Legal protection for user made content

[yanuart]

Hi, in my new game I'm trying to build a community by making my game easily mod-able or simply put I'll let user create their own contents for the game (skins, level, etc).
In my website, I'll create a place so that people can trade and share their mods/contents with others.

Now, my game is a racing game, I do not use any copyrighted material in my game so I think I'm pretty safe here.
The question is, if my user create something (let's say create a car skin that has Honda logo on it) that uses something copyrighted, will I be responsible for that content ?

How can I protect myself from this thing ? Will a disclaimer thingy will protect me from any liability ?

Any advice will be deeply appreciated before I spend my money on lawyers :D..

[ManuelFLara]

I'm not a lawyer so I'm not really sure, but I've seen Half-life mods forced to be shut down due to copyright infringement (a StarCraft-based mod, for example). On the other hand there are other mods that just chose to "reorient" or rename de mod (one called Existence (I think) comes to mind, which is obviously based on The Matrix).

[yanuart]

yeah.. this thing come in my mind since marvel actually sues NCSoft (city of heroes) because the players create character that cause copyright infringement.
it's kinda weird isn't ? developers create mod ability so that their players can have extended experience with their product (I love mod) but yet those corporate lacky always find a way to screw things up.

[Guillermo]

If customers make mods using copyrighted content and you distribute such content in your website you are responsible but if those mods are distributed from the customer's website then you are not. The one who distributes the content is responsible. So you would have to check every mod to see if there are not copyright infringements before distributing'em. Maybe if you link to customer sites (sites, not files) where the mods are located you would have no problem, though, that would mean each costumer would have to make a homepage to host their mods so you can link it. kinda troublesome eh.

[BlueWaldo]

We were just studying Napster and Grokster in my Computer Science Law class. Basically if you can filter content, and you have specific knowledge of infringing works then you just filter it.

I think your best bet it to like to sites (not files) as suggested above. And then don’t look at the mods to see if they infringe.

[undersan]

I had a brief discussion with an IP attorney about this a while back. I was told that, when a game is infringing someone's IP (e.g., Honda logo, superhero likeness), the IP owner will almost always first contact the game developer and demand that the infringing content be removed (via a cease-and-desist letter, IIRC).

So, yes, you'd be responsible for the user-created content, but as long as you heed any cease-and-desist letters (by removing the infringing mod), you're unlikely to be sued.

I suggest:
- You post a warning to users not to upload infringing mods
- You make some effort to filter out infringing mods (i.e., browse through all the mods periodically and look for Honda logos or whatever)
- You post contact info (including a postal address) for IP owners to report infringing mods.

You should also check out the Digital Millenium Copyright Act. You can find the entire written Act online, and it is actually not that hard to read through. Here is a little excerpt:
Limitation for Information Residing on Systems or Networks at the
Direction of Users

Section 512(c) limits the liability of service providers for infringing material on
websites (or other information repositories) hosted on their systems. It applies to
storage at the direction of a user. In order to be eligible for the limitation, the
following conditions must be met:
- The provider must not have the requisite level of knowledge of the
infringing activity, as described below.
- If the provider has the right and ability to control the infringing activity,
it must not receive a financial benefit directly attributable to the
infringing activity.
- Upon receiving proper notification of claimed infringement, the
provider must expeditiously take down or block access to the material.