Automobilista Subject to Copyright Claim

[Paul Jeffrey]

Reiza Studios' newest title Automobilista has been temporary removed from the Steam digital distribution platform due to a copyright infringement claim. The title was removed from the Steam storefront Tuesday night.

Reiza Studios made the following statement to their fans and customers today:

"The Steam store page for Automobilista has been taken down due to a copyright infringement claim which had been submitted to Valve.

As is known, Automobilista packages a variety of officially licensed cars & brands alongside fictionalized, originally created content. The claim in question does not make any specific reference to content present in Automobilista supposedly in infringement of the party´s copyright - until it does, our belief is that it has no merit.

We have already taken the appropriate measures to resolve the issue ASAP, but in accordance to Valve´s policy, the process may take a few days to be completed.

In the meantime time we will continue to progress with the development of Automobilista, and intend to release another Early Access update shortly. The game is available for purchase as part of our Membership packages from our forum store.

Please understand that until the matter is fully resolved, we may not be able to discuss it."​

If you previously purchased and installed Automobilista through Steam, you will still be able to play the current Early Access build 0.8.7r both off- and online.

Dont forget to check out the RaceDepartment Automobilista forum for discussion and news on the Reiza title. Why not have a go in one of our daily Club Races run across a number of tracks and cars with large grids and close racing.

Update April 5th: Renato Simioni made a statement that can be seen here

 

[Andrew Pienaar]

Its the go carts i tell you

 

[MoerasGrizzly]

Yeah, as I told later I don't think Codemasters have anything to do with it, dont think AMS will hurt there sale that much... But still, in game world these days with the licence wars then I wouldn't be surprised..

Codemasters themselves also rely on unlicensed look-alike-content. GRID Autosport, for instance, has pseudo-V8-Stock-Cars (yes, THOSE stock cars) and has run into issues with copyright themselves (remember the 911 GT2 you could drive only in very specific circumstances in Grid?). This does not seem like a move they would support: They have just as many a reason to be frustrated with the current state of affairs in copyrightland as anyone else.

It's far more likely that it is one of the parties that you are supposed to be buying your licenses from. It always has been (Atleast in the simracing world), no reason for it to be diffferent now.

 

[Steve Bird]

What a load of complete bollox!

Whatever it is and whoever it is needs to get a life.

 

[Alessandro Di Domenicantonio]

I'm not surprised considering FOM is ok with having a CEO like this.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-28656050

Law is equal for all unless you have money, in that case you're above it.

 

[Austin Ogonoski]

And what answer did you receive on that request? Indeed: none. As it's none of your business. Just like other media that contacted us through the right channel (email and not a private profile on facebook). If we want to say something about it (which we don't as there is nothing to say) we can do that ourselves.

Go make screenshots of stuff that actually contributes to our little niche instead of trying to break it down and make it smaller as it is already.

And this is the last comment on this off topic stuff and I advise you to do the same.

>upset over prc getting some numbers wrong
>not willing to provide said numbers even when asked
>thinks this is a non story
>its everywhere from pc gamer to msn

???

mod-edit: you weren't asking for numbers or facts, you asked for a copy/screenshots of a private email which I can't and won't supply. It's a non-story as it's based on the wrong figures. Now go and make up some more stories.

 

[Alessandro Di Domenicantonio]

Dude, you had the right to ask (not via facebook though) and he had the right not to answer. It's his website he can run it however he wants. Stop acting like you're the simracing police.

 

[Andrew Harper]

As mentioned previously. It's interesting that this materialises after one of Reiza's titles does really well. When it was a small title with a small team and used by a handful of enthusiasts it was largely ignored.

If it is what we are all surmising they may just have to change the cars/helmets to something that's not linkable to the real thing.

 

[Shannon Flynn]

Everyone's going to feel remorse for all of the FOM hate when it is revealed that *I* am the one claiming copyright infringement against Reiza.

 

[Tume]

Obviously Bernie is angry because the F1 Extreme mod isn't crappy enough to represent Formula 1 in real life

 

[johnnymat]

I'm not surprised considering FOM is ok with having a CEO like this.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-28656050

Law is equal for all unless you have money, in that case you're above it.

Money certainly talks doesn't it? Speaking of the "roaring dwarf", I thought I saw a story that said he would sell the F1 rights for 8.5 billion. Like he needs the money, especially at his age.

