PC New EULA grants 7D2D all of your content?

[Obsessive Compulsive]

This does get a little messy when you get into the realm of custom programming. Using an 'asset' as a library for development of another product, is NOT under copyright of redistribution provided the original product is not what is being sold or distributed and they have provided it without restriction. In this case they provided the tools to modify the original using harmony injections. Injections are normally seen as forced manipulations but in this case, they have provided it. Derivative works is often opinion based. Taking an existing model and changing it slightly is still under copyright unless changing enough. What is enough? Depends where you live.

Reusing a base model they provide for you as an example and give you the tools to do it, does not become theirs. That is like saying works made in photoshop are theirs because it uses the core program of photoshop to develop it. In this case, 7 days and the assets are being used like photoshop to create a separate project or work.

The assets created by the programmer are not copyrighted through extension. That is a goofy thing for the Pimps to try. They own the original works, not products made using tools they provided. That would be considered entrapment in many countries. Stealing mods under IP grabs will normally get you lawsuits and a third party development that avoids things like official steam workshop. Not really sure why they specified items cant be sold for in game currency either. That means their own traders need to removed from the IP. Whomever wrote this was on drugs

 

[Obsessive Compulsive]

Generally speaking a TOS is telling people that the pimps don't endorse you or anyone using their IP for anything they don't give specific permissions to. Does not mean they will act on it or even really care. It is a protection for you and from you as they can't really tell what you intend to use it for. Once they know your intension, well its up to them to enforce what they feel is worth it. Normally with cease and desist letters, then lawsuits.

Another tricky part of this TOS is where they state you are allowed to accept donations but the reasons are specific to hosting a server. For the modders that dont host servers, instead they program mods, well this TOS might shut them down since donations had a defined purpose in the TOS. Awkward

 

[meganoth]

I don't know what is awkward about this, are you talking about the legal situation? Most modders believe mods should be free and open source and sharing (often with attribution) should be a thing. If others would take money for mods they would not share anymore. Remember that Bethesda gets flak every time for trying to push paid mods into the market, especially from modders.

So TFP is fully in line with most modders (AFAIK).

 

[khzmusik]

What is interesting is the section on moral rights. In countries that have them, they can't be waived at all. (Not even voluntarily.) The U.S. doesn't have moral rights though, so it's understandable why their lawyers might be confused.

Also, that section includes not just things like mods, but gameplay videos as well. So basically TFP could take almost the entirety of JaWoodle's content from YouTube, put it on their own channel, and monetize it, even license it for a movie or something, without either compensating or crediting JaWoodle.

But, there is other language that I think is far more problematic. It basically says that no user-generated content can portray nudity or drug use. That's going to be a big problem for a lot of modders - including me.

I would point you to the language of the EULA, but I can't read it any more. Once you read it in game you can't re-read it in game, it's not in Steam, and AFAICT it isn't available online anywhere. I did read it, but I have to go by memory to remember what I agreed to. That's not good.

 

[linewalker]

I would point you to the language of the EULA, but I can't read it any more. Once you read it in game you can't re-read it in game, it's not in Steam, and AFAICT it isn't available online anywhere. I did read it, but I have to go by memory to remember what I agreed to. That's not good.

I suppose you didn't look very hard for places to read it.

If you are on the Steam Store page.

That link takes you here.

http://store.steampowered.com//eula/251570_eula_0

Barring that, use a search engine for a grand total of 15 seconds.

Hey look! It is a page readily accessible on the official website for the game!

EULA | 7 Days to Die

The only thing "Not Good" is your ability to look for information.

 

[khzmusik]

I suppose you didn't look very hard for places to read it.

If you are on the Steam Store page.


That link takes you here.

http://store.steampowered.com//eula/251570_eula_0

Barring that, use a search engine for a grand total of 15 seconds.


Hey look! It is a page readily accessible on the official website for the game!

EULA | 7 Days to Die

The only thing "Not Good" is your ability to look for information.

Thank you for finding those for me. I swear that I did look at the Steam page, and I didn't see it. I must have missed it.

I also tried looking for it from the web page. I finally found where that is. It's under the "Support" section. There's also a link to separate guidelines for video streamers, where it doesn't mention that their content may be taken by TFP ("USER CREATED CONTENT" includes "a video of your game play" and any UGC automatically grants to TFP an unlimited global right to use it for any purpose.)

But that only highlights the issue that I'm talking about. The section that I think is so troublesome is not in the Steam EULA page at all. It was apparently added on June 17th according to the 7D2D web page.

