ED RPG under atttack over alledged IP dispute...AGAIN.
- Thread starter Lucifera Danzig
- Start date
It almost feels like there's intern or even bot who did this. Hopefully Friday deadline will pass and battlecards will continue again.
As for ED RPG 'tagging'....lol. Project is off from KS for so long that it feels almost funny.
As for ED RPG 'tagging'....lol. Project is off from KS for so long that it feels almost funny.
Hi there,
As you have already pieced together, these allegations do not come from Frontier Developments; as Jon mentioned previously, Spidermind Games own a license which means they’re able to create EDRPG as well as ED Battle Cards. We enjoy a strong relationship with Spidermind Games and are delighted by the enthusiasm and passion that both EDRPG and ED Battlecards have received within our community.
<3
Bo
As you have already pieced together, these allegations do not come from Frontier Developments; as Jon mentioned previously, Spidermind Games own a license which means they’re able to create EDRPG as well as ED Battle Cards. We enjoy a strong relationship with Spidermind Games and are delighted by the enthusiasm and passion that both EDRPG and ED Battlecards have received within our community.
<3
Bo
Considering it's the same modus operandi, trying to sabotage the campaign a very short time before conclusion, and with no relevant information forthcoming, it's probably the same scammers as before (I do not think that this term is in any way mislabelling anyone since the LLP was very obviously founded with the singular purpose of filing a malicious claim) going through a company that at least makes any effort to pretend being solicitors. IF "SMAB" are legit, they may have been conned into it with a schpiel about how IBER LLP are poor victims, but even then I'd accuse them of lacking diligence in researching their clients.
Chris Jordan's up to his old tricks again. You'd think the former editor of Acornsoft would have better things to do than to troll David Braben by proxy. ED:RPG is brilliant and I'm very glad I backed it on Kickstarter, in fact at a higher level than I originally intended to thanks to 'Ian Bell Elite Rights LLP' actions last time around. Might have to do the same again for the battle cards.
Today is expected to be last day for legal demands to expire. We will hear soon enough.
This is an interesting development.
First claim made against EDRPG was done by Ian Bell Elite Rights LLP. This claim was never substansiated and went away.
The claim against ED Battle Cards and the second claim against EDRPG are both through a law firm, Simons Muirhead & Burton LLP.
I guess we have to assume that Ian Bell Elite Rights LLP hold whatever is left of Ian Bell's IP,
We know that Ian Bell gave David Braben and FDEV permission to develop Elite 2 Frontier and expansion packs against royalties, and that subsequent releases could be developed and released without royalties paid to Ian Bell.
We also know that no expansion packs were released for Frontier Elite II, and that FDEV developed Frontier First Encounters where Ian Bell did not receive royalties.
This was a part of their falling out thing.
Now of course, we don't know whether the rights Ian Bell afforded to FDEV/Braben included the entire franchise and extended to such things as apparel, tabletop games and books. There is information out there (Internet) claiming that Ian Bell sold his rights quite some time ago, but no mention of to whom or what the current status is.
Since there is now a law firm involved and the fact that they have gone after both Spidermind games, I would be very surprised if we don't see a follow up to this. Makes no sense to waste money on a law firm just to annoy people. But it is odd that the claims are being made against a third party (Spidermind Games) and not the party that issued the license (FDEV).
I can't imagine any law firm taking this course of action without believing that that there is some substance to their claim.
I also can't imagine FDEV awarding any sort of license without being fully confident that they hold the rights to do so.
Going to be interesting to see where this goes. I hope it resolves quickly and that I get my ED Battle Cards before Christmas,
First claim made against EDRPG was done by Ian Bell Elite Rights LLP. This claim was never substansiated and went away.
The claim against ED Battle Cards and the second claim against EDRPG are both through a law firm, Simons Muirhead & Burton LLP.
I guess we have to assume that Ian Bell Elite Rights LLP hold whatever is left of Ian Bell's IP,
We know that Ian Bell gave David Braben and FDEV permission to develop Elite 2 Frontier and expansion packs against royalties, and that subsequent releases could be developed and released without royalties paid to Ian Bell.
We also know that no expansion packs were released for Frontier Elite II, and that FDEV developed Frontier First Encounters where Ian Bell did not receive royalties.
This was a part of their falling out thing.
