Example unit graphics from our mod

[Leif_-]

DominionsFan said:
Well Leif if you think so, please show me some official words about it. You won't be able to, because there isn't any.

Do I have an authoriative source stating that "using photos of painted miniatures in a game mod is a violation of copyright"? Of course not. For one thing the situation is so narrow that there's not likely to be any case law on it. This is "below the radar" so to speak. Secondly, the statement is too general to make an absolute verdict about it -- such use may or may not be a violation depending on the particulars of the case.

However, there are several good, authoriative sources on copyright law out there. Most deal with the US copyright law and while the specifics might not apply to where you live, copyright law has been pretty much harmonised throughout most of the Western world and the general concepts are mostly the same.

If you want to read up on fair use you can start with the Wikipedia article which has a list of other resources at the bottom.

You might look at this checklist from Purdue universite and see how many points you have favouring that your use is fair and how many points you have opposing that. You might be surprised.

You are also wrong in a point. If Illwinter would use up the photos about miniatures, that might be wrong. [I'm not sure about it at all] However modders never make any profit from adding miniature photos to various game mods. That is not illegal.

Non-commercial use (or more specifically, non-for-profit use) is not excused from copyright. Whether the use is commercial or not is taken into consideration when judging if it's fair use or not, but that the use is found to be non-commercial is not sufficent to deem it fair use.

Like I said, there are countless examples, that miniature photos were used up in player made mods for various games, and no one had any problems with it ever.

And prior to Grand Upright v. Warner in 1991 there were countless examples of musicians using samples from other artists' copyrighted works. As I said above, just because it has not been taken to court (yet) does not mean it is legal.

Secondly, many experienced photoshoppers could draw an unit like this about a miniature, it would just take much more time then using up an existing photo. I could do it even. What would you say then? Illegal?

Yes. It doesn't matter wheter you photograph, Xerox, trace or draw free hand, you're still copying. The question isn't the method you've used to create your own work but wheter a) your use of the orignal copyrighted material is fair use and b) your work can be considered derivative.

Anyways there is no point to argue over this, since this is certainly not illegal, trust me.

I see no reason to trust you on this. My own understanding of copyright law suggests you're wrong, you do not appear as an authority on the subject and much of your argumentation in this discussion is flawed.

However, I agree that there seems no point in continuing to argue over this, as it seems unlikely that either of us will be conviced by the other's arguments.