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Arlington police cars in Grand Theft Auto? Department cracks down on use?


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THIS AGAIN REALLY? Realy worried about my modifications as well, anyone have anything to say?

 

http://www.wfaa.com/news/local/tarrant-county/arlington-police-cars-in-grand-theft-auto-department-cracks-down-on-use/493759729

Edited by Captain A.Brandon

 

Character is like a tree and reputation like a shadow. The shadow is what we think of it; the tree is the real thing.

- Abraham Lincoln

 

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"I guess you can download them into the game, and then you can do all kinds of stuff that we wouldn't really approve of," said Lt. Chris Cook

 

There's not a damn thing you can do about it, either.  It makes me laugh when these agencies act like they are gods and can say "we don't like you using our design, so we're gonna try and come after you!"  Captain A Brandon, you have nothing to worry about. Your stuff is fine.

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  • Management Team

It could of been worse, the Australian news really disliked us as a community. Enter the videos they that where shown on their report, the ones they didn't watch in any way. I guess it's time to leave the basement, relinquish our illegal game copies and stop being such criminals.

Shame that they don't even take the small amount of time to understand this situation.

🕵️‍♂️ Always watching, always waiting.

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1 hour ago, IdeallyStoddy said:

I really don't see any reason to get upset over it. Jesus, we live in such a sensitive society nowadays where people are offended over the smallest of things.

 

The only reason they throw a fit is because it's their department's name.  I imagine they also get upset because some of what we do in GTA as cops (bad cops, anyway) has happened in that department, and they want to either bury it or distance themselves entirely.  That is the only legitimate reason to be against it.  Any of the bullshit claims of "we own the logo and don't want it used" is a scapegoat reason.

 

If someone is running around in a CPD vehicle and killing civilians left and right, I would understand the CPD being a bit upset by that, but common sense needs to be a thing.  No one is going to look at the CPD in GTA and think 'This is really happening!'

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9 minutes ago, Kallus Rourke said:

 

The only reason they throw a fit is because it's their department's name.  I imagine they also get upset because some of what we do in GTA as cops (bad cops, anyway) has happened in that department, and they want to either bury it or distance themselves entirely.  That is the only legitimate reason to be against it.  Any of the bullshit claims of "we own the logo and don't want it used" is a scapegoat reason.

 

If someone is running around in a CPD vehicle and killing civilians left and right, I would understand the CPD being a bit upset by that, but common sense needs to be a thing.  No one is going to look at the CPD in GTA and think 'This is really happening!'

 

Yea, that I can understand I guess if they have had a bad history. Before they do throw a fit though, I wish they would do some more research into why we do what we do here and realise that most of us here have an interest in law enforcement or just police vehicles in general. That's why whenever I do skins based of real departments I prefer to rename decals to the department from the game to avoid unnecessary drama.

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  • Management Team

Legally, it probably matches the definition of fair use. Realistically, if any website did get a cease & desist notification from a police department they are probably going to remove the material, instead of going to court with them.

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.

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3 hours ago, Cyan said:

Legally, it probably matches the definition of fair use. Realistically, if any website did get a cease & desist notification from a police department they are probably going to remove the material, instead of going to court with them.

 

That's what angers me the most.  They won't win against a single individual, and in court they wouldn't stand a chance, so they fall back and cry "C&D"  to the website they are on because they know most folks won't go to court and fight it because of the money they'd lose doing it.  I wish more people weren't the type to sit back and take it, if I was a website owner and got a C&D over something that I knew for a fact was legal, I'd tell 'em what they can do with that C&D.

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2 hours ago, Cyan said:

Legally, it probably matches the definition of fair use. Realistically, if any website did get a cease & desist notification from a police department they are probably going to remove the material, instead of going to court with them.

Basically. Like I said legally the C& D letter is more of a request at this point because it wouldn't stand up in court. No one wants to deal with it though. So they pull the content and show that its gone to appease the  person who sent it. The only way a C&D letter would hold up is if they could prove they were losing money or you were making money. Blizzard can cry about a private server that people play on because its subscriptions they lose. 

The biggest issue is its not worth hiring a lawyer and telling them to pound sand. That and considering the majority around here seem to either be L&O of some form or pro- L&O so generally we do not want to make a department look bad. Even if they are being fucktards in this case. 

