A reply to the IDSA

Da_Goat · Post by **Da_Goat** » Fri Feb 28, 2003 10:43 am

Well, we all know about emmzee's recent problems with the Interactive Digital Software Association, and I was browsing through some of my (don't go there --->)very bad abndonware websites*(<--- don't go there), and they linked to a very bad emulation site* who has recently gotten one of those pesky IDSA letters. I thought their reply was very good. Here is the letter and the reply:

letter wrote:Dear abuse@xxxxxxxxxx,
I am an authorized representative of the Interactive Digital Software
Association ("IDSA"), which represents the intellectual property
interests of almost thirty companies that publish interactive games
for video game consoles, personal computers, handheld devices and the
Internet.

IDSA is providing this letter of notification to make xxxxxxxxxx
aware of material available via its network or system that infringes
the exclusive copyright and trademark rights of one or more IDSA
members. This notice is addressed to you as an agent of
xxxxxxxxxx for purposes of receiving notifications of claimed
infringement. We hereby affirm that the IDSA is authorized to act on
behalf of the IDSA members whose exclusive copyright rights we believe
to be infringed as described herein.

Based on the information obtained by IDSA that is provided in this
e-mail's attachments, IDSA has a good faith belief that the Internet
site found at [link removed] infringes the rights of
one or more IDSA members by offering for download one or more
unauthorized copies of one or more game products protected by
copyright, including, but not limited to:
007
Barbarian
Donkey Kong
Frogger
Mario
Pac Man
Soldier Of Fortune

Through the Berne Convention and other international treaties covering
intellectual property rights, we believe that our members' rights in
such games are entitled to the full protection of the intellectual
property laws of your country.

The unauthorized copies of such game product[s] appearing on, or made
available through, such site are listed and/or identified on such
Internet site by their titles, variations thereof or depictions of
associated artwork (any such game titles, copies, listings and/or
other depictions of, or references to, any contents of such game
product, are hereinafter referred to as "Infringing Material"). Based
on the information at its disposal on 2/7/2003 6:49:39 PM GMT, IDSA
believes that the statements herein accurately describe the infringing
nature and status of the Infringing Material.

Accordingly, IDSA hereby requests xxxxxxxxxx to immediately
remove or disable access to the Infringing Material at the URL address
identified above.

Should you have questions, please contact the IDSA at the above listed
mailing address or by replying to this email. Please also include the
above noted Reference Number in the subject line of all email
correspondence.

We thank you for your cooperation in this matter. Your prompt
response is appreciated.
Regards,
Robert L. Hunter, IV
Interactive Digital Software Association

Note: The information transmitted in this Notice is intended only for
the person or entity to which it is addressed and may contain
confidential and/or privileged material. Any review, reproduction,
retransmission, dissemination or other use of, or taking of any action
in reliance upon, this information by persons or entities other than
the intended recipient is prohibited. If you received this in error,
please contact the sender and delete the material from all computers.

Now here's the reply:

reply wrote: Dear Mr Hunter,
Thank you for your email dated 14th February 2003, 5:23PM CET. The World of Spectrum archive site at [link removed] is a software
preservation site, archiving software for the classic microcomputer, the
Sinclair ZX Spectrum.

We strive to gain permission for redistribution for all software in the
archive from the original publisher, and if the publisher no longer exists,
from the original author. We publish all such permits on our site, and
where such permission has been rescinded by either the publisher and/or
author, we comply and remove the affected titles from the archive.
Our copyrights policy is available in a dedicated section of the site, the
Copyrights section, at <[link removed]>. To this end, we take all allegations that we are carrying software to which we do not have permission very seriously, however, the list of titles provided to us by yourselves is unfortunately somewhat vague, and we believe there may in fact be 'false positives', with titles in our archive of old software originally made during a period between 1982 to 1992 matching currently available software. An example is the title 'Soldiers of Fortune', for which we have explicit formal permission from the publisher Firebird Software Ltd (a label from British Telecom).

If there is indeed clear and present proof that the titles you specifically
list are present in our archive, we will be happy to remove those titles to
endeavour to retain the goodwill we have in the industry and our position as being responsive to creators requests. To this end, could you please
provide further information on the titles you have listed, such as publisher
(or relevant IDSA member), release date, platform and so on, so that we can properly investigate and expedite this request.
Thank you for bringing this to our attention.

