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The Foundry for Star Trek Online EULA FAQ
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Hello Captains!
I know many of you had some questions regarding the Foundrys EULA, so I am hoping that this thread will help point you in the right direction.
First, and foremost, the EULA has been provided to serve as a guideline for what you can use in/ do with the Foundry. Think of the Foundry as a pool you can swim in, and the EULA is the lifeguard that watches over it. Second, while the information below is being provided to you, please note that this can change at any time based on a variety of reasons, and you must always refer to the EULA for answers to your questions.
Here is some information in response to some of the questions I have seen come up most often:
Also, please note that this is not a Q&A thread This thread is just to shed some light on the most commonly asked questions. If you have additional questions, please refer to the EULA here.
Cheers,
Brandon =/\=
Edited to correct link to EULA thread 06/09/18. -- StarSword-C
I know many of you had some questions regarding the Foundrys EULA, so I am hoping that this thread will help point you in the right direction.
First, and foremost, the EULA has been provided to serve as a guideline for what you can use in/ do with the Foundry. Think of the Foundry as a pool you can swim in, and the EULA is the lifeguard that watches over it. Second, while the information below is being provided to you, please note that this can change at any time based on a variety of reasons, and you must always refer to the EULA for answers to your questions.
Here is some information in response to some of the questions I have seen come up most often:
1. Can we use the names of ships from any show/ movie? For example, show a Defiant class vessel called U.S.S. Defiant, or a Galaxy class ship named U.S.S. Enterprise? Not talking about showing anyone from the crew, just the ship itself.
Nothing in the EULA prevents this. Please refer to the EULA for a list of Star Trek Properties.
2. Can we use old names of ships on new ships, but change the letter in the registry number? For instance, U.S.S. Enterprise G.
Nothing in the EULA prevents this. Please refer to the EULA for a list of Star Trek Properties.
3. Are we allowed to use the character of Dax, with the symbiont in a new host?
Nothing in the EULA prevents this. Please refer to the EULA for a list of Star Trek Properties.
4. Can I put a member of the Q species in my mission, as long as it is not John de Lancie Q?
Nothing in the EULA prevents this. Please refer to the EULA for a list of Star Trek Properties.
5. Can we mention a person, but not show them? For instance, mention James T. Kirk did XYZ
Nothing in the EULA prevents this. Please refer to the EULA for a list of Star Trek Properties.
6. I know we cannot portray actors, but what about characters who were in costumes and make-up and you cannot tell who the actor was?
Nothing in the EULA prevents this. Please refer to the EULA for a list of Star Trek Properties.
7. Could I write a mission in which the player opens a channel and has a long, drawn out conversation with Picard? I would use a costume of a ship to represent him in the popup dialog.
Nothing in the EULA prevents this. Please refer to the EULA for a list of Star Trek Properties.
8. Can we include Cryptic-made characters and stories in our Foundry missions? (e.g. the Admiral on Earth Spacedock, or the new Captain of the Enterprise-F)
Nothing in the EULA prevents this. Please refer to the EULA for a list of Star Trek Properties.
9. Can we use past stories from Star Trek and continue the story and build on the plot?
Nothing in the EULA prevents this. Please refer to the EULA for a list of Star Trek Properties.
10. What about characters from a show/movie who were mentioned but never shown? (Ie. Felix, who designed Vic's lounge. Harry Kim's neighbor on Voyager.)
Nothing in the EULA prevents this. Please refer to the EULA for a list of Star Trek Properties.
11. Can we show completely original characters implied to have met or served with canon characters? (Ie, say I want to do a sequel to "Skin of Evil" and I invent a junior security officer who served on the 1701-D under Tasha Yar. This could extend to stuff like Barclay's daughter.)
Nothing in the EULA prevents this. Please refer to the EULA for a list of Star Trek Properties.
Also, please note that this is not a Q&A thread This thread is just to shed some light on the most commonly asked questions. If you have additional questions, please refer to the EULA here.
Cheers,
Brandon =/\=
Edited to correct link to EULA thread 06/09/18. -- StarSword-C
Post edited by baddmoonrizin on
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This discussion has been closed.
Comments
This one is interesting:
Does that mean we can use Morn? At what point, does the actor become recognizable? We can see Morn's eyes. Does he resemble the actor if we can see more than his eyes?
