Castle Eltz copyright violation

[FireFly]

At first I thought it was some kind of sick joke after I got this in my mailbox this morning… But it’s for real.

Obvious my first reaction was to sent them an email back telling them to go f…k themselves and “see you in court”. But the reality is that they own the name “Castle Eltz” so I cannot use it, simple as that.

To avoid the “legal measures” they are threaten me with… ( I’m not going to spent one cent or even one second of my time in court ) I’ve decided to remove the castle eltz beta1 file from my site. For the next beta2 I will have to rename the map.

What worries me is the first part of their email saying: “you offer a play named of " Eltz Castle” on your homepage www.wolfedit.com that shows parts of our castle. Not only the name “Eltz Castle” or “Burg Eltz” but also pictures are protected by copyright."

In the email that I sent back I explained that the images on my website are ingame screenshots from the level. NOT actual pictures of Burg Eltz… But do they mean that I can’t even post ingame screenshots on my website or at any site as they show parts of their castle? That’s just crazy…

For the past weeks I have been working on completing the beta2 version of the map and this is just such an anti climax for all the work I put into this map…

[Avoc]

You are not showing parts of their castle. You are showing parts of in-game, 3D rendered screenshots, of a map which draws inspiration from their castle. You were not paid to make such a map, and you do not get paid by the users of the map either.

Furthermore, they have not trademarked their name. You cannot copyright a name. Its even a family name, and as far as I know, you cannot trademark a family name. It does not matter whether its the name of royal family or not.

“Copyright, a form of intellectual property law, protects original works of authorship including literary, dramatic, musical, and artistic works, such as poetry, novels, movies, songs, computer software, and architecture. Copyright does not protect facts, ideas, systems, or methods of operation, although it may protect the way these things are expressed.”

I simply think your map is too good looking, so they think you took pictures of their castle

[acQu]

Thats a funny e-mail.

Me played eltz and it was quite an impressive artwork.

Cant really say what you should do now. I would probably just change the name. Dont know anything about law. How can they feel so important by the way.

[hellreturn]

Did you received the email from free email? or some registered domain website?

Where the hack in laws it is written that name is copyrighted? I think someone is messing around with you.

[shagileo]

That’s strange…
Are they really bothering with searching the entire internet by the name ‘Castle Eltz’ ? - that’s just a joke

Nowhere (not via google, nor their own website) I could find a trade/copy mark by the name ‘Castle Eltz’ , so there is no way you could know it is copyright protected… and where’s the proof it is copyright protected anyways?
I guess the only people who could help you for now are SD guys, as they should be familiar with any copyright stuff and could advise you.

If there’s really no exclusion, I’d just change the name to avoid troubles.

[warren_the_ape]

Too bad that you replied already. I see that you’re Dutch which means that you just could’ve ignored the e-mail in a foreign (German) language.

I know that the Atomium in Belgium falls under a ‘similar’ copyright. You can’t even post you’re own vacation photos of it on your blog (without proper permission) or SABAM will hunt you down…

I’m not sure how closely the ingame model matches the original but I would’ve just ignored that mail altogether.

[stealth6]

the language is German actaully…

[shagileo]

[quote=warren the ape;232898]
I’m not sure how closely the ingame model matches the original but I would’ve just ignored that mail altogether.[/quote]

Well, it’s just the castle that’s remade/created into ET, all the rest, like the village, is made out of raw creative brain power (I guess).

I know that the Atomium in Belgium falls under a ‘similar’ copyright. You can’t even post you’re own vacation photos of it on your blog (without proper permission) or SABAM will hunt you down…

I always thought of that as the most retarded copyright ever…

EDIT:

the language is German actaully…

—>

I see that you’re Dutch which means that you just could’ve ignored the e-mail in a foreign (German) language.

So what do you mean, stealth6?

EDIT2:
Besides, the map is spread all over ‘town’ now, so there’s no stopping it now

[mortis]

I thought that copyrights and trademarks only prevented you from profiting from others’ intellectual property, or representing someone else’s property as your own. If not, I’m going to copyright the English language, and then make you all pay royalties, mu hu ha ha ha!

In the US, a name has to be 50% different to distinguish it from a trademarked name, so if “Burg Eltz” is trademarked, you could still call it “Kastell Eltz” or “Schloss Eltz” and be totally in the clear. Likewise, if the castle itself is trademarked, add or remove a moat, add or remove flags, etc until it is “50% different”. Not sure if that applies in the EU, though, especially in Germany, where the laws seem to be more strict…

[warren_the_ape]

Not smart to post about this on your site either btw

They do own the word mark ‘Burg Eltz’ as can be seen here + various logo marks (not sure how that holds outside of Germany).