This is the section that I'm talking about:

COMMUNITY GUIDELINES. In addition to any community guidelines that may be applicable to your use of the Software when playing on any multiplayer platform (including the Sony PlayStation Network Code of Conduct found at PlayStation Network Code of Conduct and the Microsoft Services Agreement – Code of Conduct found at Microsoft Services Agreement), the following Fun Pimps Community Guidelines are intended to ensure a fun and safe environment for playing the Software and interacting with other players.  You agree to abide by these guidelines and understand that violating them may result in revocation of the Software license granted to you and access to any of our services, including those located on our website, http://www.7daystodie.com, sub-domains, and any associated web-based and mobile applications.  

You agree to:

Respect and Inclusivity.

• Treat all players with respect, regardless of their background, age, gender, race, ethnicity, religion, or sexual orientation.
  
• Avoid engaging in hate speech, discriminatory language or behavior that marginalizes or belittles others.
  
• Encourage and support inclusivity, fostering a welcoming environment where everyone feels safe and accepted (except for zombies).
  

Fair Play.

• Do not engage in cheating, hacking, or exploiting glitches in order to gain an unfair advantage over others.
  
• Encourage a level playing field by promoting fair competition and sportsmanship.
  
• Report any suspicious or malicious behavior to us.
  

Intellectual Property.

• Respect the intellectual property rights of others.
  
• Do not create, distribute, or upload content that infringes upon copyrighted material without proper authorization.
  
• If you suspect any violation of intellectual property rights, report it to us.
  

Content Guidelines.

• Do not create or share content that contains explicit, offensive, or inappropriate material, including but not limited to nudity, sexual content, violence, and hate speech.
  
• Refrain from sharing content that promotes or glorifies illegal activities, substance abuse or self-harm.
  
• Ensure that your content does not invade the privacy of others.
  

Collaboration and Communication.

• Encourage positive and constructive communication within the 7daystodie community.
  
• Do not engage in harassment, cyberbullying, or stalking behavior.
  
• Report any inappropriate or harmful behavior to us.
  

Reporting and Enforcement.

• Follow the 7daystodie reporting system to report any violations of these community guidelines.
  
• False reporting or misuse of the reporting system may result in penalties including revocation of the license to the Software granted hereunder.
  
• The 7daystodie game administrators will review reports and take actions we deem appropriate in our sole discretion to enforce these community guidelines.
  

Privacy and Security.

• Protect your personal information and others’ privacy. Do not share personal information, such as real names, addresses, or phone numbers.
  
• Report any attempts to scam, phish, or compromise the security of players or the game.
  
• Be vigilant and report any suspicious activity or attempts to exploit vulnerabilities within the game.
  

Remember, these community guidelines are meant to support a thriving and welcoming community. By adhering to these principles, you contribute to the positive atmosphere and help create an enjoyable experience for all players. Licensor has the final say in enforcing these guidelines, and any violation may result in penalties, including temporary or permanent suspension from the game.
 

Most of this is perfectly fine and nobody should have an issue with it.

But the parts I highlighted are different. Especially since I'm pretty sure mods must follow these guidelines as well. Or at the very least, if the mods don't follow the guidelines, then either they are not allowed on public servers, and/or the mod authors aren't allowed to distribute them publicly - it's not at all clear.

• I have a mod that adds back a stripper zombie that was removed from the game. Is that "nudity" and "sexual content?"
  
• At least one or two mods exist that allow you to grow and smoke marijuana. That's still illegal at a federal level and in many states, and may count as "substance abuse." If you host a server with one of these mods, will it get banned?
  
• Taking steroids is illegal. If you take steroids in the game, and it gives you a buff, doesn't that promote and glorify illegal activities and substance abuse?
  
• How on earth can a game where you violently slaughter zombies, and humans in future updates, not contain "violence?"
  

I completely understand why TFP added this section, and don't disagree with the intent. But I think it should be rewritten to make it clearer.

Was it even intended to cover mods at all?

If so, what specifically are mod authors not allowed to do with mods that may contain nudity, or drugs, or make the game more violent somehow (like more horrifying gore blocks or whatever)?

And, finally, this section must be added to the EULA page on the Steam store.

 

[meganoth]

I don't want to demonize the console companies, but today I have to  : Those highlighted parts smell like "suggestion" from one or both of them.

Just speaking as a player (not a moderator), I would say a mod like the stripper is totally harmless anyway. Especially TFP won't bat an eye since they themselves put that zombie in. And IF someone from TFP or Microsony has a problem with any mod they better use the usual desist letters before drawing bigger guns or they will get the usual community bombing. I think both publishers legal departments know by now how not to shoot yourself in the foot with legal canons.