So, say, holographic Abe Lincoln would be out of the question? Historical public figures are generally fair use for fiction.
Meh, I'd say go for it. Space Lincoln is canon. Just don't use Hitler.
you use that sentence structure, i dont think it mean what you think it means
Point of clarification. Q is a particularly annoying issue.
Q (the one we knew in all those episodes, portrayed by John de Lancie), showed an almost godlike ability to alter reality. He changed his clothes all the time, but only once did he appear as something other than human. While I understand that there were several other "Q's" shown.. each with a recognizable actor.. the species was known to be able to change into "any form required".
Is it acceptable to have a character that looks nothing like John de Lancie CLAIMING to BE the Q we knew from Encounter at Farpoint??
"Well yes. I've decided to be female for a change, you know.. just to see how the other half lives... and why not you? Picard has become such a bore in his old age."
This also extends to the issue of "can we have James Kirk show up in our mission if he looks nothing like William Shatner?" which opens up the old can of worms of "how different is different enough?" (a borg in a maroon monster, for example).
How far does this go? Morn is acceptable, but what about Worf, or Odo? Comparing the actor and character side-by-side, fans often are amazed at how different the actors look from their characters.How many of us were surprised to learn that Maltz from Star Trek III was actually Night Court's John Larroquette? Aside from their distinctive voices, I don't think anyone would know if a character looking like Grand Nagus Zek looked anything like Wallace Shawn, or a character looking dead-on like Nog looked anything like Aron Eisenberg.
As an example.. Compare Morta (played by Michael Snyder) with Quark (played by Armin Shimerman) Very similar characters, who look nothing alike out of makeup.
Could you say with any certainty that a character I made look like Quark, looked like Armin Shimerman?
Previously, Devs have said that we couldn't use ANY character that actually showed up on screen in the franchise properties.. in any way that had us assigning their identity to any asset.. aka.. a borg showing up claiming to be Janeway.. or a Klingon claiming to be Riker, surgically altered for a secret mission. No Badly programmed hologram Barclays, etc.. if there ever was an actor who portrayed the character, we were told.. we weren't allowed to give that character a "voice" in our stories. Either over comms, or in person, or in the body of any person or object.
Has this changed?
We were previously, specifically, told that this was disallowed. Has this policy changed?
It may not be the most elegant way of writing it but whats the problem you see with the sentance?
Nothing in the EULA prevents this - There is no legal barrier to stop you from doing the above mentioned action
Please refer to the EULA for a list of Star Trek Properties - work within the guidelines of the properties owned by CBS. ie dont use harry potter in your mission or have the USS optimus prime save the day.
well they never actually said we could not use their own characters. it was more of a 'we prefer you not to'. that was probably them playing it safe. if the clarification is we can use them then thats the answer.
LoL xD
ah but your missing the trick.
New Game Materials may utilize the Star Trek Properties as provided by CBS and Cryptic Studios unless otherwise specified in the Prohibited Uses section below. You may use the names of characters (past or present) from the Star Trek Properties.
Star Trek Properties are defined as including:
Star Trek - The Original Series
Star Trek - The Next Generation
Star Trek - Deep Space Nine
Star Trek - Voyager
Star Trek - Enterprise
Star Trek - The Motion Picture
Star Trek II - The Wrath of Kahn
Star Trek III - The Search for Spock
Star Trek IV - The Voyage Home
Star Trek V - The Final Frontier
Star Trek VI - The Undiscovered Country
Star Trek - Generations
Star Trek - First Contact
Star Trek - Insurrection
Star Trek - Nemesis
from this point i could use anything i wanted to from these source materials. now the next part
Prohibited Uses of the Star Trek Properties:
You may not use the first or last names, likenesses, or other depictions of any actors appearing in, or writers, directors, or producers of the Star Trek Properties.
at this point all established characters are nullified. unless they DONT look like the established characters
You may not use copyrighted content from the Properties, including but not limited to web content, promotional materials (posters, advertisements) or existing licensed merchandise (novels, trading cards, figurines).
Well seeing as the first list contains a list of copyrighted materials..... How does this work?
its like telling a town it can build a bridge across the river to the other town provided the bridge has zero environmental impact.
but thats my take on it. seems liek it walking around in circles:(
I believe it means you can only use things made for the TV Shows and Movies. You can't use characters or copyrighted material from novels and the rest the stuff listed there.
