Paysite Discussion Thread
PegasusDiana:
Ok I know I promised only one post, I'm gonna post just one more time. People on both sides want to point toward copyright law. This I do not understand? This has nothing to do with Copyright law per se, nor with trademark law. It has to do with Contractual law which is in EA's corner. Who among us thinks they can stand in front of a judge and have him say why did you agree to that contract if you didn't agree with it? Well I didn't know what was in it. This is not a ground for a defense.
What we have with EA is a contract a very legal contract, and we have to agree to said contract in order to install the game. Which is why there is the "I disagree" button. EA nor anyone else stands over us with and forces us to agree with their contract. That is totally our choice.
It is very similar to the contract ghost artists sign with more popular artists for them to sign off on. Contractual law and copyright law are two very different things. And ignorance of a contract you agree too is 0 grounds in a court of law for violation of that contract. The very minute we click on the I agree button we forfeit all said intellectual rights by a legal and binding "Contract" we have made with EA. Giving them "Contractual Copyright" which we no one else we agree too by contract.
babyblue1387:
Quote from: beosboxboy;755799
therein is the quandary for jurists, Spongity. The fact that there is a pre-attachment of a copyright to things in the EULA renders the EULA illegal in its very basis in the opinion of the 17 lawyers and 3 judges that would speak to me on this matter.
Beos, I'm a little confused as to how this makes the EULA illegal. I'm not sure how that works out. Anyway, I know people are going to be unhappy about this, but FOR ME, the EULA is a non-issue in this debate. If no one is going to enforce a law (for exmaple, jay-walking), then it might as well not exist. This doesn't mean that it's not wrong, just that it has no point. You could argue until you're blue in the face that it's against the EULA, but it won't do you a bit of good. I also think disregarding the EULA might make people come up with something more compelling. Like instead of the EULA being the FIRST retort, people might say "if you're claiming you need help with bandwith costs, try this. It will make it so you'll practically pay nothing. Now, if you do this and still charge, you probably don't need the money. If you ADMIT that you're doing this purely for financial gain, then I think I can live with that." Maybe, maybe not.
CB2001:
I understand why paysites need the money: to pay for the server that is hosting their site and contents.
However, I'm the kind of person that uses stuff strictly from freesites because they are free. There's a difference between asking for donations to keep a site going (sometimes, the donation is through either paypal or the opening of a CafePress site with T-shirts and coffee mugs for sale) and having to pay for a monthly subscription. The difference is choice.
But I do believe this is a "Fair-Use" law in the U.S. I don't know much about it though. I do know know this: If someone makes a machinima short with their game, as long as they are not making money off of it, they're not liable for copyright charges. I know that Rooster Teeth sales items that are "Red vs. Blue" related (namely, popular quotes printed on T-shirts), but they do not feature any of the actual characters of images of the characters from their series.
Of course, it's always going to be debated. There'll never be a solid end to it, that is unless the mods of the board delete this post and any other posts about it. That's probably the only way that this topic is ever going to stop being discussed.
Spongity:
No one is forcing paysite owners to have their own site that they have to pay for. There's plenty of sites like InSim and MTS2 that will host all your content for free. Also, people have analyzed how much certain sites make from their 'donations', and usually the numbers are way higher than a site should cost.
babyblue1387:
I understand the want for your own site. In larger places that will host your content, like InSim or MTS, your work may get overlooked. I'm pretty sure that many people don't take the time to go through and look at every section, or every new download, and it's unrealistic to ask mods and the like to post EVERY new creation. So, in this respect, I understand the want for your own space.
I am, however, of the opinion that if you can't pay for it, maybe you shouldn't be doing it in the first place. If you put up a paypal button and say you need money for the site, or ask for alternatives, that's fine. When you create the website, you need to be aware that it costs money to do this. If you're not, and find yourself in a black hole of debt because you can't pay for this webspace, the LOGICAL thing to do would be to close the site. People may be sad, yes, but it's not their fault that YOU planned poorly, and they shouldn't have to pay for it.
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