So generally I would say publish and wait for letter is a safe method to test the grey area.

 

[theFlu]

So generally I would say publish and wait for letter is a safe method to test the grey area.

That's the standard practice, but it quite sucks - to publish something, you have already put all the work into making it. And since you usually won't get noticed by the studios until you've reached some notoriety, there's a whole lot work done until some DIE-manager gets triggered by your content.

Waiting for letters in a grey area is just.. crappy. It might be tolerable if you could request for greenlighting letters; but no studio is going to do that, it'd be costly and there's 'risks' involved for them.

 

[Alfred]

For most Europan Residents the EULA does not apply, you cannot force a user to accept changed EULAs - its just harassment.

 

[BFT2020]

For most Europan Residents the EULA does not apply, you cannot force a user to accept changed EULAs - its just harassment.

I don't think that is 100% accurate.  Causes in the EULA that breach / violate existing local laws are not enforceable, but other portions of the EULA that meet the region's laws / regulations are enforceable.  At least that is what I got from the Digital Content Directive.

European courts still treat the EULA's as an enforceable contract between the seller and the buyer, the DCD just prevents the seller from putting in causes in the EULA that violate regional regulations so they are not enforceable.  So if a company put in say No resale of the game after you purchase it, that would not be enforceable in the EU as it goes against regional regulations that assume the buyer is now the owner of the game and can resale it afterwards.

From my limited understanding, I do know that Germany requires the EULA or TOS to be presented prior to purchase (it can't be unveiled after the purchase).  However, a company can put in the EULA that the user (buyer) is not allowed to modify the software which would be perfectly legal in Germany as long as it was clearly stated ahead of time.

 

[khzmusik]

When starting the game recently, I was presented with a new EULA. It is not good, and if I am correct, might require anyone who produces 7D2D content to uninstall the game.

I don't remember if the old EULA agreement contained this language, but this is the new EULA for user generated content:

USER CREATED CONTENT: The Software may allow you to create content, including but not limited to a gameplay map, screenshot or a video of your game play. In exchange for use of the Software, and to the extent that your contributions through use of the Software give rise to any copyright interest, you hereby grant Licensor an exclusive, perpetual, irrevocable, fully transferable and sub-licensable worldwide right and license to use your contributions in any way and for any purpose in connection with the Software and related goods and services, including the rights to reproduce, copy, adapt, modify, perform, display, publish, broadcast, transmit, or otherwise communicate to the public by any means whether now known or unknown and distribute your contributions without any further notice or compensation to you of any kind for the whole duration of protection granted to intellectual property rights by applicable laws and international conventions. 

Emphasis mine.

If you don't know the ins and outs of copyright law, this license means that you do not own your content. If you create anything remotely like the listed creations (gameplay map, screenshot, or gameplay video) then TFP own that content.

The million dollar word is exclusive. Transferring "exclusive rights" means you are transferring ownership. Copyright holders can grant rights to other entities, but usually these rights are granted on a non-exclusive basis, and that doesn't transfer ownership.

For example, anything you upload to YouTube is granted to YouTube under a non-exclusive license, meaning you still have the right to upload it to some other service. You're not transferring all of the rights to YouTube, you're just allowing them to use your content - but they don't have the right to prevent others from using that same content. If you had granted YouTube an exclusive license to your content, they would be allowed to prevent anyone else from using that content.

If you accept the current 7D2D EULA, you give up those same rights for any 7D2D gameplay videos. In fact if you upload a gameplay video to any site at all, it means that TFP completely own it, exclusively, and in perpetuity. You lose all rights to your own part of that creation.

This includes YouTube uploads. If you accept this EULA, then you are no longer legally allowed to grant any kind of copyright license to YouTube. The EULA specifies that TFP own the exclusive rights to your content. That means that you legally can't upload your own gameplay videos to YouTube, since you don't have any rights to those videos, and can't grant YouTube even a non-exclusive right to perform or display the video of your game play.

This is horrible for streamers, but is even worse for modders. The phrase "your contribution through use of the Software gives rise to any copyright interest" includes your copyright interest. Have any kind of copyright interest in your 7D2D mod? It now belongs to TFP. According to the EULA they own an exclusive right to your copyright interest, so you have no right to grant that interest to anyone else, and TFP "own" it in perpetuity.

