Game Maker für mobile Plattformen (iOS ,Android, PSP, Nokia)

http://gamemakerblog.com/2011/01/04/game-maker-ios-compiler-video/#comment-92428 schrieb:

It’s been brought to our attention recently that some individuals have created what they openly refer to as a “Decompiler” specifically for the games we’ve been publishing on iTunes.

There is no doubt that the people involved are potentially committing a criminal offense and I thought it would be useful to issue a public “friendly warning” to stop doing this.. I have also reposted the content of this message on other sites to make sure that the message is clearly understood by the people involved in this “project”.

The games we publish on iTunes are COPYRIGHT of YOYO GAMES Limited. That means the games (including our proprietary technology used in them) are protected by international copyright law.

You have no rights whatsoever to distribute any of our proprietary technology without our prior permission and it would be very foolish to do so as the punishments for copyright infringement can be very severe.

In case you were wondering and have a legally purchased copy of Game Maker (Windows or Mac), The Game Maker EULA does not apply to any technology that is not part of the standard distribution of GAme Maker and very definitely does not permit you to use any technology we’ve developed for Apple’s IOS, for example. A validly purchased Game Maker license only allows you to distribute technology that comes as with the version of Game Maker and that is required by any game you create using Game Maker. The Game Maker EULA does NOT allow you to use or distribute any other technology developed for or on behalf of YoYo Games Ltd . THAT VERY DEFINITELY INCLUDES THE GAMES OR APPLICATIONS OR ANY PARTS OF THEM THAT WE SELL THOUGH iTUNES, EVEN IF WE CHOOSE TO DISTRIBUTE THEM FREE OF CHARGE.

YoYo Games is a BUSINESS and we will protect our assets. We really don’t want to take this any further, but we will protect our investment if you force us to.

If you’re involved in the “IOS Decompiler” project or any similar operation, then this message is a formal “CEASE AND DESIST” notice to you. If you are involved (we know who you are) and you do not abandon this work you should take legal advice before you take this any further. You clearly don’t understand the gravity of what you have done and your stated intentions to distribute YoYo Games’ technology or to facilitate it.

Just because you may live outside of the UK, you are not out of the reach of UK courts. The UK has bilateral extradition treaties with most countries, including, but certainly not limited to The USA, Australia and Canada.

The UK courts take a very dim view of copyright valuation and UK law is particularly clear in that area. They are more than prepared to issue prison sentences in copyright cases. Here’s a recent games related case where a 12 month prison sentence was the result. bit-tech.net/news/gaming/2010/…nced-to-one-year-in-pri/1

We REALLY don’t want to be sending strong messages to you like this, however our lawyers have advised us that we will need to take action sooner rather than later. To prevent this I expect to see a CLEAR message that this project and ALL support for it has been terminated. Those involved can send notice of this in writing if they wish to YoYo Games Ltd, Kydd Building, Bell St DUNDEE, SCOTLAND DD1 1HG.

It might help to save a lot of legal hassle if anyone involved would read the iTunes EULA, apple.com/legal/itunes/appstore/dev/stdeula/ Here’s a cut and paste of one section for you :-

a. Scope of License: This license granted to You for the Licensed Application by Application Provider is limited to a non-transferable license to use the Licensed Application on any iPhone or iPod touch that You own or control and as permitted by the Usage Rules set forth in Section 9.b. of the App Store Terms and Conditions (the “Usage Rules”). This license does not allow You to use the Licensed Application on any iPod touch or iPhone that You do not own or control, and You may not distribute or make the Licensed Application available over a network where it could be used by multiple devices at the same time. You may not rent, lease, lend, sell, redistribute or sublicense the Licensed Application. You may not copy (except as expressly permitted by this license and the Usage Rules), decompile, reverse engineer, disassemble, attempt to derive the source code of, modify, or create derivative works of the Licensed Application, any updates, or any part thereof (except as and only to the extent any foregoing restriction is prohibited by applicable law or to the extent as may be permitted by the licensing terms governing use of any open sourced components included with the Licensed Application). Any attempt to do so is a violation of the rights of the Application Provider and its licensors. If You breach this restriction, You may be subject to prosecution and damages. The terms of the license will govern any upgrades provided by Application Provider that replace and/or supplement the original Product, unless such upgrade is accompanied by a separate license in which case the terms of that license will govern.

We (and our lawyers) think this is VERY CLEAR.