For example, you can't use "Commander Christine Vale" from the Star Trek Titan novel series.
That sentence should be re-worded to say that you can't use Star Trek stuff from outside the Movies and TV series.
I could be completely wrong though.
It's easy to make something simple sound complicated tho. The answers are clear and straightforward. Common sense also plays here. Michael Dorn's face belongs to Michael Dorn. Worf's image belongs to CBS. If anyone has doubts about some content, simply ask first, or don't use it. But it seems pretty straightforward to me. Common sense should guide folks through any remaining grey areas. Of course there will always be those who are looking for a loophole or exploit, or who are waiting for someone to use a loophole or exploit on them. That can't be helped.
Somebody might correct me if I am wrong, but I don't believe that Cryptic or CBS has ever sued any of it's players for copyright infringement, or even (again correct me if I am wrong) pulled a Foundry mission? That's probably because the authors have tended to behave and not push limits, while Cryptic and CBS have been very easy going about it, and why not?
They own the foundry content anyway. Who would they sue? Themselves?
I've had workarounds for things that apparently no longer need workarounds.
Among other things, this basically frees up every canon Jem'Hadar, Ferengi, Hirogen, Klingon, and Cardassian for the Foundry.
I mention those specifically because those are all species where they were able to use actors' doubles facing the camera and where they would allow actors to play multiple characters even in the same episode. In fact, there was a rule about actors having to wait several years between appearances on Trek if the actor could be recognized from an out of makeup role and this was, specifically, waived for actors playing Klingons, Cardassians, Jem'Hadar, Hirogen, and Ferengi.
For example, they let David Warner play Gorkon and Madred within a short span of having appeared out of makeup as a human in Star Trek V, under the rationale that neither Gorkon nor Madred were recognizable as Warner.
So this pretty much opens up Quark, Dukat, Garak, Neelix (again, the rule was waived for him appearing out of makeup, indicating Paramount didn't consider him recognizable as Neelix), Worf (who gets covered twice here, both as an NPC and as a makeup covered person), Odo, Martok, Dathon... A TON of canon characters.
I can explain this.
Story elements are not copyrighted except when taken together... and it's generally a TRADEMARK rather than COPYRIGHT issue to create stories with Klingons or a starship Enterprise.
Specific, fixed executions of a story are copyrighted. Fair use permits use of copyrighted material to provide commentary or illustration but the concern is with stealing the "heart" of a work.
In short, what this says is not to recreate episodes or movies. You can reference them. You can quote them. You can use elements, ideas, or characters from them. You cannot adapt an episode wholesale and I think it may be debatable whether you can summarize an episode so completely as to render watching the episode moot, basically.
I would like it if Cryptic could get a specific exemption for "The Needs of the Many" since it is a STO tie-in novel.
But they don't really define it. What if the eyes are likeness?
Can you customize eyes in the game? Can eyes alone identify someone in the game?
More to the point, I think the issue is covering lawsuits.
If I recreate Shatner (and you know I can), someone COULD associate my (hypothetical) "Kirk kills a puppy" mission with Shatner killing puppies. It might influence their opinion of Shatner if they saw him on the street.
If I create Dukat, nobody will mistake him for Marc Alaimo on the street. If Dukat kills a puppy, it doesn't reflect on Marc Alaimo or create associations that would make it difficult for him to sell puppy chow with his likeness.
The kill the puppy part doesn't matter. These actors want money, especially if they are Trek actors who haven't worked since Trek.. They get money for their image. If they don't get money when their image is used, they sue. It doesn't matter if they are killing puppies or promoting Heinekin beer (as Nimoy sued).
There is a dukat in the trek universe. If the actor found out that he was in a video game without getting royalties, he could sue. He wouldn't really care whether he was killing puppies or not.
I think the point of Brandon's answer is, we're currently allowed to do it. If that becomes an issue, the EULA will change.
Alaimo is not entitled to royalties when Dukat is used. Another actor could put on the makeup and he wouldn't get paid either. As long as you can't tell whether it's his face or someone else's under the makeup, Cryptic should be safe and if they aren't, the EULA will change.