I have already released some assets from my 7D2D mods to the public domain (such as 3D character models). None of these assets include anything from TFP, but that doesn't matter. If I accept this EULA, then all of those models suddenly become the property of TFP. But because I already released those assets into the public domain, I am legally incapable of signing TFP's EULA, because I cannot retroactively revoke the license to those models and grant them to TFP.

I doubt that this language was created by TFP. I am nearly positive that it is language given to them by M$ or Sony, and TFP's lawyers simply failed to vet the language in accordance with TFP's ethical principles. At least I hope that is the case.

Regardless, TFP need to fix this language in their EULA right now. All TFP has to do is replace the word "exclusive" with "non-exclusive" and they  are golden.

 

[theFlu]

There was a thread about the same earlier, you even posted there:

I do agree, the "exclusive" seems way too strict, even impossible for the common use cases. But now I'm mildly curious if "through use of the Software" is

a) standard legalese to point to "anything related to the software" or

b) actually describing something as it's written; you don't need to use the software to mod it, and arguably you don't use the software to film it for youtube (you use another software to record the window, but that video is not (in strict logic) generated "using 7dtd")

Not that it matters..

Thanks for finding the earlier thread. I’m merging them together. -CC

 

[khzmusik]

This is not about "common use cases" of "exclusive," or whether we decide on something "as it is written".

These things are not up for debate. They are legal terms of art.

First, we need to understand copyrights. Copyrights are not absolute, they are defined in terms of what rights a rights holder (such as an author) has in terms of the work. And these rights are determined by the government, they are not natural rights. For copyright in the U.S. they are determined by Title 17 of the US Code. 

Now, if we are talking about non-legal terms of art, then we should head over to the thread that you mentioned.

 

[khzmusik]

FYI, the reason I brought this up last night (and not earlier), is because when I fired up the game to play it last night, there was a new EULA screen that came up. That screen did not come up when I previously played the game (and I have played it quite a lot since version 1.1 came out).

I have not yet agreed to it.

 

[Maharin]

TFP owns my soul because my presence here is a derivative of them creating 7DTD.

EDIT: Or, at least, they own my post count.  I'm pretty sure the latter is worth more anyway.

 

[theFlu]

This is not about "common use cases" of "exclusive,"

My statement wasn't about the common use of "exclusive", my statement was "I don't think 'exclusive' allows for the common use cases that TFP are intending to allow". As in, if you give away exclusive rights to a video, you can't give youtube license to publish it.

They are legal terms of art.

Since you know it, can you expand upon the "through use of the software" -bit, then? Does it actually cover "filming the use of the software"?

 

[khzmusik]

My statement wasn't about the common use of "exclusive", my statement was "I don't think 'exclusive' allows for the common use cases that TFP are intending to allow". As in, if you give away exclusive rights to a video, you can't give youtube license to publish it.

Since you know it, can you expand upon the "through use of the software" -bit, then? Does it actually cover "filming the use of the software"?

Sorry, I guess I misunderstood.

In conjunction with the earlier sentence ("The Software may allow you to create content"), it is pretty clear that "through use of the software" includes any content that you create that uses 7D2D at all, in any manner. Whether you used different software to film your gameplay doesn't matter, only that the gameplay used 7D2D software in some way.

And, make no mistake, this EULA takes away any rights that you have in that content and grants it exclusively to TFP. This is usually called an "assignment" of copyrights; a non-exclusive grant of rights is usually called a "license." But those aren't legal terms, they're terms used in copyright industries.

The only reason that it's legally OK for content creators to upload their own 7D2D gameplay content to YouTube, is because TFP (being the sole owner of that content) grants those creators the rights to do so. This is in Section 4 of the EULA ("IV. VIDEO MONETIZATION AND AD REVENUE").

If they hadn't put that section in, then if you made a gameplay video, with your own commentary and editing and other content, and uploaded it to YouTube, you would be pirating TFP's content.

Even with that EULA section, if you created a 7D2D gameplay video with your own content in it, then removed all the 7D2D content and uploaded just what's left, TFP would still retain ownership over that content.

However, there is a potential limitation on the assigned rights that might not make this situation so noxious.

You are assigning all copyright interest to TFP "to use your contributions in any way and for any purpose in connection with the Software and related goods and services." This seems to indicate that the only rights you are assigning, are the rights that are connected to 7D2D. If I'm right, the human models that I created, and released into the public domain, are only owned by TFP for use in 7D2D. Anyone can still use them for another game, like a Fallout mod.

