EA bitch-slaps Richard Gariott in the face

[Jaesun]

http://kotaku.com/5808095/ea-is-launchi ... competitor

This Friday, Electronic Arts will unveil its own take on the popular online PC shopfront Steam, with the launch of a service called Origin.

wow.

 

[Excidium]

 

[RK47]

I was thinking of that in the bus today.

If EA is actually serious of relaunching the Ultima, the ultimate bitch slap would be to call it David Gaider's Ultima: Origins.

 

[SCO]

The vertical expansion of digital companies is happening apace. Soon you'll not be able to buy unless from the source.

(or from the source paymasters ofcourse).

Owning games companies makes more sense if you're a publisher from now on. Also get ready for they to compete on dev profits given and exclusivity deals and shit for the few talented teams that escape the greed for the owners to sell out.

 

[Gord]

So yet another way to rent games instead of properly owning them?

 

[Data4]

I read somewhere that Garriott still retains the rights to the names "Lord British" and "Britannia", and is working on some sort of Ultima game that he can't call "Ultima", due to EA holding that copyright. Should be an interesting bit of drama in the next year or so.

 

[Deleted member 7219]

I read somewhere that Garriott still retains the rights to the names "Lord British" and "Britannia", and is working on some sort of Ultima game that he can't call "Ultima", due to EA holding that copyright. Should be an interesting bit of drama in the next year or so.

How the fuck can he hold the right to 'Britannia'? It is the Roman name for Britain, which is still widely used today. What an arrogant little shit he is.

Also, 'Lord British' is so generic I can't believe a court would give him rights over that either.

 

[Destroid]

I really doubt he or anyone else hold the rights to the name "Britannia".

 

[commie]

I stopped caring when I found out that Lord British wasn't even British.

 

[Unkillable Cat]

I read somewhere that Garriott still retains the rights to the names "Lord British" and "Britannia", and is working on some sort of Ultima game that he can't call "Ultima", due to EA holding that copyright. Should be an interesting bit of drama in the next year or so.

How the fuck can he hold the right to 'Britannia'? It is the Roman name for Britain, which is still widely used today. What an arrogant little shit he is.

Also, 'Lord British' is so generic I can't believe a court would give him rights over that either.

The answer is: Because copyright laws are retarded.

Here in Iceland there's a small Mexican restaurant called Santa Maria. They'd been around for 6 months before they were hit by a Cease & Desist order by the trademark holders of the Santa Maria line of food products (mostly dips and sauces, IIRC) citing copyright infringement. They chose to comply and renamed the restaurant Sankta Maria. There was NO other connection between the two, and it isn't even that good a restaurant to begin with.

IIRC, FedEx has the copyright on the colour brown. Don't even ask how they pulled that one off.

But the above examples aren't all-reaching and omnipotent, they only apply in certain contexts. I'm guessing Garriott's rights to Lord British (and possibly Britannia as well) only apply within the entertainment industry, possibly even in a limited scope within.

 

[Luzur]

I stopped caring when I found out that Lord British wasn't even British.

he was born in England (Cambridge, if i remember correctly) but moved to the US at a young age, thats why he calls himself "British".

 

[Pelvis Knot]

I read somewhere that Garriott still retains the rights to the names "Lord British" and "Britannia", and is working on some sort of Ultima game that he can't call "Ultima", due to EA holding that copyright. Should be an interesting bit of drama in the next year or so.

IIRC, FedEx has the copyright on the colour brown. Don't even ask how they pulled that one off.

But the above examples aren't all-reaching and omnipotent, they only apply in certain contexts. I'm guessing Garriott's rights to Lord British (and possibly Britannia as well) only apply within the entertainment industry, possibly even in a limited scope within.

Deutsche Telekom also holds copyright on magenta

 

[Metro]

It's because you're copyrighting the name as it applies to a certain context/intellectual property (i.e. the specific character of Lord British and the kingdom of Britannia) not the name generally.

Also, I'll just leave this tidbit from the GoG forums here:

Lol @ 'bigger focus on PC games' from EA.

They're HUGE PC gaming supporters. Maybe not the kind of games you want, but of all the major publishers EA shows the most PC love by far.

Good news, guys, EA are HUGE supporters of PC gaming...

 

[gromit]

It's trademark, not copyright, you people are discussing. In the case of UPS (not FedEx, wtf?) anyone can make or use any color brown, as long as they don't suddenly start using it to mark designated trucks for the purposes of parcel delivery. Things like this (theoretically that is, i.e. when actually enforced) are what keep down the number of hokey look-alikes which usually have nothing going for them except deception - companies with something of value to offer are more concerned with making their product stick out, not blend in.

In the case of "Lord British," the only elements copyright can logically, lawfully, apply to are the works produced using him. Game-related images and texts pertaining to Lord British, being works themselves, are prohibited from being duplicated - i.e. you don't have the right to copy them. Anyone can say the phrase "Lord British" all day long, as long as they don't present themselves, or a character, as being him... particularly for the purposes of branding or advertising a computer role-playing game. It is a unique mark used within their trade.

As a side note, this is why cosplay should be brought to justice. Err, with special exemption for hotness - which improves the brand instead of degrading it!

 

[TheWesDude]

I read somewhere that Garriott still retains the rights to the names "Lord British" and "Britannia", and is working on some sort of Ultima game that he can't call "Ultima", due to EA holding that copyright. Should be an interesting bit of drama in the next year or so.

he holds the rights to lord british, lord shamino, sosaria, iolo, and some other name i forget.

he was born in England (Cambridge, if i remember correctly) but moved to the US at a young age, thats why he calls himself "British".

wrong. he was born and raised in the US. his dad was an astronaut.

he got the name "lord british" when he was young and in the SCA, he had the habbit of saying "hello" and not saying "hi" so people gave him that moniker.

 

[MMXI]

wrong. he was born and raised in the US.

You should change his Wikipedia entry with your precious information.