Squirminator2k
20 Feb 2007, 13:53
A couple of weeks ago Dream17 made the move to a brand new server. There were some kinks - there's an upper file limit of 50 MB per file so the larger files such as the Worms3D/Worms4 patches had to be split into multiple files then rejoined on the server. On the whole the move went rather well, and SupSuper used the moved as an opportunity to launch the new design we've been working on since the start of the new year.
The site kept going offline because of high bandwidth use in a short space of time - the 3D Worms games' patches. We made those patches unavailable from the site and everything seemed to be fine.
But then our hosts, Heart Internet, contacted Adam, the reseller who sold us the website and, as it happens, a good friend of mine. Apparently we've broken some copyright law by putting Team 17's Amiga back-catalogue up on the internet, so they have disabled the site until I get on the FTP and remove every single file that offends them. As we are clearly in breach of Copyright law, we have no choice but to comply.
http://www.benpaddon.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2007/02/objection.gif
EVen before Dream17 first launched, I contacted Martyn Brown about the idea of us hosting the old Amiga games in ADF format and he didn't have any objections. I had to contact him again later on when we were in talks with the CAPS Project (now SPS) regarding hosting the IPF versions of the disk images. They wanted his blessing for that, and again Martyn gave us the green light. So we've had authorisation to host the files not once, but twice.
Naturally, I'm not going to take the files down.
But! Even in the face of the undeniable evidence they still say that we misled them into thinking that we had made the games and that also they are Freeware, which they're not. So we have to take them down. I have not once, either in correspondence or on the website, claimed that Team 17's games have become freeware or abandonware. We're just in a lucky enough position - as Back to the Roots was a few years ago, to have obtained permission to host the files.
But Heart doesn't care. They want the files gone or they're not reactivating the website.
I'm going to continue to fight this. Adam - the aforementioned reseller and friend - is also going to continue to fight this. The demand they are making is entirely... well, it's b*ll*cks. And to demand we take the files down anyway because we didn't make them is pretty golly gosh darned stupid of them. I'm not resting until this is resolved, which means sadly Dream17 is offline indefinitely.
I'll keep you lot updated as and when.
The site kept going offline because of high bandwidth use in a short space of time - the 3D Worms games' patches. We made those patches unavailable from the site and everything seemed to be fine.
But then our hosts, Heart Internet, contacted Adam, the reseller who sold us the website and, as it happens, a good friend of mine. Apparently we've broken some copyright law by putting Team 17's Amiga back-catalogue up on the internet, so they have disabled the site until I get on the FTP and remove every single file that offends them. As we are clearly in breach of Copyright law, we have no choice but to comply.
http://www.benpaddon.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2007/02/objection.gif
EVen before Dream17 first launched, I contacted Martyn Brown about the idea of us hosting the old Amiga games in ADF format and he didn't have any objections. I had to contact him again later on when we were in talks with the CAPS Project (now SPS) regarding hosting the IPF versions of the disk images. They wanted his blessing for that, and again Martyn gave us the green light. So we've had authorisation to host the files not once, but twice.
Naturally, I'm not going to take the files down.
But! Even in the face of the undeniable evidence they still say that we misled them into thinking that we had made the games and that also they are Freeware, which they're not. So we have to take them down. I have not once, either in correspondence or on the website, claimed that Team 17's games have become freeware or abandonware. We're just in a lucky enough position - as Back to the Roots was a few years ago, to have obtained permission to host the files.
But Heart doesn't care. They want the files gone or they're not reactivating the website.
I'm going to continue to fight this. Adam - the aforementioned reseller and friend - is also going to continue to fight this. The demand they are making is entirely... well, it's b*ll*cks. And to demand we take the files down anyway because we didn't make them is pretty golly gosh darned stupid of them. I'm not resting until this is resolved, which means sadly Dream17 is offline indefinitely.
I'll keep you lot updated as and when.