Ryandor.com

Ok, we have recently started working on a shard, but im not sure what is legal and what is illegan. First of all, is it really legal to have a shard, or are there many copyright and legal issues to solve creating a shard? Secondly, we were thinking that we should cut a part of the standard trammel map and use only Vesper and Minoc. That means we will have to edit the map itself.

I just successed exporting map0.mul to a Map Generator 2 terrain and altitude, but that by first truncating it. I read something about the standard maps normally being ignored by the map maping programs because of copyright issues. How is this treated legally then? Well, i manipulated it a lot, but i didnt change anything, i mean i didnt add anything.

Ok, if the option above is excluded, is there another way to acomplish what we are trying to do? Maybe i could do something with the mapdif files? Or that would maybe end up being the same thing as previously. We could build a wall with guards telling the players they may not enter lord Brittains domains or something like that. I would have to prevent people from entering the rest of the world through boats, but im sure that could be solved...

Any answers, suggestions or ideas? Thanks in advance for any reply,

Mullvalen

I am not a lawyer, so the advice I give you is based purely on my amateur knowledge of relevant United States laws, but this is the summation of what I believe to be true:

Distributing any copywritten work, in whole or in part, is illegal. The Ultima Online client and all of the data files distributed with the Ultima Online client are copywritten works owned by Electronic Arts. Therefore, distribution of any part of those data files, including a modified map, would be illegal.

Creating data files that the Ultima Online client can read, however, is not illegal. Nor is distributing those files, so long as they are original and you own the copyright to them. So, creating a purely custom map should, in theory, be legal.

Modifying the Ultima Online client, on file or in memory, for the purpose of connecting to a different server, could be deemed a violation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), as it could be construed as a means for bypassing a copyright protection mechanism (the encryption). The legality of this is questionable and thus risky at best.

Connecting to or hosting an Ultima Online server are both violations of the Ultima Online End Users License Agreement (EULA) and Terms of Service (TOS). Whether or not either is enforceable is questionable, however, and this is especially true since it is reasonably possible to install and use the Ultima Online client (albeit a very old version) without agreeing to either document (or so I have heard).

In the end, it leans far enough into the gray area of the law that most services with something to lose (such as your Internet Service Provider (ISP)) will not be willing to support the endeavor and will likely cut service as soon as they receive even a modestly threatening e-mail informing them of your activities. Blizzard and other companies in the industry have been known to send such e-mails in the past, and they do usually result in the ISP discontinuing service to the client found responsible for hosting such a server.

There have been rumors of court cases involving Origin/Electronic Arts versus a third-party Ultima Online server operator. In such rumors, the third-party has usually won, and this is used by many to legitimatize the claim that Electronic Arts is either unwilling or incapable of prosecuting a server operator. However, after a moderate amount of research, I have found no indication of there ever having been a case, and fully believe the lack of offensive movement on the part of Electronic Arts is more likely in the name of financial conservation and company image.

To date, I have yet to hear of a single Ultima Online server ever being prosecuted or even threatened by Electronic Arts. That, however, does not mean it is legal to operate a server, nor does it mean they will remain passive on the issue indefinitely. The risks and rewards are left to you to decide upon.

_________________
Blog: http://www.sydius.org
Web: http://www.sydius.net

Thank you very much for this reply. This gave us a larger perspective about having a server. As you said, its probably no worry about it. I even came across a shard that did change the OSI maps, searched around their forum and found nothing about any law issues at all.

BTW, do you think Electronic Arts will sew a server or even contact for example ones ISP before threatening about it unless the server is being disscontinued?

Anyway, thanks you really much for this reply, our whole team thanks you

I have never heard of Electronic Arts suing anybody for operating a server (except those rumors I have yet to find any foundation for), nor have I heard of them contacting an ISP. That does not mean they will not, however. It is certainly within their powers to do so, whether they have the legal backing or not, and they have defended their trademarks as well as their copyrights with the single-player Ultima series. A number of third-party remakes of the single-player games were either shut down or forced to remove all Electronic Arts intellectual property, even after having Richard Garriott's (also known as Lord British) unofficial blessing.

So it is a risk -- a risk that every operator must take. Electronic Arts, so far as I can tell, has not been actively trying to shut down any servers, though. Whether or not that lasts is a gamble, and it is up to you to assess the risk. I, personally, do not see the risk as being very high, given the history and the sheer number of third-party servers currently online, but then, I am also not taking that risk and do not condone the activity because, as small as it may be, it is still a risk.

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Blog: http://www.sydius.org
Web: http://www.sydius.net

I don't think any of the Ultima remakes were actually shut down by EA. The ones that shut down did so voluntarily on their own initiative because EA would either not give them permission to use their material, etc., or because EA would not respond to their requests.

So as it stands, EA will not give you permission to use any of their trademarks, etc., but probably will not actively come after you if you do. They are almost certainly aware of all the Ultima remakes and private UO servers out there.

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-= HellRazor =-
Shattered Sosaria is coming!
http://www.shatteredsosaria.com

Some have been met with silence (Ultima V: Lazarus being an example), while others have been outright denied (Ultima IV: Dawn of Virtue being an example).

See:
http://users.tkk.fi/~jtpelto2/ultima4/

Yes, they sought permission (which they are required, by law, to do), whereas anyone operating a third-party server will likely not seek permission. Most people don't stop to ask a police officer if they can go 5 miles over the speed limit... they just hope the police officer is either not paying attention or doesn't care at the moment.

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Blog: http://www.sydius.org
Web: http://www.sydius.net

My point is that EA did not actually shut those projects down by taking legal action against them. The projects shut themselves down voluntarily because EA wouldn't give them permission.

_________________
-= HellRazor =-
Shattered Sosaria is coming!
http://www.shatteredsosaria.com

You don't e-mail them, they don't e-mail you. That's about how it works right now, but that certainly does not mean you are not breaking any laws and that they have to continue that policy.

_________________
Blog: http://www.sydius.org
Web: http://www.sydius.net

Actually...

Several sites were asked to remove client versions they were hosting and one site took it upon their self to host the full downloadable version of one of the expansions which they were also asked to remove it from their site.

In America it's illegal to get out of bed in the morning or shave small animals and super-glue them to your bosses car so it's hard to say what will get you into trouble anymore.

EA has not gone after any private shards for running an EMU of UO. That can be taken as a sign that its either ok or their just taking their time loading a bigger weapon of mass destruction.

Dev

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"So...if crazy people don't know their crazy...does that mean your only sane if your know your crazy?"

In a Games for Windows (gaming magazine, used to be Computer Gaming World, free subscription), they mention the new UO and suggest that EA is about to start cracking down... I'll post the exact quote when I get home.

**EDIT** Coldfire scanned and posted the bit I mentioned here.