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Huh. Lore-friendly cars and any anxious PD can take a hike... Besides they fit much better :P

 

On  the other hand, in course of general GTA gameplay cops are being shot, beaten, ran over, exploded and stabbed for fun, so if I saw that done to my PD's cars and officers I might get upset.

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Did someone read the article instead of watching the video? Because the latter is rather misleading, just a couple paragraphs down it says:

 

""Last night, we were alerted by a citizen that said, 'Hey, your graphics are not only being used but being sold by this graphics company, just wanted to make you aware,'" 

 

So, that would actually explain it, if the skins were actually sold rather than distributed for free like here.

Edited by Hystery
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2 hours ago, Hystery said:

Did someone read the article instead of watching the video? Because the latter is rather misleading, just a couple paragraphs down it says:

 

""Last night, we were alerted by a citizen that said, 'Hey, your graphics are not only being used but being sold by this graphics company, just wanted to make you aware,'" 

 

So, that would actually explain it, if the skins were actually sold rather than distributed for free like here.

 

I skimmed the article originally, but reading it again, while you're onto something, see here:

 

It's just a game, but Arlington police say it's important to enforce their copyright in order to protect their image.

 

AKA it's important to say "we don't want this used in a video game because we think it'll reflect our image."  So it's 50/50.  It's half they want to protect their copyright from folks making money, and half "We want to distance ourselves from GTA."   Still, if you're not making any money off of their design, they have no legality in C&D simply because you're using it.

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1 hour ago, Kallus Rourke said:

AKA it's important to say "we don't want this used in a video game because we think it'll reflect our image."  So it's 50/50.  It's half they want to protect their copyright from folks making money, and half "We want to distance ourselves from GTA."   Still, if you're not making any money off of their design, they have no legality in C&D simply because you're using it.

 

This myth needs to die. "I'm not making money from it" is not in any way a defense to a copyright infringement lawsuit under US law. The purpose and character of the use is one of the four statutory fair use factors, and explicitly includes whether the use is for commercial or nonprofit educational usage, but that's just part of one of four factors.

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  • 2 weeks later...

TBH the i feel the police department and the MEdia is bored!  This is what the media love trouble! they look at everything negative but what if they played lspdfr and just notice its a way to show people how it feels to be a cop if you wanna play Realistic.  This can be use to let the people know and have a taste of police work and outcome! i feel many people here ended up respecting police more due to this game! How many times anyone here we did a traffic stop and end up being a fight for your life! or a random call out where you chasing a suspect in a gang area and end up in a war with the member! or a shooting suspect running in the woods! and you gotta request back up before moving in!  or dealing with Drivers who fail to move over and crash behind your police car or into you the the person you pull over ! The media should have took the time to see what this game is all about!  yea its GTA but lspdfr make you a good guy and to fight crime.

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Not illegal unless they specifically use the badge/seal/name/etc of Arlington. Just because the car is a blue and white (like a black and white), with the red and blue A, is not enough to sue on, or even create a DMCA. What they really need is a trademark and even then, the only thing they can really sue on (if possible) is the A arch that is red and blue. Many large departments tried to sue people who made their vehicles in this game and can not have a case unless it was used in their name/seal or anything actually representing them. Once you turn that vehicle design with the name of Los Santos, all goes out the window for a case. Once then, the vehicle and design created is now inspiration, not infringement. Even then, you can't sue unless used exactly as they have it with their name/seal/etc. 
 
If this department is that worried about it, well, too bad, get over it. It's not infringement unless as said above. Trademark is the only thing remotely possible. Their graphics have been used in the GTA police community since GTA:San Andreas. I'd love to see them try and sue someone from the community and lose horribly by wasting tax payer dollars, and yes, they will lose. 
 
Not only that, but this is a game, not real life. If people are also stupid enough to believe that this game is real life, then they shouldn't be able to function in society with others. It's common sense.

So, go ahead, keep creating all the vehicles and designs you want, they can't do shit unless you use their stuff directly, and even then, nothing will probably ever happen, but as a safe chance, just do Los Santos versions. I have only created IRL departments about two times, and kept it private. Everything else I've created was based off an IRL department but never used anything of theirs. 
Edited by Fartknockr
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This is my opinion of the whole subject. I respect their feelings in the matter, and I thank them for their service, but those images where created using tax payer money, thus they are the tax payer's intellectual property. 

 

Furthermore, your department vehicle's are being featured in LSPDFR, because someone took the time, spending many hour's, to create textures out of the love and respect for their local departments. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited by Psycho On Patrol
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