Shadow of Cerberus EVE Community Forum

The Hurf-Blurf of Ripard Teg - His Naming Crusade

I still think Ripard Teg is a pretty good CSM8 representative, but his latest little crusade is off the rails. It does not benefit the players at all. And as a CSM representative, that is supposed to be his only concern. All Ripard is doing at the moment is backing CCP Games into a corner. And for what? So that he can crow later that he backed CCP Games into a corner?

What am I talking about? Ripard's latest post. Which is just a straight up dick move. It's his latest crusade because he apparently doesn't have enough to do on the CSM, and because CCP doesn't have better things to do, like prepare for the Winter Expansion.

The only reason this is even on his radar is because Blackwater USA, a corporation within Pandemic Legion, was forcibly renamed last week after some nerd raged via petition. Which was another dick move, though not perpetrated by Ripard.

The reason for all this hurf-blurf from Ripard is due to the EULA stating that characters, corporations and alliances shall not be named after real-life organizations ? basically, copyrighted or trademarked names.

I'm no lawyer or anything, but my understanding of, at least, American law on the matter (and since CCP Games has offices in the USA, they are bound by federal statutes and stuff, I assume) is that when there are copyright and/or trademark disputes, the offending party is given an opportunity to first correct the wrong. If the offending party refuses, then a lawsuit can be sought. I could be completely wrong on that, but that seems to be the general spirit of the DMCA notifications and "Cease and Desist" orders.

Based on that very superficial understanding, CCP Games is in no hot water not renaming a group like Babylon 5.. if they've received no legitimate legal complaint. Now if the copyright holders of that franchise asked CCP to remove the reference to their television show, then CCP Games would have to do so. Basically, as I see it, CCP Games doesn't have to actively police copyright and trademark violations. They only have to wait for trademark or copyright holders to bring it to their attention. And by attention, I mean through legitimate channels such as a DMCA notification or a "Cease and Desist" order (not via the vendettas of angry nerdraging players.)

So, really, I'm at a loss concerning what Ripard is trying to prove. Is he hoping to get CCP to remove references to trademarks and copyrights from the EULA? That's not going to happen. CCP Games still needs that verbiage to protect themselves, to say that their players understood the naming rules when they signed up to play EVE Online. That verbiage doesn't mean, though, that they have to actively police every single name in the game. Or is he hoping to start a stampede of petitions from players trying to force their enemies into name changes? That's flipping your middle finger to CCP, because I'm sure their GMs have better things to do. How does that benefit the playerbase? How is this a CSM issue?

CCP should just ignore all player petitions on naming (unless said names are vile, hateful, racist, in-game impersonation, etc.) Anything to do with copyright or trademark via a petition, they should just ignore. They only need to take action if the request comes via a legitimate legal channel. Blackwater USA, for instance, should have never been changed based on a player complaint alone. Only if Blackwater itself had contacted CCP Games should the name have been changed.


** I apologize to Babylon 5.. for using you as an example in this post. I had to use at least one example, and you came to mind first.
Source: The Hurf-Blurf of Ripard Teg - His Naming Crusade

Ich glaube im deutschen Recht müsste CCP auch dann tätig werden, wenn sie von einer neutralen dritten Partei auf eine Urheberrechtsverletzung hingewiesen werden. Das Nervige an der Angelegenheit ist weniger das Umbenennen, sondern das Recherchieren, ob es sich überhaupt um eine Urheberrechtsverletzung handelt!