But the question was "What if the actor is unrecognizable?" They don't define what that means. The actor that crawled around in the Horta suti, sure. The actor who played Dukat, I doubt it. In "Far beyond the Stars," I clearly recognize Dukat.
David Warner was considered unrecognizable enough to circumvent the internal "no reusing actors who are recognizable" rule. The series producers didn't consider Madred recognizable as Warner... and they cast J.G. Hertzler and Jeffery Combs in multiple roles. I recall, specifically, that they allowed this because the side roles they played were considered to look distinct enough from the actor's own face that they believed the average reasonable person would not recognize them... which sounds like the bar we have to hit here.
If we had to get a hard clarification, I'd probably push for it to be by species or by percentage of face covered in makeup.
No Ferengi is really recognizable at all. Neither are Klingons or Changelings or Jem'Hadar.
I THINK what is being said is, "Could it easily be mistaken for the actor on the street?"
That seems to be the same standard for how and when Cryptic has used canon characters, outside of deceased actors where they got special permission.
The fact that Cryptic used Madred without David Warner's involvement and Warner was allowed to be cast in the role in spite of the two year role says to me that Cardassians are probably distinct enough that actors would have no claim to the likeness.
The dividing line is probably Romulans with the forehead makeup, which Cryptic seems fine using without likeness permissions.
Vulcans and humans require likeness permissions unless there's aging applied. Which does get into the question of some of what we've seen onscreen with age makeup. Riker in All Good Things doesn't really look like Frakes; if anything, he looks more like Orson Welles. Picard as the end of The Inner Light really doesn't resemble Stewart either and is presumably what an in-game Picard would look like.
That is where you get into the real cutting edge of the issue.
If I were to set a policy, it would probably be:
1) It should not resemble an actor as they appear out of character, on the street. If it uses prosthesis, it's fair game.
2) In addition to the above, no humans or Vulcans.
Though, technically, the answer Branflakes gave us would allow for AGT Riker or Picard from the end of the Inner Light... as virtually none of the actor's actual face was visible, the makeup neither looks like the actor's real face at the time or the way it's aged, and there would be no mistaking the character for the actor on the street.
The bone structure is different. It doesn't really look like Patrick Stewart:
http://tng.trekcore.com/hd/albums/5x25/innerlight_hd_250.jpg
More pronounced with Riker. Different jaw shape, hairline, bone structure. Either than the actor at the time or the actor as he is now. It looks more like Orson Welles than Jonathan Frakes:
http://images.wikia.com/memoryalpha/en/images/9/9e/William_T._Riker_(2395).jpg
These would both technically fall under Branflakes' answer.
Although I think a fairer cutoff would probably be to just exclude humans, Vulcans, Trill, or Bajorans.
Maybe, if absolutely necessary, have a checklist, like:
- Is there a prosthetic brow?
- Is the skintone a natural human color?
- Are there prosthetic ears?
- Is there a prosthetic nose?
- Is a wig or bald cap evident?
And you'd need clear evidence of 3 out of the 5. If 3 out of the 5 are in play, go for it. If not, don't.
I'm glad this has been posted, but at the same time I think it's a little silly to feel grateful to now know that the EULA says what it actually does.
Can I use the Chodak in my mission? They were created for the game A Final Unity, which falls outside the tv/films thing? My chodak bears some passing similarities, in that they have pale skin and gold eyes, but other than that, look nothing like they did in those games. I do reference the events of A Final unity as being an Enterprise's mission in the past.
If I can't use this, I will need to seriously rewrite my mission. My other questions have been answered thanks to this thread, but the Chodak issue is still troubling me.
I wouldn't expect any answers anytime soon guys. Personally I'll probably just stick to making up my own stuff (mostly).
Grylak you could always do what they did in Avengers. They couldn't use the Skrulls cause they were licensed to Fox with the Fantastic Four property, so they used the same guys just an alternate name. You could make an "offshoot" of the Chodak, named something else and looking slightly different.
Would be helpful if the actual Q&A thread got some answers.
At first, I was thinking this would collapse my episode, but the more I think about it, and write out various responses, I think I can make it work. Keeping it generic on past events, but work it so the story remains. they were going to be modified chodak anyway, so I could say they take on a new name in honour of their superiority. Probably work in some more speech boxes to make the connection without connections.
Maybe the name Chozrak.