NEWS: WE CAN HAZ LEGAL THREATS?

[cwieberdink]

Dear EAxian LAWLyer:

U R DOIN IT WRONG.

STFU & GTFO, Attorney at LOL..

Also, HA ha!

Love & glomps,
MATY, the world's leading website for hax and modz that fix the game-borking retardery created by the world's leading interactive entertainment software company"
xoxo

P.S. Have you heard of TSR, which SELLS the intellectual property of EA? I thought not.

EPIC win!

[Tingeling]

so there is literally nothing I can even do!

Actually, there is something else you can do: reply to them with the letter Lorelei wrote above:

Dear EAxian LAWLyer:

U R DOIN IT WRONG.

STFU & GTFO, Attorney at LOL..

Also, HA ha!

Love & glomps,
MATY, the world's leading website for hax and modz that fix the game-borking retardery created by the world's leading interactive entertainment software company"
xoxo

P.S. Have you heard of TSR, which SELLS the intellectual property of EA? I thought not.

Pretty please?

That would be orsum!

[Khan of Wyrms]

EA has intellectual property?  I always thought they were intellectually vagrant?

EA:  "You, there!  You are doing nothing, and we want you to stop it!  Cease and desist doing nothing immediately or we shall be forced to write to you a second time!"

Obviously EA contacted some high school debate club member & offered them discounted credits at the EA Store in exchange for writing that. 

[cascaneda]

This site don't host store item. Giving a link has nothing illegal. But a judge could decide that simply linking to pirated content is encouraging piracy.
Here we have more restrictive laws than in USA for internet, and some sites are filtered. It is difficult to explain because the laws are different in different countries and it is difficult to translate specific legal language when it is already difficult to simply write english but the internet providers went to the supreme court and lost. They had to restrict access to some websites. In the future we can expect this trial to serve as an example to get even more restrictions for political or other reasons
As you are not located in USA there is probably little they can do against you, but perhaps some day your site will be unreachable for some of us because they can turn against our providers for allowing access to a "pirate" site.

[J. M. Pescado]

Nice Christmas present they sent you Pescado. Its a bit early, but its the thought that counts! Not entirely sure what they expect you to do apart from tell people to remove them from mediafire..hrm!

Yeah, that's pretty much all I got. All they gave me was a bunch of Mediafryer URLs, which falls entirely outside of my control, and in any event, are completely non-readable, given that mediafryer does not use human-parseable URLs and the document supplied is not readable by the computer, so none of those URLs can actually be used. So I have done the only thing I can: Suggested nicely that if anyone happens to ACTUALLY control them, that they might want to re-move them.

[witch]

That's weird. One of my posts disappeared from this thread.

[J. M. Pescado]

I think I tried to quote it, and it got mangled.

[witch]

Ah. It said pretty much what you said anyway, oh ebil twin.

[seelindarun]

Yeah, that's pretty much all I got. All they gave me was a bunch of Mediafryer URLs, which falls entirely outside of my control, and in any event, are completely non-readable, given that mediafryer does not use human-parseable URLs and the document supplied is not readable by the computer, so none of those URLs can actually be used. So I have done the only thing I can: Suggested nicely that if anyone happens to ACTUALLY control them, that they might want to re-move them.

But how would any of us know if we control those URLs?  EA did not address any letters or faxes to us, and I can't see how we are to decipher any of our handles from those URLs, such as they are.

[J. M. Pescado]

But how would any of us know if we control those URLs?  EA did not address any letters or faxes to us, and I can't see how we are to decipher any of our handles from those URLs, such as they are.

I have no idea. I'm just posting it as a public service announcement.

[Emma]

Do you think it could be a Walt trick? After all, you did pwn him

[J. M. Pescado]

Naw, based on the headers and whatnot, it looks like a real EAxis message. Except they should be bothering Mediafryer and not us.

[Emma]

Not our problem then. NEXT!

[kalina]

This sucks!

I know that there are probably many very good arguments why, as Emma says, this is "not our problem". The problem is that if it ever gets to presenting these arguments, EA probably has more money to spend on lawyers than moreawesomethanyou. It probably won't get to that though.

I hope that the issue gets resolved.