Now of course, we don't know whether the rights Ian Bell afforded to FDEV/Braben included the entire franchise and extended to such things as apparel, tabletop games and books. There is information out there (Internet) claiming that Ian Bell sold his rights quite some time ago, but no mention of to whom or what the current status is.
Since there is now a law firm involved and the fact that they have gone after both Spidermind games, I would be very surprised if we don't see a follow up to this. Makes no sense to waste money on a law firm just to annoy people. But it is odd that the claims are being made against a third party (Spidermind Games) and not the party that issued the license (FDEV).
I can't imagine any law firm taking this course of action without believing that that there is some substance to their claim.
I also can't imagine FDEV awarding any sort of license without being fully confident that they hold the rights to do so.
Going to be interesting to see where this goes. I hope it resolves quickly and that I get my ED Battle Cards before Christmas,
This is clear fishing. Filling legal complaint against KS project costs very little. It is clearly to squeeze some money without wasting lawyers hours. Basically it is trolling.
Doesn't matter, as battle cards claim expires today and we haven't heard nothing about follow up since claim.
May well be, but I still find it strange if there is no follow up. They do expose themselves to a counter claim. If there is no substance, and they continue to do this, there will come a point where FDEV decide that this is hurting their business. FDEV can then resolve either by paying (unlikely IMHO) or taking them to court.
Neither parties have money or interest to waste time on this. This is what legal trolling is based on. To pay for stuff to go away.
That is just baseless guessing. Noone pays for stuff to go away if the alternative is to just wait ten days. None of us know anything about the claim, so lets not pretend otherwise.
If they had IP rights, why aren't they enforcing them via the courts........?
It is not baseless. This is based on my observation and following legal / patent / copyright trolling on various open source and hobbyist projects. They never target big business - and FD is big business now - but they aim for smaller ones who can't fight and might have some money to pay that stuff to go away.
Remember, when they did it first time, Spider Mind Games actually asked FD what to do. FD legal dep suggested to wait it out. Of course they will do the same second time. But smaller projects will be afraid they will lose people when someone hits them with legal claims.
It is trolling.
Welcome to the world of legal trolling.
I have no real world experience, so I don't doubt what you say. But I find this whole approach strange.
As I said, going to be interesting to see if there is a follow-up.
For the record here is a statement made by Spidermind Games this afternoon:
As I am sure many of you will have noticed by now, not only has our Elite: Dangerous Battle Cards Kickstarter page been attacked by copyright trolls but now the archived Elite: Dangerous Role Playing Game Kickstarter page has been taken down again.
Those who backed the RPG will remember that the live campaign was attacked back in 2017 but when the party involved failed to substantiate their claims (or even make any contact) we were put back up and the campaign completed.
This latest attack on the old KS page of EDRPG has no effect on its sale, distribution and fulfilment of backers pledges, they are happening right now. What it does do is trigger an automatic email to al backers, including some industry press, allowing the trolls to increase their coverage. Throughout the whole saga we have contacted the party concerned asking for details of their case & what they want from us and have been ignored.
Both Frontier and Spidermind are now taking legal advice regarding what action we can take against these individuals. It is sad that Kickstarter makes it so easy for the repeat trolling of legitimate businesses on their platform and even sadder that people actually gain enjoyment and fulfilment from it.
Please be assured that the RPG fulfilment has not been affected by this take down and we will keep you updated as to any developments.
As I am sure many of you will have noticed by now, not only has our Elite: Dangerous Battle Cards Kickstarter page been attacked by copyright trolls but now the archived Elite: Dangerous Role Playing Game Kickstarter page has been taken down again.
Those who backed the RPG will remember that the live campaign was attacked back in 2017 but when the party involved failed to substantiate their claims (or even make any contact) we were put back up and the campaign completed.
This latest attack on the old KS page of EDRPG has no effect on its sale, distribution and fulfilment of backers pledges, they are happening right now. What it does do is trigger an automatic email to al backers, including some industry press, allowing the trolls to increase their coverage. Throughout the whole saga we have contacted the party concerned asking for details of their case & what they want from us and have been ignored.
Both Frontier and Spidermind are now taking legal advice regarding what action we can take against these individuals. It is sad that Kickstarter makes it so easy for the repeat trolling of legitimate businesses on their platform and even sadder that people actually gain enjoyment and fulfilment from it.
Please be assured that the RPG fulfilment has not been affected by this take down and we will keep you updated as to any developments.
I thought that it was the fault of TJ