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CD Projekt Red has confirmed that it made a modder take down their Cyberpunk 2077 VR mod [VR Injection Framework: +100 games supported] because they were charging money for it [Patreon subscribers] (www.gamespot.com)
submitted 9 months ago by to c/pcgaming@lemmy.ca
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[–] 15 points 9 months ago (7 children)

I don’t understand how this is legal action?

Well just the use of the trademark would probably be enough to file a DMCA takedown. But beyond that modding the game entails using its modding tools, which have an EULA, which stipulates no paywalls for mods.

Technically the modder has legal recourse, they could argue fair use and file a counter-notice. Then CDPR would have to sue in front of a court. But given the financial and legal risks it seems unlikely a counter-notice will happen.

Honestly the only real chance is to come to some kind of agreement with CDPR, which they seemed to heavily telegraph is possible in their public message ("we never allow monetization of our IP without our direct permission and/or an agreement in place").

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  • [–] 3 points 9 months ago (1 child)

    I see, I didn't think about the modding tools here. I always thought such clauses in the EULA are there for "good manners", and not something that can be used in court in example. Lot of stuff in EULAs in general are not legally enforceable.

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  • [–] 2 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (4 children)

    There are no modding tools. This is done entirely outside the game. But it does still qualify as a breech of ToS. There are alot of options for how to handle it, this is the option they chose.

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  • [–] 3 points 9 months ago (3 children)

    There are, called REDmod: https://www.cyberpunk.net/en/modding-support

    From what I understand the Cyberpunk VR mod is partially made up of REDmod plugins and partially of stand-alone binaries, but not sure on that one.

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  • [–] 2 points 9 months ago (2 children)

    Sorry, meant no modding tools from any one specific game involved in the luke ross mod, he supports 35 games with it.

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  • [–] 1 point 9 months ago (1 child)

    And he does so by providing a stand-alone binary and providing integration into the games by using their modding tools. At least that was my, admittedly unresearched, understanding of the matter.

    If what you say was true it would be an open-and-shut case meaning Ross could have immediately filed a DMCA counter-notice (i.e. legally asserting that no copyrighted material was used) because he wouldn't have anything to lose. But he didn't do that. My guess would be because he did in fact use REDmod plugins to make his VR mod binary viable to actually play.

    But I'm admittedly guessing here, any source you want to provide to the contrary would be welcome.

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  • [–] 1 point 9 months ago

    Nah, the reason they cited was that he violated ToS for fan created content. Which he did, if his mod counts as fan content. And there is an argument that could be presented that it does. But more importantly, as per patreons policy, as soon as it was reported for dmca take down, it was taken down, and now he has to apply for it being reinstated. And to do so, he basically needs to comply or go to court. Complying is easier. Although since then a second company has done the same, and since Patreons policy is any project being dmca struck multiple times, even if the strikes would ultimately prove fruitless, means the project will be permanently removed from patreon.

    So he has taken it down and given everyone a free month for now while he determines what can be done.

    I feel like if he had a front-end executable, he would then fall under the same category VorpX does, it's allowed to cost money despite largely being the same thing.

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