[SpaceDoll]

I think you are missing the point, dear noob.
Who are they suing, a phantom?
For what, allowing people not under his control to link to a site not under his control so that other people not under his control can download things he has never seen before?
I don't think anyone is worried here.

[funkilla]

No worries here.

[Giggy]

All in all, there's no issue EA is mentioning.

No worries.

[Tigerlilley]

Maybe they're trying to make themselves look like less of a failure, after that Maxoid posted that PMBD has store stuff.

[snabul]

To me it looks like a fake.

The head of the letter is not very professional, missing many parts of usual business letters.

I would not contact that Vineeta Gajwany but someone "above", and show them what is circulating pretending to be EA.

If that letter IS real, than a reply like I suggested would fit, too. ;-)

[witch]

I don't get why they're only after Mediafire, do you think they don't know about any other file hosting sites?

[eevilcat]

I don't get why they're only after Mediafire, do you think they don't know about any other file hosting sites?

Perhaps the country that Mediafire is located in has more easily enforcable copyright laws thus making them an easier target.

[jolrei]

I ask because evil people might be tempted to put up a link saying:  Here's some great EA store stuff, and then link to mediafryer with an "image" file that said something like "these are not the droids you are looking for". Falor, no doubt would tell me that that was illegal, since he maintains that as a US citizen it is illegal to smoke pot in Amsterdam.

Falor is correct, at least insofar as the US has this rather endearing view that its laws and jurisdiction extend to other people's countries.  Thus, if a crime is perpetrated against a US citizen or company in another country, the US still feels justified in prosecuting the crime under US law, even if the "crime" in question is not illegal in the other country.  Take travel to Cuba, for example.  I believe the US prosecuted USians for travelling to Cuba, even if they had dual citizenship and used their non-US passport and a non-US airline to travel there, and there was no law against travelling to Cuba from, say, the Empire.

Anyway, I think the correct response to EA's lawlyer in the current instance would be simply to smile and wave.

[Khan of Wyrms]

I don't get why they're only after Mediafire, do you think they don't know about any other file hosting sites?

Perhaps the country that Mediafire is located in has more easily enforcable copyright laws thus making them an easier target.

It is probably because Mediafire allows users to upload files anonymously, if desired.

[cwykes]

Gamecopyworld have this great disclaimer on the front page - maybe whoever is putting up or linking to these fixed items should explain that they are putting up fixed items as a public service for those who bought the glitchy stuff from EA in good faith and tell people not to download unless they already have a copy. ........ 

I M P O R T A N T   N O T I C E
GameCopyWorld only supplies Information and Tools necessary to make a PERSONAL BACKUP of legally owned Game CD/DVD's.
GameCopyWorld in NO WAY links or makes it possible to illegally download or acquire any copyrighted game(s) or Serials/Keys (including CD/DVD & Activation Keys).  GameCopyWorld cannot be held responsible if any of the information and/or files contained on this site are used in the pursuit of illegal activities, such as copyright infringement or piracy.
Keep the following in mind when making a backup of an Original Game CD/DVD:

    * You are LEGALLY ALLOWED to make a personal backup of an Original Game CD/DVD as long as you are the owner of the Original Game CD/DVD.
    * You are NOT ALLOWED to sell, rent or give away any backups of copyrighted Games CD/DVD's, as this is not allowed by Copyright Laws.
    * You MUST DESTROY any backups when you don't legally own the Original Game CD/DVD anymore (e.g. selling or giving it away)
    * Before making a backup, check in the supplied manual or on the back of the CD/DVD, if there are special conditions or provisions for making a personal backup.

You are ONLY allowed to ENTER GameCopyWorld if you need information to make a backup of an Original Game CD/DVD of which you are the legal owner. By Clicking the ENTER button you agree with the above Notice!
If you do not agree with the above notice then close your browser now!

[wes_h]

This is a very troubling trend, the confusion of information and pointers to information. Yes, pointers is a geeky programmer concept, but the address of a brothel can be public information while the brothel remains a private residence for ladies and generous gentlemen. When trouble happens, you don;t eliminate the address, you close the brothel.

Here the concept of requiring links to child pornography be removed is attempting to be extended to links to examples of copyright violation. While you can make an argument that there is an overriding social purpose for obliterating mere references to child pornography, you cannot make the same argument in what is a property rights issue. But it appears that EA would like to do so.