But like said; you’re not making profit of it, it’s not a game but a map developed for a free game and last but not least, the map isn’t called ‘Burg Eltz’ but ‘Castle Eltz’. I wouldn’t worry about it too much.

[Magic]

So nicely done that they take your ingame screenshots for the real thing

You should get clear by only change the name…the rest goes as your creation i would asume?
They cant expect you to remove your screenshots if you change the name - that sounds crazy indeed.

[Nail]

methinks you should e-mail them with the particulars, pretty sure they would have no problem

from their website:
“Copyright
This website and its content are protected by copyright law. Duplication, adaptation, dissemination and utilization require written pre-approval. Contributions of third parties, especially in the guestbook, are identified accordingly. Downloads and copies of this website may be created solely for private, non-commercial use.”

[ischbinz]

i agree with warren the ape
and i think you do not use it commercial - so i think they do have any thing against you -
but for me - you did adverticing for them -
so i think rename your map -
and do not longer support them with adverticing
stupid

[UJERebel]

:eek::eek:

WTF

[FireFly]

Thanks for that link warren: It appears that they own 4 copyrights: 3 of them are logos, one is for the name “burg eltz”.

The name “Castle Eltz” is not copyrighted at that site. I’m not familiar with european copyright laws , but does this also mean that I cannot use the foreign versions of the words “Burg Eltz”? for example “castle eltz”, “kasteel eltz”, “chateau eltz”, “castello eltz”, etc…etc… Because in the email I received they claim that “castle eltz” is copyrighted by them.

Btw: a small detail: The name of the map that I released is not castle eltz, but ‘eltz_beta1.pk3’ .

Small detail 2: A few weeks ago a custom map for Oblivion was released; You’re free to guess the name of this map. I wonder If they received the same email as I did

[QUOTE=shagileo;232896]That’s strange…
Are they really bothering with searching the entire internet by the name ‘Castle Eltz’ ? - that’s just a joke[/QUOTE]

If you type in “castle eltz” in google the second hit brings you to splatterladder and the third hit links to my website. I think that got their attention.

I guess that they thought that wolfedit.com is a game company and castle eltz is a level in that game and they tried to get some money out of it.
I sent them a response email this afternoon in a calm and polite matter, explaining the situation. I’m curious if I get a message back from them at all.

To be honest I don’t expect any legal actions, worst case scenario would be that they force my serverhost to delete my site.

Hopefully by changing the map’s name will put an end to this story so I can move on…

[Avoc]

If they force your serverhost to delete your site, based on the facts that you have presented, you can sue them

[Diego]

This was the best photo of the actual castle that I could find:

Comparing images of the castle with the few images you have on your website, you can hardly say that your map is even close to 50% of the real castle. Sure, they are both really tall, and you have similar architectural elements, but they can hardly copyright that. The image copyright is really to prevent anyone from making money off of their castle without getting a cut. But your screen shots are not even accurate depictions of the real castle and no profit is involved.

Ask them if they have a teleporter in their back yard.

Maybe you should just rename your map to Castle Prick?

[Diego]

Unrelated:

Wow, this guy must have a piece of crap 386 computer to only get 4 fps on your map with such crappy quality settings.

[Cambodunum]

wow … cant remember that ive ever had such great fps xD

[warren_the_ape]

The name “Castle Eltz” is not copyrighted at that site. I’m not familiar with european copyright laws , but does this also mean that I cannot use the foreign versions of the words “Burg Eltz”? for example “castle eltz”, “kasteel eltz”, “chateau eltz”, “castello eltz”, etc…etc… Because in the email I received they claim that “castle eltz” is copyrighted by them.

No, translations are not included as far as i know (would be pretty ridiculous). You could ask them to prove that ‘castle eltz’ is a trademark registered by them.

I guess that they thought that wolfedit.com is a game company and castle eltz is a level in that game and they tried to get some money out of it.
I sent them a response email this afternoon in a calm and polite matter, explaining the situation. I’m curious if I get a message back from them at all.

A lot of it is just spreading FUD, trying to scare off people by threatening to go to court… What could be an easier win than that

To be honest I don’t expect any legal actions, worst case scenario would be that they force my serverhost to delete my site.

I doubt that any respectable server hoster will do anything without a proper legal warrant.

Hopefully by changing the map’s name will put an end to this story so I can move on…

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?

@Nail
That copyright only applies to their website, not the actual castle or trademarks.