 

[Austin Ogonoski]

mod-edit: kindly asked you to end this off-topic discussion once

 

[Leonardo Chaves]

Yeah, as I told later I don't think Codemasters have anything to do with it, dont think AMS will hurt there sale that much... But still, in game world these days with the licence wars then I wouldn't be surprised..

FOM has the rights, Codemasters has a license to produce official F1 games (with exclusivity), FOM is the one defending it's rights, Codemasters might have signaled for them to do it, but the rights belong to FOM and only FOM can protest.

 

[Torcano]

Money certainly talks doesn't it? Speaking of the "roaring dwarf", I thought I saw a story that said he would sell the F1 rights for 8.5 billion. Like he needs the money, especially at his age.

My favorite Bernie moment was when he got mugged and got his watch stolen he went straight to Hubolt to make an ad campaign with his battered face as the poster saying "This is the lengths people go to to get a Hubolt watch" and made money off the back of his mugging. Classic Bernie right there with his silly hijinks, such a lovable cheeky dwarf. :3

 

[mister dog]

Just do like i did from last year onwards, stop watching F1 entirely and focus on other forms of motorsport without ridiculous rules and which still respect their fans.
It's the only way the series and the vultures that own it will seize to exist in its current form, as no more fans = no more money.

 

[Keith Dixon]

One of Codie's little group of 8 they used to look at the game recently did a review of Automobilista using one of the Formula cars, maybe it hurt their pride given the positive reaction it got

 

[WPxNJ]

Is it those b@st@rds at the Taxaco Oil Company?

 

[Ghoults]

Question. Two separate ones actually.

A. Hasn't another significant game franchise used their likeness before without facing legal ramifications?

B. Does it really own its own likeness? I can think of several other series that Reiza could say they are modeling themselves after. Super Formula, A1GP, and a few more obscure series from the late 2000's that I can't quite remember the name of.

The very basic idea behind DCMA/trademark laws/state of fair use/copyrights and their policing and such is that it allows big corporations to kill the small guys without any fear of ... well anything really. What you are suggesting is FOM to go after sony. That's not how it works and that's not how it is supposed to work. FOM will never go to court with sony over anything ever. And vice versa.

Sony has money to pay for as many lawyers as FOM can. And more importantly going to court could also risk creating a precedent which would not end up favourable for FOM. Modders are easy targets becuase nobody is going to go to court over hobby. Small studios like reiza are basically just the same. They will fight these moronic takedowns to survive whereas sony if sued will fight for inclusion of the content as well. FOM is fine with you as long as you pay money for them. But as soon as you become anything else than a positive revenue stream their lawyers spring to action faster than a pond filled with crocodiles after you have dumped your average sized modding team into the aforementioned watery surface.

I think in grand scale people need to udnerstand that FOM is old people who own a sport mainly marketed for old people using old techniques that have passed their useful expiry dates by years and only continue to work in today's world because they have enough money to sue their way out of literally any imaginable situation. They think still think there is only one type of contract that exists. Exclusives. And as such they can only deal in one thing. Absolutes. And while it would be self-contradicting to say only the sith deal in absolutes with FOM they can actually keep doing it because we have no yodas to push back.

FOM has the rights, Codemasters has a license to produce official F1 games (with exclusivity), FOM is the one defending it's rights, Codemasters might have signaled for them to do it, but the rights belong to FOM and only FOM can protest.

Actually with the way the system works pretty much anyone can do anything they like. Even youtube has set up their DCMA claims system in such way that the claims are not actual lawful DCMA claims but more of a gray area that allows them to do whatever they want with them. Anybody can literally protest anything and if you can throw enough money at it you can make it a long, hard and costly process for literally anybody. The only catch is that you are pretty much immune to such contrivances if you are big enough. Guess here who is and who isn't.

 

[Robert Stanley]

I hope it is the FOM; afaik i hope it's the death knell for real F1 in it's current state of management, how backwards is this situation...seriously, what a pathetic & laughably out of touch attitude it is

Good luck Reiza; maybe look to the GT / WEC side of things, the penny dropped a long time ago with many real world drivers

 

[El-ahrairah]

**** this... **** everything... **** FOM... ****

 

[ThatRacingGuy]

FOM now earns money from Copyright claims cuz no one is coming to the actual in real life races..

Well... They have to earn money from something right...?