But that sentence is ambiguous. The "purpose" in the phrase "for any purpose" is limited by the clause that it be "in connection with the Software and related goods and services." But is the phrase "in any way" also limited by that clause? If not, then I am wrong, and the assignment of rights is not limited to 7D2D - it is owned by TFP even if it's used in other games or in non-game contexts.

I'm going to assume it is limited to 7D2D. But the EULA should make this explicit and not open to interpretation.

EDIT: By the way, such assignments of copyright through the EULA are not standard practice. This is why I think it might be a mistake.

Take, for example, Steam's Subscriber Agreement. Steam allows user-generated content (including Steam Workshop content), and their language is very similar, but they don't require granting exclusive rights:

When you upload your content to Steam to make it available to other users and/or to Valve, you grant Valve and its affiliates the worldwide, non-exclusive right to use, reproduce, modify, create derivative works from, distribute, transmit, transcode, translate, broadcast, and otherwise communicate, and publicly display and publicly perform, your User Generated Content, and derivative works of your User Generated Content, for the purpose of the operation, distribution, incorporation as part of and promotion of the Steam service, Steam games or other Steam offerings, including Subscriptions.

 

[theFlu]

In conjunction with the earlier sentence ("The Software may allow you to create content"), it is pretty clear that "through use of the software" includes any content that you create that uses 7D2D at all, in any manner. Whether you used different software to film your gameplay doesn't matter, only that the gameplay used 7D2D software in some way.

Hmm, I do guess a court would land on that interpretation, even though a strict read might mean otherwise. If I'd be the judge on an agreement forced upon already-paid users and solely benefiting the writer of said agreement, I might take the literal approach out of spite  

Thanks for the thoughts, interesting read!

 

[4sheetzngeegles]

I'm not a lawyer, I just play the game and mod mostly for myself,
mainly because it's preferential or mostly selfish changes. I do
have a question though. I remember this topic from years passed, regarding
mods, mod creators, monetization, and ownership .

If a person were to stream or record the vanilla default build, no
mods, would it possibly still violate the license agreement with TFP and or
their new distributors if the default game contains any of the following?

Content Guidelines.

• Do not create or share content that contains explicit, offensive, or inappropriate material, including but not limited to nudity, sexual content, violence, and hate speech.
  
• Refrain from sharing content that promotes or glorifies illegal activities, substance abuse or self-harm.
  
• Ensure that your content does not invade the privacy of others.
  

If so then TFP may need to either look at, or change the descriptions of some
of the included items used in the game, and or adjust the steroid and testosterone
use items and icons, just to stay safe. It is referred to as candy in-game, but the
prefix for each one is Drug in the descriptions.

The other thing that may need to be redressed is Richard's dialog for Trader Rekt.

I don't have virgin ears, am not easily coerced influenced or impressionable,
but with the introduction of the agreement, contracts with the distributors,
high public visibility, and the encompassing age range, it could get Iffy.

Or maybe just it's like fireworks: There are legal to make, Legal to sell, Legal to
buy, but illegal to use unless authorized. It's been mainstream for a while in
other games so hopefully this doesn't apply.

 

[zztong]

I'm certainly not a lawyer.

Exclusive does seem out of place. I can't imaging TFP wanting exclusive rights to a video, else it would seem the video creator could not distribute the video. That would seem to defeat the purpose.

There does seem to be a legal distinction between exclusive rights and the assignment of rights. If I understand it, assignment is a transfer of ownership and exclusivity doesn't, but throw in the rest...

"perpetual, irrevocable, fully transferable and sub-licensable worldwide right and license to use your contributions in any way and for any purpose in connection with the Software and related goods and services, including the rights to reproduce, copy, adapt, modify, perform, display, publish, broadcast, transmit, or otherwise communicate"

... and there's not a lot of limitations there. TFP clearly does not want to be limited.

My interpretation is I do think I am in violation of the terms, as written, by distributing my modlet(s). If I were to comply, I would only send my modlet to TFP because I granted them an exclusive license by agreeing to play the game. I'm in breach of contract and TFP isn't doing anything about it. I don't know for sure, but I wonder if this makes it an "Efficient Breach."

(Yep, that's me throwing around terms I don't fully understand.)

If I do understand it (unlikely), then TFP's pattern of not enforcing the contract makes it unlikely they'll win damages.

That said, there's no money in the modlets biz. Neither party will want to go to court because court is expensive. But a YouTube content creator who earns their living that way certainly has to protect their bottom line. If they're making good money, they might go to court. But if they're making money, then TFP probably wants their influence.

I don't know what to think. There's no money in it for me. Please don't sue me. That said, there's always the court of public opinion...