Hi all,
There is an important problem that, as a community, we need to solve probably sooner than later.
After a map author uploads a map to
wmdb.org, the map is then made available for viewing, downloading, and playing through services such as HostingBuddy (!map, !wmdb).
The problem: we (wmdb.org and other service providers) are not actually allowed to do any of those things with any maps uploaded ever. Why? Because the map authors never gave us permission!
Pragmatically it is obvious - why would someone upload a map to
wmdb.org if they didn't want people to download and play on their map? However, pedantically, that's how it is.
In most jurisdictions, every creation is copyrighted by default, and no copies (this includes transmission over network) may be made without the author's permission.
As such, technically speaking, there is nothing preventing someone from uploading their map on
wmdb.org, and then saying "Why are you distributing my map? I never gave you permission!" and then taking legal action against us.
Another reason for why we should try to solve this problem is that at some point
wmdb.org may be succeeded by a better service, which integrates directly into the game.
For this to become a reality, we need to have all our paperwork straightened out and be sure that we are legally allowed to redistribute uploaded maps.
So, there are two parts to this topic:
- We need to decide on a set of licenses, and make authors of all new uploads to WMDB choose one of these licenses.
This will give wmdb.org the legal right to redistribute them (i.e. make them available for download),
and for players to actually use them (host games with the map, or save them in replay files and then upload said replays online).
This will also be a good opportunity to allow map creators to choose how exactly they are OK with people using their maps, specifically for example if they want to allow remixes.
For this purpose, Creative Commons has a good set of licenses we can use: https://creativecommons.org/share-your-work/
- What to do about already uploaded maps?
The extreme but definitely legally correct approach would be to delete everything and ask everyone to re-upload their maps under a license of their choice.
Obviously we would probably lose a huge % of maps if we were to do this, so it would be much more preferable if we could solve this in another way.
An alternative would be to relicense the maps uploaded so far, as follows:
- We implement part 1 as above, so all new uploads past a certain date are under a proper license.
- We begin a transition period of some duration, such as 1 year, for converting uploaded maps to a proper license.
We will need to make this transition as public and obvious as possible (i.e. affected maps will have a banner on their pages, and we will try to contact the authors by email about it.)
After the transition period expires, we assume that the authors have had reasonable time to be notified and take action, and through their inaction, they allow us to distribute the map under the new license.
Of course, if authors disagree, we will remove the map, or look into additional licensing options if none of the ones we will have at the time will be agreeable. - After the transition period expires, all maps are either at the new license or deleted due to the authors' wishes (which we hopefully will minimize).
If any authors change their mind after the transition period and want their map down, we can follow standard DMCA procedure.
Changing the license of content without each author's explicit approval is legally iffy, but fish much bigger than us got away with it:
The license itself that we choose for this would probably have to be as restrictive as possible while still allowing wmdb.org and related services to redistribute the map in all implied and technical situations.
If authors wish to grant the community more rights, they can always pick a less restrictive license later.
The remaining elephant in the room is maps which have a large amount of copyrighted artwork (from other games, cartoons/anime, etc.). I'm not sure what to do with it. I don't think it qualifies as fair use.
Any thoughts / opinions on the above? Especially if you are a map maker or are familiar with IP law.
By the way, I think TUS has the same problems, but it's not up to me how TUS wants to address them.
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