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Close Combat Series -> The Mess

#1: We won the case! Author: mooxe,

Posted: Wed Apr 02, 2008 9:27 pm
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Thanks to all who offered support and kind comments during our legal nightmare.

As some guessed...

It was an April fools joke!

For those of you that missed it. The site was closed, downloads and forums all turned off and replaced with this message.

Quote:

Destineer Studios has initiated legal action against the www.closecombatseries.net website and owner. According to the US Copyright Laws, this website is infringing the rights of Destineer Studios property. The court order given from the California Supreme Court Copyright Division states that this site must cease and desist all transmissions of files related to Close Combat. (scans of the documents will be available for everyone tomorrow) This injunction will stay in place until the litigation is complete. Upon completion we will update this site on whether or not we have won the case.

The first court date will commence on June 18th at the California Supreme Court. This initial hearing will determine whether or not all the CCS logs should be turned over to legal officials. Next court date will be issued then.

CCS is being represented Pro Bono by two Attorneys specializing in defeating these claims.

Our immediate action to get the site back up and running is to host the files outside of North America. This is being worked on now.

You may be asking...

Why in California? The California Supreme Court has the best track record for winning these types of cases. The California Supreme Court's interpretation of the Digital Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) leaves no room for the small guys to win.

Why is this just happening now and not years ago? Destineer knew about CCS when they aquired the rights to the Close Combat games. Only recently we have stepped up our money raising campaigns, specifically our advertisements which possibly made us a higher priority target. A by the book legal interpretation of this would say that I (CCS Owner) am making money from the Close Combat name. A similair situation happened about four years ago with the CC5 Okinawa Stand Alone download. The website was forced to close. I honestly don't know the real motives behind this, lets wait and see.

Is'nt CCS hosted in Canada? Yes it is. Canadian Copyright laws and the authorities that enforce them work in conjuction with the United States. The two countries have a long record of helping each other out... unfortunately.

Why are the forums down also, why not just the files? It was reccomended that everything be shut down until a ruling whether or not the logs be turned over to the courts.

I downloaded a ton of modifications for Close Combat, is that in the logs? Yes, all your actions on the CCS site are logged and are now held by the attorneys for safe keeping.

If they trace my IP on the logs to what I downloaded what will happen? Currently anyone outside of North America is probably safe. Everyone else must wait and see. It is very unlikely they will go after everyone since theres too many.

Is this an April Fools joke? No. The papers were served on March 26th, 2008.

More to follow as the situation develops...

Last edited by mooxe on Thu Apr 03, 2008 1:04 am; edited 1 time in total

#2: Author: Pzt_Pandemic,

Posted: Wed Apr 02, 2008 9:42 pm
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good one, I fell for it

#3: Author: Jhawk906,

Posted: Wed Apr 02, 2008 9:46 pm
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Hmm, I didn't really like this one...

Made it seem like we were all in danger of lawsuits, and after a car accident a couple months ago, I am definitely not economically stable enough for a law suit yet. (I am 19, and just moved out of house last year)

So I was pretty worried, to say the least.

Good one though.

#4: Author: Searry, Location: Finland

Posted: Wed Apr 02, 2008 10:05 pm
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Damn you got me!

#5: Author: Polemarchos, Location: Polemarchopolis

Posted: Wed Apr 02, 2008 10:12 pm
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it was the empircal evidence for me that i am addicted to CC5 only because CCS is here Smile

#6: NOT funny at all Author: Ernie_M,

Posted: Wed Apr 02, 2008 10:17 pm
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I didn't think the 4/1 joke was very funny either.

After uploading many files to this site, I had
visions of letters and phone calls from the FBI,
legal bills up the ass and eventually losing my home
over a half-ass 10 year old game that should have
died years ago....

Sad

#7: Author: Tippi-Simo, Location: Helsinki

Posted: Wed Apr 02, 2008 10:31 pm
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This was a "good april fool".

I knew that I´m fine, that there is nothing wrong with downloading mods but i was worried about those guys running these mods and this site. Thinking: maybe they have to pay 10000000 USD or more to that company.

uuuhh.. need one beer more..only one..

