Ubisoft Oleg Northrop syndrome
 

It will be interesting to see the results of this case, but UBI and 1C have already made an agree with Grumman.

+1 for freedom. Hopefully the court will rule on the side of what's right, and not what's profitable for corporations. Just my two cents...

I think ,hope and pray, that that agreement just expired!

Viking

The article mentions EA licenses it cars for their "need for speed" franchise as they are the main protagonists in that series,
wouldn't you say the airplanes are some kind central game element in il2 ;)

I dont think anything would change regarding il2 if they are permitted to depict 3 Bell helicopters
in Battlefield 3 where there are much more vehicles players can choose from.

EDIT: I wonder how older flight simulations handled that sort of thing (or didn't they need to?), like Aces over the Pacific etc.,
maybe american copyright law is getting ridiculously restricted over the years ?

It does not matter which role in a game take an object. Even if you use it's model as a 3rd plan scene prop - you still have to license it, if it is recognizable model/type.

Consumer goods (like cars), however, are different from military goods in terms of copyright. Because, development of consumer goods in most cases is paid by it's producer. Development of the military goods, in most cases, is paid by government=taxes=taxpayers=people of the country. Which, though arguably, puts copyright of mil.goods to public domain of the country, which paid for development thereof.

Well, something like this...

Anyways, if EA wins, it may lift the Grumman ban from future flight sims. But as for the IL-2 - I wouldn't be so sure, because of that agreement between UBi, 1C and NG.

Regarding older sims: this issue first struck IL-2. Previous developers were not affected. Approximately at the same time, toy and plastic kit manufacturers also encountered the same copyright problems.

Do we know what the result of this court case is?

If it was only filed a few weeks ago expect a decision to be handed down in ... two weeks ... no .. more like 2 years ... say 2014 :D

I have often wonmdered if the outcry would have been as loud or as quick from NG had 1C not been a Russina company with a French publisher..

Sadly when you combine the SOPA and PIPA government enforced corporate greed with US courts happy to grant companies patents on more and more stupid basic things, for example Apple getting a patent on the user clicking on an icon while also making a call (http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-505124_1...-during-calls/), the situation can only get worse.

Add to this the ability of US courts to now have people deported for alleged crimes that are not even illegal in the country they live in and we will be lucky to see any flight sims under $500 once the royalties are paid.

EDIT:

Forgot to mention that whereas intellectual property rights for everyone else in the world eventually expire, US corporations (after a recent Disney test case over Mickey Mouse of all things) have the ability to renew copyright/patents etc indefinitely. Unlike anyone else in the world, US corporations now have unlimited rights that never expire.

country of freedom to restrict freedoms...
XD
US of A... Fail.

And then it goes to Japan where a 5% improvement grants a patent and full use under their laws with the new thing selling back to guess where nobody there can compete because of the first patent?
Is it any different with EU?
AFAICT the people who get boned the hardest by USA lawyers are in the USA. But if you have factories and partners outside it is just a positive boon! And yet another industry closes doors or leaves the country while low-tax on investments goes to mainly support those who leave and the ever-lovin MIC.

Copyright is one area where criticism of the US attitude is not just anti-American hate stuff.

Just look at IL2. In most other parts of the world, including Russia, aircraft manufacturers saw providing historical technical information as showing a respect for history and even possibly a bit of publicity bonus. It was only in the US that companies saw it as a way of raking in more money.

What is especially interesting is that after corporate greed had plunged the US into a recession, the response was to bail out those same corporations with grants and try and protect others with counterproductive legislation like SOPA and PITA.

Hey the corporate greed that tanked things most and continues to leech the economy anemic is most of all in the "Finance Sector" and has no national boundaries. The same ones that manipulate here manipulate over much of the world and destabilize economies for fun and loads of profit. Say hello, Rupert Murdoch, AIG, etc, etc. They produce nothing and take well over half of everything. They have no real allegiance except to themselves.

What kills me is how many of the 99% support and emulate them out of their own greed. The Shark wants to be an Orca, the Tuna wants to be a Shark, the Salmon wants to be a Tuna, the Haddock wants to be left the hell alone!

+1

Greed is not exclusive to any nationality.

This might well be true, but the USA is an easy target for those who don't care to think.

Where did u hear that from?