Sorry to be posting such a stern message here. We genuinely hope that this message will convey the seriousness of their potential error to those involved and we can all get back to the more interesting task of making great games

Note, our lawyers have taken a copy of this post and will continue to monitor the conversation. For legal reasons I will not respond to any further comments made here.

em…. Happy New Year,

Sandy Duncan, CEO, YoYo Games Ltd

http://gamemakerblog.com/2011/01/04/game-maker-ios-compiler-video/#comment-92440 schrieb:

As I stated on YYG:

*****
You (YYG) _must_ be joking right?

1. The only reason the R4 case was lost is because the courts have not yet caught up with technology (and he probably couldn’t afford a good lawyer). People who sell guns do not have the intention of their customers to kill people, just as those who distribute R4 chips do not have the intention of their customers to commit piracy. The EULA for the DS states that the unit cannot be opened, but the R4 chip does not require it, it fits into the port that strictly states it as a connection point for external “games”…and R4 can be seen as a game in itself (an empty one).
2. The apple EULA is limited to the _action_ of decompiling and distributing _other_ people’s works. Having a gun is not the same thing as shooting someone between the eyes, making the decompiler is not malice intent to suck the life out of YYG or any of its users.
3. The phone store sucks, no one hardly buys anything on their phone, and if so, it is cheap and short-lived. I personally do not know why you think it’s important to move into that sector when you cannot even fix the areas you currently market for.

I do understand the ramifications of having the software in public hands, and that distributing the source files of other people (including YYG) is illegal…but the decompiler itself is a piece of software worked on by intellectuals and they have just as much right and protection that the same IP laws that protect your works. IP…it’s a double-edged sword here.

You and your lawyers must find it “very clear” that you can only issue a smoke and mirror warning and hope for the best. Also, just to clarify by your “UK” laws that I just looked up:

A. Computer programs are not defined under UK law as a result of the rationale that a codified definition would quickly be overtaken by developments in technology. An implied license to use the program for ordinary purposes is implied into the normal contract of sale and purchase if no express provision is otherwise made. Further to this implied license or express license (as the case may be), certain acts in relation to computer programs are permitted by statute. As such, these rights may not be overridden by agreement – they are inalienable rights for lawful users, and therefore do not infringe copyright by carrying out the specified acts.
B. Lawful users of software are entitled to:
* back-up said software (a contract agreed to counter this voids this contract part)
* decompile (reverse-engineer) to produce the higher level language
* decompile for sole purpose to alter it in order to ammend other abilities seen fit to the user (although the results of those files cannot be shared with others unless the original creator of the software has open information on it)
* edit software to correct errors (and contract agreements against such are void on contract)
Whereby a “lawful user” is the one who is given rights to use software…aka, the customers that you sell your product to has those rights.

(exerpt and paraphrased for laymen from Gillhams – Law Firm Copyright Lawyer page)

p.s. This action you have taken alone has negatively affected your public relations, I for one now refuse any further purchase from your company, and those who wish to follow me in this boycott may do so. There are plenty of FREE language tools and tutorials, and you won’t get any blanketing statements like this from those companies.
*****

I also find it funny that they only mention the decompiler, yet not the compiler that they truly seek to block. Good for the team in not distributing the runner with the compiler, but it will be of no good except get OTHER people in trouble with YYG (because you force them to obtain the runner on their own). I give you congrats on the knowledge you gained writing such software, but I urge you guys to realize that a lot of people _may_ get hurt. Cheers!

http://gamemakerblog.com/2011/01/04/game-maker-ios-compiler-video/#comment-92406 schrieb:

Me and Zach have done nothing illegal.

This is not theft. Why? The Runner is provided on a FREE application from the app store, freely available to anyone with a .zip file extractor. We are NOT distributing the runner, YYG is. The runner will need to be obtained by someone developing the iOS game on their own terms. By distributing a free application, YYG is also distributing their runner. No reverse engineering required.

Everyone is talking like “obtaining the runner” is such a huge, and illegal task.

Let me explain exactly what the compiler does:
You input a GMK file, it spits out a .ios file which can be read by YYG’s runner. None of these are illegal in any way shape or form.
Should YYG sue, they have ABSOLUTELY NO proof that we have distributed, or even “obtained” the runner. Absolutely no proof (Good luck in court). Secondly, they would have to work with 3 law systems to do anything (US, Canada and EU).

NakedPaulToast :
The iOS runner is YYGs property. They have obtained the runner, without YYGs permission, recreating a executable with the runner is creating a derivative. Distributing the compiler with the copyrighted iOS runner is absolutely illegal. Anyone who uses it and distributes the resulting executable is also taking part.

Again, who said we were distributing the compiler with their runner?

So I suppose instead of distributing the runner, we can just distribute the link to the free Solitaire game then, eh? Same thing.

What I find funny, is that none of you know how iPhone apps work, and you haven’t the slightest clue how the compiler works. You automatically jump to conclusions that we are distributing the runner with the compiler, which is a false statement.

I should also add that YYG hasn’t even said a WORD about the whole compiler yet, which leads me to think that they couldn’t care less.

Oh, and one last thing. The EULA on YYG’s website refers to Game Maker and possibly it’s PC runner. It doesn’t mention anything about the iPhone runner. If anyone has read otherwise please let me know because I can’t be bothered to read that wall of text.