Castle Eltz copyright violation

(shagileo) #21

Love the bird at the background

(FireFly) #22

[QUOTE=warren the ape;232948]I wouldn’t make any changes like that atm, cause it will only make their case stronger. Wait for their response, see what they have to say.

Btw, played your map a couple of times but can’t remember if you used any instances of ‘Burg Eltz’ in there?
[/QUOTE]

Nope, I haven’t used the name “Burg Eltz” anywere in my map.

I decided to dig a little deeper and found some interesting stuff:

  • They only registered the name “burg eltz” at the “Deutsche Patent- und Markenamt” ( http://www.dpma.de ) , they did not registered the name “castle eltz”.

  • On the dpma site it says that every copyright registered at their site only applies within the Republic of Germany.

  • To apply for an international copyright you have to register at the “World Intellectual Property Organization” ( http://www.wipo.int )

  • There’s no “castle eltz” nor “burg eltz” registered at the wipo database.

So I can use the name “Castle Eltz” for my map and even “burg eltz” for that matter as my website is hosted from the Netherlands and not from Germany.

I will send them an email with this information and will also ask for proof that they own the name “Castle Eltz” as they claimed in the email they sent me yesterday.

If I don’t get any response back from them soon I will re-upload the map to my site and will not change it’s name.

(Berzerkr) #23

omfg… :eek:

I would now try to get their permission to use the name and crest, atm it’s not a mail from a lawyer and you really don’t make money with the map.
Don’t forget to mention it’s only a additional map for a game, not a full game (seems to me they think this).
If they deny you the usage of name and crest, simply rename the map and use another crest.

(Avoc) #24

No, he should not change the name, because he doesn’t need to. He is not violating any of their rights.

(shagileo) #25

Though, what happens if someone is hosting the map for download on a German based website?

Bah at all this stupidity

(Miki) #26

If I would have made the map, I wouldn’t worry about a thing. First of all, they have to prove that they have a copyright. As diego said, the castle you made and the castle they have is maximum 50% in common, and they can’t do anything about that (For the car fanatics among us, look at Audi’s leds in the front lights – they took a dozen of pattens on them, but now 50% of the other brands have led lights too, but they have another form so there pattens are worthless)
Secondly, they have to send you a official document (from a lawyer or something) with instructions. The only thing they can ‘force’ you to do, is change the name. If you don’t, then they can take it to court, but no court will ever see this case because it’s just too ridiculous! Leave it, or if you want to be friendly, change the name.

(FireFly) #27

Absolutly nothing… The owners of the real Castle Eltz only registered the name “burg eltz” at the “Deutsche Patent- und Markenamt” , they did NOT registered the name “castle eltz”.

Now, because the map is called ‘Castle Eltz’ and not ‘Burg Eltz’ all german based websites - like www.wolfmap.de for example - have nothing to fear.

Although they claim to own the brand name “Castle Eltz” in reality they don’t. In the meantime I have sent them 2 emails asking for proof, but they don’t respond to any of my mails. Therfor I have decided to put the Castle eltz beta 1 map back online on my website and the next version of the map will keep its name: - Castle Eltz beta 2.

Thanks for your support.

(UJERebel) #28

Nice to know they were wrong :DDD

Congratzzzzz:stroggtapir::stroggtapir::stroggtapir::stroggtapir::stroggtapir::stroggtapir:

(shagileo) #29

Alright !

Good you stood your ground

(acQu) #30

standing on ground means nothing on law court :infiltrator:

or was it court yard …?

(acQu) #31

standing on ground means nothing on law court :infiltrator:

(IndyJones) #32

looks like someone’s budget was getting low, so they decided to threat you…

(Diego) #33

What’s to stop them from registering “Castle Eltz” and then sending you the proof?

(UJERebel) #34

Can you register it? just to tease them? :DD

(Avoc) #35

I believe they have more braincells than that. They have clearly realized, that this was not part of some big budget game, and they would not gain anything by pursuing it further. In fact, they would lose money, since holding copyrights/registering trademarks is quite costly.

(FiReWall.) #36

Wolfedit.com is down for the moment…
Did they eventually threatened Firefly to go to court?

(shagileo) #37

Don’t really think so :slight_smile:

… althooouuughhh, we haven’t seen FireFly around lately conspiracy-ish

(FireFly) #38

Unfortunately It’s true: The owners of the real Castle of Eltz hired a law office and threatened to take legal actions towards me. I had to remove all content from my website regarding the Castle Eltz map - Screenshots Included-

The reason why I haven’t been around lately was because I went on holiday/ abroad for six weeks, gathering inspiration for my new map :slight_smile:

Anyway, Castle Eltz is no more; I posted the letter from their lawyers on my website, enjoy…

www.wolfedit.com

(Berzerkr) #39

In the end your map would be free advertising for their castle. But if their don’t want, it’s their problem and it was their money they had to pay to the lawyer for the letter.

(nUllSkillZ) #40

I’ve just had the idea to write a (community) letter to ask them to give permission.