Require Work-for-Hire Release Letter for PMK Graphics

[Thalorane 67]

I believe the artist permissions issues with PMK graphics (most recently the Capybara incident) can be resolved with a work-for-hire release agreement.

 

1)  As part of the PMK submission, the graphics artist of record includes a signed work-for-hire release letter that grants permission for the graphics to be permanently used and displayed in Wurm.

 

2)  Once approved, the graphics are incorporated.  The PMK cannot remove or change the graphics without repeating the approval process.  If the graphics are updated, the earlier version of the graphics would either remain in Wurm or be updated.  This is a separate business decision as their retention would require developer resources.

[topkos 504]

Any serious business should have that kind of policy way before implementing any kind of submission.

as a photographer that participate in many contests this kind of clause is a given.

[user 608]

Silly that some kind of sign over for the art isn’t already in place in the first place. 

[Pukaria 201]

3 hours ago, user said:

Silly that some kind of sign over for the art isn’t already in place in the first place. 

 

I think it probably is (Wurm could confirm for us) and we're just being given excuses because people in Capybara are upset Capi got removed, so they asked their friends on the dev team to remove the artwork.

 

If this isn't the case, Wurm Online team could give us some more insight, instead of just locking threads.

[Ekcin 2,420]

We are all very grateful for the rules based civilized world having invented the "intellectual property" crap for extorting rents and tributes all around the world. That is the core of the evil. A work around are copyleft, gpl etc schemes defusing these mines though the armies of lawyers, patent trolls, and lawfare warriors will certainliy do their best to damage that as much as they can. Still, these are the ways how creators may survive without a standing legal department.

[Karrde 344]

It would be very unusual and unprofessional if there wasn't some kind of documentation required already. The game has a long, long history of volunteer gfx work after all.

 

Granted in US law, even a vocal agreement is still a binding contract.

[TheTrickster 2,290]

2 hours ago, Ekcin said:

We are all very grateful for the rules based civilized world having invented the "intellectual property" crap for extorting rents and tributes all around the world. That is the core of the evil. A work around are copyleft, gpl etc schemes defusing these mines though the armies of lawyers, patent trolls, and lawfare warriors will certainliy do their best to damage that as much as they can. Still, these are the ways how creators may survive without a standing legal department.

 

No, protection of intellectual property is a very important and fair tenet.   The work of one's mind is every bit as much one's own as the work of one's hands.  The person who produces the work gets to decide how they share that and on what basis.

 

Sure, there are sharks applying exploits.  That isn't new (e.g. Eddison and Bell).  That doesn't invalidate the premise, or even the bulk of the system.  Granted, some places do it worse than others (In the USA first to file gets the rights, regardless of who was first to create) but again, that doesn't mean that creators shouldn't have control over their creations at least for a time.