More than that, it seems the family is active on a board called the "Round Table". I wonder if this committee knows that they are earning profits by illegally selling copyrighted material from the United Sates. Maxis may not care, it suits their own needs up to a point, but a board of fellow professionals might not be so amused....

Not to be the killjoy, but I think misspellings are often due to the use of translators. If he is Swedish he may be using one to convert his letter before sending them to a English based recipient. Does anyone know what his first language is?

Doesn't it seem that his greatest weakness is what he claims to be his strength? (meaning TSR) If they are a legitimate business they must adhere to international and/or Swedish cooperate law. It does not seem like that is the case. If everyone is so upset by his actions why don't you just seek to have him closed down? Am I missing something here?

It seems to me that for years file sharers have been running scared, hiding in caves and referring to themselves as pirates. But nothing could be farther from the truth. You are not stealing anything so you are not pirates. You are not duplicating software, cracking exe files or creating ISO's. So why again is the pressure on us?

He claims to be a subdivision of a company I can find no data on. I find no record of paid taxes or financial statements. I cant even find a business license or registration and the TSR website is not W3C verified. Its not digitally signed and does not even display proper contact information as a business site must.There is absolutely no evidence that TSR is anything more than a very large fansite that breaks the law by redistributing copyrighted files that are extracted or derived from a Maxis game for profit.

Their only saving grace has been that Maxis does not press charges. But neither did they relinquish their own copyrights, so I think by the new laws in Sweden...he could be shut down if someone reported him.

  yes its great to have that link handy! The only thing here is that the section 2 part 4 that you posted is only in regards to content acquired or uploaded through Sims Launcher. They seem to have a different section for each aspect of the game. Section 2 part A looks like it deals more with intellectual property rights. They also reference the software and all components of it. I believe this is the piece that will make paysites cry...but it might piss off free sites too.

"Except as expressly licensed to you herein, EA and its licensors, as
applicable, owns and reserves all right, title and interest in the Software, and all related data,
characters, themes, objects, storyline, images, photographs, graphics, animations, video, music,
text, and the associated copyrights, trademarks, moral rights and other intellectual property rights
therein. This License is limited to the intellectual property rights of EA and its licensors in the
Software and does not include any rights to other patents or intellectual property. Except to the
extent permitted under applicable law, you may not decompile, disassemble, reverse engineer or
created derivative works of the Software by any means whatsoever. You may not remove, alter, or
obscure any product identification, copyright, or other intellectual property notices in the
Software."

If Thoma$$ runs a legitimate business, or is a sub division of a cooperation I would like to know:

1. Is it a publicly traded company and where can I find the financial statements.

2. Does he pay taxes on the income generated by TSR?

That is very interesting indeed! But I am not sure if this means that maxis is siphoning off custom meshers? Clue me in a bit here please.  Or are they opening the door for sharing? I am not as up on the Sims 2 technicalities.

I know the files types were changed when Sims 2 came out and that stand alone files could be made. This was not true with Sims 1...where the actual iff had to be extracted and altered. (yes I have been playing a long time...and still favor Sims 1) But I do try to keep current with the overall legalities, which apply equally to all versions.

I also saw the whole Securem things as a strategy to prevent or at least track, alterations. But then I see Ea getting cozy with TSR...just makes me wonder.

I am rather counting on that. The law provides that a cooperation has the rights to a unique product only insofar as they "vigorously and continually" protect their brand identity and its rights. If they do not, they can lose their claim to copyright and another company can move right in. 

That means if Maxis will not take an official stand they could be forced to give up their own copyright. Which would make many creators very rich people.

One of the main problems with file sharing is that everyone is argues it from a different standpoint. The gamer sees a game file, the artist sees a personal creation, the pc analyst sees a pixilated strand of code and the business people see a marketable product. Now throw in the differences in laws, ethics and cultures on an international level. You see how it gets very complex. This debate is so disorganized and unstructured it is impossible to reach a viable outcome. Many people are citing “feelings” which are intangible, then combining them with corporate law, which they have no knowledge of.

