CIG Responds to Crytek.....again(now with video)

Radegast74

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https://www.scribd.com/document/370105345/031127439162

We should be getting some videos today from the usual suspects too.
Thanks for posting this! Very interesting! I can recommend reading the whole thing, they pretty much destroy Crytek's allegations, and do so in a forthright manner, where they quote the GLA and reference previous legal precedence to back up their case, rather than using inflammatory, or misleading, or self-promoting language (although I did like the one line, p. 7 line 9 where CIG states, in the middle of demolishing Crytek's weird ideas about exclusivity, "even if CIG has reason to believe Crytek is a sinking ship" -- ouch!).

The top two interesting facts from the brief that I didn't get from previous filings:
1. CIG did deliver bug fixes previously, in 2016, and again...get this! on January 23, 2018! See page 5, footnote 2

2. Crytek is claiming damages due to their copyrighted code...but didn't copyright their code until December 11, 2017! Undoubtedly in preparation for this lawsuit (something CIG left unsaid, but you have to ask, why then, Crytek?)

Anyway, this filing was pretty thorough...I expect the judge to be pretty sweeping in dismissing most, if not all, of Crytek's claims. I thought the releasing code through Bugsmashers might likely be Crytek's strongest point, but CIG did a good job of shooting that down, too.
 

Vavrik

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Get a comfortable chair, a bag of your favorite chips, and a beer. This is going to be a pretty good comedy when all's said and done.

The TL;DR
By the way:
"Statutory damages are unavailable to Crytek because the FAC does not and cannot allege that “independent acts” of infringement occurred after Crytek obtained its copyright registration on December 11, 2017. 17 U.S.C. § 412."

This statement may not be true, for several reasons. It's complicated. In a nutshell:
  • The USA is a signatory to the Berne Convention - which means copyright does not have to be registered. A work is copyrighted as soon as it is published. I think the words are something like "fixed in a tangible media".
  • However in order to use someone in a US court, you must register your copyright, as Crytek did.
  • But the copyright registration should be filed "promptly" (i.e. when the work is produced). If it's not then you risk damages for infringing works that are published prior to your registration.
This is kind of an odd situation if you sue someone in the USA for copyright infringement and the work was produced in another country and not registered. This is partly where people like Leonard French get their income.
 

NaffNaffBobFace

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Haha I hope we eventually get custom skins, I would definitely put Leonard on the Red.
I'm pretty sure ship-name decals are confirmed - The 600i sale included the benefit of being allowed to reserve a ship name up to 32 characters long if you bought using new cash.
 

NaffNaffBobFace

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...and actually think I have some sort of stake in.
I feel this way. Every penny that is taken in lawsuit is a penny pledged that is not spent on our game.
 

Talonsbane

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My next pledge ship is going to be called the "TSS Leonard French".

It might be a Cutlass Red but I haven't decided.
I'm tempted to obtain some new crappy concept in the future & name it the TSS Cry-Smart so that it would come with LTI & I would continuously crash it into random places to leave as a "Wrecked" Easter egg for other players to find. I'm thinking that new Drake Vermin scavenger ship should do nicely.
 

Passeeo

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I feel this way. Every penny that is taken in lawsuit is a penny pledged that is not spent on our game.
Well if my understanding is right CIG have other revenue streams which are separate from the backer pledges and I think i'd be right to say that most dev teams have some sort of slush fund for legal issues. If they are true to their word then the only thing that pledges get spent on is the game and they are still making money to support the development.

Considering the contract was only priced at $1.8 million and Crytek would be unable to prove how much they could have lost due to SC not advertising their engine even if they got the worst possible outcome it wouldn't seem that CIG would be forced to pay more than that amount.

However i'm just an average Joe with no experience in the legal world so maybe others can discuss how far off the mark i could be.

End of the day though the game is going to get made unless they are faced with much larger issues than this lawsuit.
 

NaffNaffBobFace

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Well if my understanding is right CIG have other revenue streams which are separate from the backer pledges...
If thats true thats excellent news - as they havn't released any actual sellable games yet and nearly 2 million backers (read customers) have already bought the game in their game package pledges I was worried they may have had issues regards having only one relatively fragile income stream: Eggs+Baskets etc...

I used to sound like a broken record harping on about that on the old RSI forum.
 

Takeiteasy

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I feel this way. Every penny that is taken in lawsuit is a penny pledged that is not spent on our game.
Yeah it's a bad situation indeed when CIG, probably the most customer friendly game company, have to defend themselves at the backers expense. Crytek can suck my sausage for their selfishness, just disappear into irrelevance already.

I'm not mad.
 
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