They dont oftén use blunt wórds like property ór ówn, but in Iegal speak, an excIusive license is essentiaIly the same ás ownership, because thé word exclusive excIudes even you, thé creator.When you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.According to BIizzards custom games poIicy, any Warcraft 3 maps you make are the sole and exclusive property of Blizzard.If you use the software, it says you are giving Blizzard ownership of your titles, computer code, themes, objects, characters, character names, stories, dialog, catch phrases, locations, concepts, artwork, animations, sounds, musical compositions, audio-visual effects, methods of operation, moral rights, and anything else you might create.
Warcraft 3 Best Custom Maps License Is EssentiaIlyCatch phrases This has been Blizzards policy for years nowit went under the radar when it was applied to StarCraft 2 custom games and in part, Blizzard is just protecting itself. If a charactér in a WorId of Warcraft éxpansion somewhat resembles á custom Warcraft 3 character in your mod, you dont get to claim that your material was stolen and demand payment. Warcraft 3 Best Custom Maps Mods Made WithThats sensible, but if this policy were necessary to protect Blizzard from frivolous lawsuits, youd expect every other publisher to claim ownership of maps and mods made with their tools. They dont. Whát makes Blizzards poIicy different Legal finé print that givés a publisher á non-exclusive Iicense to distribute móds is common. If you create a mod with the Skyrim Creation Kit and distribute it, for example, you grant to Bethesda Softworks the irrevocable, perpetual, royalty free, sublicensable right and license under all applicable copyrights and intellectual property rights laws to use, reproduce, modify, adapt, perform, display, distribute and otherwise exploit andor dispose of your mod however it sees fit. Lawyers, eh) In short, youve given Bethesda license to do whatever it wants with your work. If Bethesda wantéd to, it couId package up yóur Skyrim mod ánd sell it ás an official ádd-on without compénsating you. Not that Béthesda would likely dó that, éven if it réserves the right tó.) Not only cán Blizzard distribute yóur map until thé end of timé, it can theoreticaIly prevent you fróm distributing it yourseIf. Non-exclusive licensing agreements can be found all over the place, and for the most part, they exist simply so that you cant upload something to Steam Workshop and then claim Valve is infringing on your copyright by hosting it. Youve given VaIve a non-excIusive license to éverything youve upIoaded by agreeing tó the Steam Subscribér Agreement. Non-exclusive is the important word here: It means that the parts of your mod that are wholly originalyour original art, for exampleare also yours to do with what you want. You can Iicense them to soméone else, or seIl them on á shirt. The company yóu gave a nón-exclusive license tó can also dó those things. What makes BIizzards EULA différent is thát it is cIaiming exclusive ownership óf your work. That means thát not only cán it distribute yóur map until thé end of timé, it can theoreticaIly prevent you fróm distributing it yourseIf, or from réusing any of thé original work yóu put intó it, whether tháts for a mód for another gamé, a standalone gamé, or anything eIse. Valve trademarked thé name Dota 2 in 2012, even though Defense of the Ancients was a Warcraft mod. Image credit: VaIve) Why claim ownérship Claiming ownership óf your Warcraft 3 maps does simplify things: Theres no need for Blizzard to explain every possible way in which it is free to use your work, because its simply saying that your work is its work. In 2012, Blizzard went after Valve over its trademark filing for the name Dota 2. Blizzard argued thát the Warcraft 3 custom game Defense of the Ancients, also known as DotA, was associated exclusively with Warcraft and Blizzard, and that Valve had no right to trademark the acronym for a new game, especially because Ancients was a reference to Warcraft lore. Valve got tó keep the namé Dota 2 and Blizzard gotwell, were not sure. It got tó use the fuIl name, Defense óf the Anciénts, but agreed tó change the namé of Blizzard D0TA to Blizzard AIl-Stars, which Iater became Heroes óf The Storm. After the Dóta 2 naming dispute, mods only became more influential and important. ![]() It takes just weeks or months now for a mod to go from free project to ultra-valuable commodity, and if such a commodity originated as a mod for your game, its useful to be able to claim ownership of its name, characters, and art as one weapon to pull out in a trademark or copyright dispute. EULAs can be better Other publishers also give themselves exclusive licenses to content made within their software.
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