The simple fact is that Maxis has never before never taken an official position on this issue. Indeed it was in their best interest NOT to. They could alienate half their customer base if they either condemn or condone file making or file sharing. And the two issues are inexorably linked, because creating custom content, by the letter of the law, is illegal in the first place. You cannot extract a piece of copyrighted software, make slight alterations to the code, and supplant the existing copyright with your result. No matter how pretty you make it look or how long it took you to do so.

The reason that Maxis has looked the other way is simple. It makes them money. If people are creating and sharing files, or even arguing about it, they are playing the game. This is a marking department’s wet dream. Maxis will never blow that ride unless someone attempts to actually incorporate or infringe on their brand identity. In other words; keep those arguments at the children’s table, and just don’t bother the adults.

But they recently have become very friendly with some of the fan sites, even inviting them to do some beta testing for Sims 3. They revised some of their wording to say that they encourage people and websites to create custom content, while at no time actually accepting any responsibility or announcing any affiliation. This basically means they have a PR person trying to make everyone happy while not taking a firm legal position on file sharing or copyright infringement. They might even attempt to acquire a few fan sites up at some point, if the profit margin looks appealing.

But they will first have to make a decision about who owns the copyright to the extracted files and how the laws apply. In order to have a case for infringement you must first establish who holds the copyright. It’s either maxis...or it is the creator. It cannot be both. If it is the creator, then every skinner and T-mogger has the right to produce and distribute their product on the retail market, making them quite wealthy. And there are plenty of manufacturers out there who would leap at the chance. But if it is Maxis, then all paysites are infringing on copyright laws by profiting from distribution.
 
This is why I wrote the letter asking them to provide clear legal verification.

Thanks for the encouragement minionsRmine ,    and I imagine you are right mind numbing indeed. But I can appreciate Padens advice anyway. So many people forget to use search or other tools and it is always worth trying first. I would guess that quite a few of Padens 4000 posts are helping people do what should often be obvious. 

Actually I think the most significant aspect of Thoma's letter is the inference that this business practice is approved by EA Games.

(I am hoping he just misspoke himself when he said "business model", which would make no sense since a business model is just a strategy plan and has no legal relevance at all.)

Secondly, pay sites actually break the law when they extract a game file, alter it, then redistribute that file for profit. But if Maxis is actually going to give up their own claim to copyright then this becomes a financial free for all.

Essentially that means that I can manufacture and mass distribute Sims Custom Content on the shelf right next to their game. Since this is a multi-billion dollar opportunity I wrote them a letter asking them to clarify their position on the matter prior to beginning production. If they are giving TSR and all other creators carte blanche with the copyright...then everyone should be selling those discs at retail stores. Actually, the custom content could potentially make more money than the game.

But I want to see it in writing. If I do not receive and answer within 30 days I will send the next letter Certified mail.

Either they release copyrights and their fan sites become direct competition, or they retain copyright and pay sites are illegal.

I cant help but wonder what that man thinks of this:

http://www.foxnews.com/wires/2009Apr03/0,4670,EUSwedenOnlinePiracy,00.html

I have not read through the new law, but it would appear that TSR could be closed under some of the new provisions if they were reported to their domain host. I will try to find the full law and post it, or a link, here.

Thank you for the reply, I will keep searching. The search feature was what brought me to this thread.    Ive tried TSR and TSR spy ware...Still have not found the details. Its a daunting thought to sift through all the material here. I am new and underestimated how extensive this site actually is.

I have not yet read this entire thread, it is after all longer than my Master's Thesis  , but I will get through it eventually. In the meantime can anyone tell me about this "spy ware" that TSR is reputed to attach to their files? I have heard about this before and would love to get some solid information. Are they bar coding files or embedding a security script or what?