Terms of Service update

#1

Quote:Although we will not claim ownership in any Content you submit or make available for inclusion on the Service...

Quote:This paragraph basically says that INSTANTACTION can take the graphics or screenshots from your game that you post to your blogs here and claim it as their own.

That's not how I interpreted it.

If you post images/videos/demos etc here, IA may use them in any advertising or marketing for their products. They certainly do not claim ownership.

#2 One is indeed free to interpreted written or spoken communication anyway they wish, or without reason of cognitive ability bend and twist beyond recognition.

There are no wording usage definitions to imply or stipulate specifically what Content is defined for; "you grant us a non-exclusive, perpetual, worldwide, irrevocable, royalty free, license to publish, distribute, publicly perform or display, import, broadcast, transmit, reproduce, modify, sublicense, and make derivative works from such Content. If you provide suggestions for changes or improvements or other feedback about our products or services, we may use such feedback for any purpose without obligation of any kind." This language will hold the exact same definition as the very much the same wording used from the 'new' EULA.

Once disclaimers have started being used in place of news or stated after the news was thought to be fact, the wise should be very cautious for any type of wording anomaly coming from IA/TorquePowered, the foolish are free to blissfully blunder onward in their ignorant way. Learn your weasel words, and practice your Mustela.

Contracts and other legal agreements are not the place for assumptions to makebelive the meaning of easy to comprehend pretty little words placed together in a simple sounding sentence what completes a not so very complicated thought, what is indeed itself meaning exactly what words used to convey that point to definition.


You can put as much sweet butter as you want on that crusty dry burned toast, but it will always end up tasting exactly like what it is, a nasty overly buttered burned slice of bread. Personally I think IA's 'legal' have covered their ass so very well and so very tight, that now I fear TorquePowered is more apt to splatter an eruption of matter all over us every time it attempts to make a new move. this is all building up to be a TorquePowered fecal grand finally! (I hope it is as exciting as it sounds, just to be safe, im bringing as umbrella and a rain coat to every future TorquePowered TOS and EULA modification. I am just so relived to learn that my 'legal' is more efficient then their 'legal'.)



PS. Prince Rupert, for being a main British Columbia port city, sure is deadly boring.

#3 What Phillip posted pretty much covers our intentions. Users get to advertise their games and Torque related products for free on our site. We go out of our way to showcase the more impressive stuff, and I do my best to remember the original authors when people ask me about what they are seeing.

We reserve the right to use images or videos in our marketing material, but no one at Torque will ever take credit for the work. If we are showing off Box Macabre or Buccaneer at a conference, we will not say we made them. No one in the past has complained about this practice. In fact, most everyone has been happy to get the additional coverage we provide using our own marketing dollars.

This also prevents someone from suing over resources. If you submit a resource to the site, you are giving up the right to sue us or another user over its usage. This has always been the case for our resources section.

You can get up in arms about the changes to the TOS, but you can also take the time to remember our track record and take the time to consider our intentions. Have we ever stolen someone's screenshots and said it as our own? Nope. What about lawsuits? We've only ever really gone after a few select groups for reselling our engines without our permission. Feel free to dislike the new TOS and even post feedback on what you would rather see. Just remember Torque is not a collection of vindictive bastards looking for new ways to sue our users or steal their work safely.

#4 That is what makes the new TOS and new EULA so funny. The original intentions were perfectly understandable BEFORE the new TOS and new EULA. But now the new TOS and new EULA have very open ended wording to express the very same 'intentions', open ended wording perfectly favorable for the TorquePowered IA corporate entity, but not so much the individual, let us say Indy game developer.

Odd that an defensive technique is used as "GOOD" reasoning for the 'new' contractual agreements. No one is truly arguing about TorquePowered ability to use Torque engine produced products as 'free' adversing revenues. That is an automatic byproduct of having a good game engine in the first place. Everyone 'should' know that anything posted in TorquePowered forums 'IS' the exact same as giving up Intellectual property rights to the public domain. But if both of those points are what your 'intentions' are trying to say, then why all of this following part?

Quote:grant us a non-exclusive, perpetual, worldwide, irrevocable, royalty free, license to publish, distribute, publicly perform or display, import, broadcast, transmit, reproduce, modify, sublicense, and make derivative works from such Content. If you provide suggestions for changes or improvements or other feedback about our products or services, we may use such feedback for any purpose without obligation of any kind.

It is the 'reproduce, modify, sublicense, and make derivative works from such Content' and the 'we may use such feedback for any purpose without obligation of any kind'that have me very confused as to your meaning to 'intentions'.

I know what you think your saying Michael, but your only seeing the 'spirit' of the 'new contract' English, not the far reaching implications what the words themselves are actually defining. I chalk it up to either careless wording from an not so expert 'legal', or sloppy writing by an evil cult leader (I say sloppy because a good cult leader would not be caught using such obvious manipulation techniques).

#5 @Caylo - I understand where you are coming from. You are mostly right regarding this:

Quote:Everyone 'should' know that anything posted in TorquePowered forums 'IS' the exact same as giving up Intellectual property rights to the public domain.

Seems like common sense to anyone who has been using the Internet for any short period of time. Within my limited opinion, I think someone 'should' know as well. However, one can no longer safely assume anything. I think your common sense is spot on: if you don't want someone to use something belonging to you, do not post it on the Internet. This goes for all websites. This TOS just confirms a legal reason why not to.

You can foresee potential negatives and drawbacks to the legal wording. I foresee us never using it for 'evil' reasons. We will not steal anyone's work and claim it to be our own. We have no reason to cheat our users.

#6

Quote:
if you don't want someone to use something belonging to you, do not post it on the Internet. This goes for all websites.

Your interpretation of copyright is similar to Vizzini's interpretation of "inconceivable".

#7 Let me rephrase then:

if you don't want someone to use something belonging to you, do not post it on the Internet without copyright and trademarks in place.