#8: Re: We won the case! Author: Flamethrower,

Posted: Wed Apr 02, 2008 10:41 pm
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mooxe wrote:

As some guessed...

It was an April fools joke!

superb!
you one-upped our little joke about a million percent

#9: Author: Joe98,

Posted: Wed Apr 02, 2008 11:00 pm
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The message was still up on the afternoon of April 2nd ( Sydney time)

For future reference: the World Time Server

www.worldtimeserver.com

-

-

#10: Author: QM, Location: Australia

Posted: Wed Apr 02, 2008 11:03 pm
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Good onya Mooxe...got me too!!

#11: Author: schrecken, Location: Sydney, Australia

Posted: Wed Apr 02, 2008 11:24 pm
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Quote:

it was the empircal evidence for me that i am addicted to CC5 only because CCS is here Smile

Then please stop spamming my posts.

I like the Game

#12: Author: squadleader_id, Location: Soerabaja

Posted: Thu Apr 03, 2008 12:26 am
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Good one!!
It got me for the first minute or so...then I remember it was April 2 (over here) Wink

It went on for a bit too long though...

#13: Author: Senior_Drill, Location: 22134

Posted: Thu Apr 03, 2008 12:49 am
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Well played, Mooxe! A great gaffe that is going to be hard to top for next year, I'll bet!

One question, though. The part about California Supreme Court - was that a deliberate clue that it was an April Fool's or a mistake? One can't file in a US state supreme court or the federal US Supreme Court; they only rule on lower court decisions. Now, if it had said "California Superior Court", that would have kept everyone guessing.

#14: Author: mooxe,

Posted: Thu Apr 03, 2008 1:02 am
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Me and Zappi spoke of doing this a few days prior and it seemed like a funny idea. Even though we figured some would take it seriously... well thats the whole point of the joke! Myself, Zappi and Stalky were the only ones that knew when the joke went online.

All I did was do a domain name whois on destineerstudios. I did not do my homework as you mentioned SD, and I changed the page to make it more believable after your post on CSO. I dont have a clue about legal procedures. As I Wiki'd deeper into the subject I added the DMCA stuff and some other $5 words.

I thought about ending the joke at 12am in my timezone... but I was getting so many msn messages and a couple emails..... then the forum posts that I just had to see what people would say.

In all honesty though, something like this happening is theoretically very possible. The comment about Dynomite's site going offline is true. He told me about it and advised me to take down CC5 Okinawa. I believe he was forced off the air because he was charging $15 per CDROM under the pretense that the $15 went to labour/postage/materials etc etc. Since I was not charging anything I did not remove it.

#15: Author: m2hmghb,

Posted: Thu Apr 03, 2008 1:11 am
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Got me good, and it was still up at 3pm EST on the 2nd.

#16: Author: Senior_Drill, Location: 22134

Posted: Thu Apr 03, 2008 1:39 am
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Mooxe, you ought to supply some screenshots of what you had up. There are some people who only check in once or twice a week or even a month who aren't going to have a clue as to what the hubub was about. Something this classic needs to be kept around!

#17: Author: mooxe,

Posted: Thu Apr 03, 2008 2:34 am
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I edited the 1st post. Copy-n-paste of index.html is present.

#18: Author: Pz_Meyer,

Posted: Thu Apr 03, 2008 3:03 am
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now what is needed a counter-suit for damages, all the emtotional trauma and pain and suffering. the site was down almost a whole year!

#19: Author: squadleader_id, Location: Soerabaja

Posted: Thu Apr 03, 2008 3:53 am
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I believe posted a screenshot of the first draft of the CCS index.html at CSO Wink

#20: Author: ANZAC_Tack, Location: Australia

Posted: Thu Apr 03, 2008 5:16 am
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funny thing was i got no such messages and assume it was'either a bad april fools joke or legal action' glad i wasnt suckered!

CSO joke was more'funny har har' as it said CC will be banned! OMG lol, but top joke mooxe, great work! nobody has done a april fools i can remember in CC history, now ryans,CCS and CSO all pull out massive guns! YEAH!

Close Combat Series -> The Mess

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