about anyone can make modifications to it.
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:rolleyes:
These people still really do not understand the idea of user-created content.
 
crap, don't have a subscription to view the article. time to see what google has to say on the issue.


Posted from Hardforum.com App for Android
 
Big deal. Change a couple of tunnels around....throw in a few different newsstands or coffee shops......maybe put the exits on the opposite side.

Plenty of ways to skirt this.
 
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