Yours sincerely,
Martijn van der Heide

I thought it was a very appropriate reply. It wasn't rude in the least, yet it did present facts to the games in question.

*don't go there

Post by **wardrich** » Fri Feb 28, 2003 10:49 am

i agree with the idea of the IDSA. it was a good idea to create a company that is to stop/lower warez and illegal software downloading. The only problem is that they seem to jump to conclusions. If they downloaded the program to see if it was, in fact warez/Abandonware/illegal, they would be liked by a few more people.

Da_Goat · Post by **Da_Goat** » Fri Feb 28, 2003 10:52 am

I agree with everything you just said. I don't like jpw anytime you mention Mario in a download, they automatically assume it's illegal material stolen from Nintendo.

Amro · Post by **Amro** » Fri Feb 28, 2003 11:29 am

There's thousands of warez sites. You expect them to download everything?

But then again, that's their job... to see what the content is.

Kazer0 · Post by **Kazer0** » Fri Feb 28, 2003 1:01 pm

rthe lucky bastards

Da_Goat · Post by **Da_Goat** » Fri Feb 28, 2003 1:44 pm

doesn't anybody have anything to say about the reply?

Kazer0 · Post by **Kazer0** » Fri Feb 28, 2003 2:02 pm

sounds like some of tyhe letters i wrote to publishers to get games to go freeware.

486 player · Post by **486 player** » Fri Feb 28, 2003 2:06 pm

Too byrocratic.

Da_Goat · Post by **Da_Goat** » Fri Feb 28, 2003 2:42 pm

*wishes he knew what that is*

John The Ax · Post by **John The Ax** » Fri Feb 28, 2003 3:04 pm

It seemed appropriate. As long as they're not ordering without any sight, I'm fine.

Amro · Post by **Amro** » Fri Feb 28, 2003 3:16 pm

One question: What can they do to you if you're hosting your own site?

John The Ax · Post by **John The Ax** » Fri Feb 28, 2003 3:20 pm

Legally force you to take them off.

486 player · Post by **486 player** » Fri Feb 28, 2003 3:26 pm

Goat, I do. But didn't understand a half o' full thing!

Da_Goat · Post by **Da_Goat** » Fri Feb 28, 2003 4:18 pm

what's a half o' full thing? And what does byrocratic mean?

Amro · Post by **Amro** » Fri Feb 28, 2003 6:07 pm

he means bureucratic.

Da_Goat · Post by **Da_Goat** » Fri Feb 28, 2003 6:57 pm

Oh, okay.

486 player · Post by **486 player** » Sat Mar 01, 2003 10:47 am

Rest than defendin' emmzee and askin' to distribute those games again.

johpower · Post by **johpower** » Mon Mar 03, 2003 2:04 am

I can see why DOS Games is wary of posting games on this site. Which brings up my question elsewhere on site about a Marketplace for sellers of used games. Seems to me it's perfectly legal to post a private party notice of a game for sale, in a for sale furum. Once the transaction was agreed upon through private discreet email, these people can then mail the original disks between themselves. And so long as the site owners have nothing to do with this transaction in any manner beyond the free post of the message for the seller they should be in the clear . If not, there's billions in yardsale goods newspapers are going to be forced to return.

Though most of us think tossing abandonware about on the net as attachments should be legal, I've worked in publishing and know big bucks have been sought from little people for copyright infringment. It sucks but it's the rules for the moment. Recently the Congress extented copyright to 75 years coverage, an absurd length of time, all because Disney Inc. was freeked about losing control of Mickey Mouse, ad infinitum. Don't they remember Walt was a commie?

Post by **Dogbreath** » Mon Mar 03, 2003 3:36 pm

As far as that law... it means that Half-Life will become Public Domain in 2073! W00T! Imagine what kind of computers we'll have then. Imagine if I’ll even be alive then…

As far as the Game Exchange Forum: thanks for bringing that up! I was going to add it a while ago but I forgot about it... I'll probably add it today. My main apprehension wasn't that it was illegal, but that the IDSA might jump the gun and think it was illegal.

Post by **wardrich** » Mon Mar 03, 2003 3:40 pm

Even if we are alive, we'd be too old to enjoy it

DOS Games Discussion

A reply to the IDSA

A reply to the IDSA

Very interesting......