RimWorld

RimWorld

[RH2] Rimdeed® - Pawn Recruitment
 This topic has been pinned, so it's probably important
Chicken Plucker  [developer] 14 Dec, 2021 @ 3:52pm
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Rimdeed disappeared from workshop
Rimdeed was taken down under a trademark complaint. The mod was banned from steam at the 19th October 2021.

I received an email that Rimdeed was banned from Steam under a trademark complaint, the email said it infringed on the IP of the company this mod was based on. The email left me contact details at the bottom, it was all very official with the person being labelled a "PLAINTIFF" and me being labelled a "DEFENDANT" in capital letters.

I tried to get help from Steam and explained that this mod falls under parody, fair use but it was futile and I am told to read the email I was sent and contact the plaintiff. In more simple terms "It's your problem."

I didn't want to contact the plaintiff since I was emotional, felt angry and either I was going to say something unwise or my fears of getting nowhere and leaving with less than what I got (me believing it could've lead to a lawsuit) could come true.

Around November, Mario messages me in Ludeon privately, he is a lawyer and he's also done these kinds of cases before. He emphasised that he didn't want any money from me. He told me that my mod IS parody and it shouldn't have been removed from the workshop the way it did. He agreed to represent me pro bono (meaning "for free" to the Better Call Saul fans out there) and so he was working for me to help reinstate the mod. He did this because he had a strong belief in protecting the first amendment as a lawyer.

After some weeks of him contacting the plaintiff, the situation went to someone higher in their legal team and this person agreed with Mario to withdraw their trademark complaint. There was no need for me to change the name of the mod or add/remove anything from the mod. This person understood my situation, without agreeing or conceding whether anybody was "wrong" this person helped us get this situation dealt with in time before Christmas.

Valve (after being poked with a stick a few times) then reinstated the mod and now Mr. Fluffles has a job again.

Note: Indeed.inc was made aware of the situation and was more than happy to restore the mod and withdraw the claim, please do not send any form of negative or hateful posts towards them. The whole thing was solved with their help done in good faith.
Last edited by Chicken Plucker; 14 Dec, 2021 @ 4:16pm
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Showing 1-12 of 12 comments
Cozar 14 Dec, 2021 @ 4:05pm 
Glad it worked out. Three cheers to Mario.
Good work Indeed.inc and you Mario, i hope it wont ever happen again :D
Times New Roman 14 Dec, 2021 @ 6:23pm 
Congrats man! happy to see this great mod back on workshop again.
Prior Restraint 14 Dec, 2021 @ 6:42pm 
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This is pretty much spot on. I'd also ask that folks not give Indeed, Inc. grief--Indeed, Inc. was actually incredibly cool about it so don't give them a hard time.

The only piece I'd add to help people understand what happened is that Indeed, Inc. contracted with another company to look for infringements to Indeed's IP. This is very typical for medium or large companies like Indeed. And the contractor--as is typical in such arrangements--was unduly aggressive. It's normal, if frustrating.

So--there's a happy way to navigate such things, and a stupid way to navigate such things. We navigated it the happy way and obtained the right result with a bit of time.

If another modder has a similar problem, they should find representation if at all possible as an attorney can really help navigate things here. I can be reached here:

Mario Cerame
Brignole, Bush & Lewis LLC
73 Wadsworth Street
Hartford, CT 06106 USA
1.860.527.9973
mario@brignole.com

speechdefense.com

My contact info is already all over the interwebs at the bottom of every legal filing I make so I have no problem putting it out there one more time.

I will never make a mod myself. So this in a way was my contribution to the modding community. Many thanks to Chicken Plücker for all of his mods and contributions to the modding community.
Last edited by Prior Restraint; 26 Mar, 2024 @ 4:31pm
groovybluedog 18 Dec, 2021 @ 6:50am 
And a massive ♥♥♥♥ you to Steam for not trying to help and just passing you off... seriously reconsidering taking future purchases elsewhere now...
Proxyer 18 Dec, 2021 @ 10:38pm 
The law, if held by a savage, is a weapon to beat and kill who he want to stick to, and if held by a civilized man of knowledge, is a shield against the savage's malice.
Jackrum 20 Dec, 2021 @ 1:16am 
Mario truly you are the Man in Black that Pluckers deperate colony needed. Thank you. Gratz Plucker, love your work and keep it up.
Drift the Crusader 3 Jan, 2022 @ 7:54pm 
Wow what a great guy
Lord Asriel 10 Apr, 2022 @ 3:30am 
What a great story "indeed"! Thank you Mario (I feel like Peach) and also Chicken! Maybe this meta level is where Rimworld is actually a "story generator"?
Lord Asriel 10 Apr, 2022 @ 3:33am 
Forgot what I wanted to post, lol. @Chicken Plucker, is it possible to have a message/letter when ever the trade recruit list is updated? Maybe a sweet mod option to enable/disable this alert too?
Chicken Plucker  [developer] 10 Apr, 2022 @ 6:50am 
@Lord Asriel - As far as I remember it refreshed every 14 days my friend.

I suppose I could get Taranchuk to work on a feature like this, but unfortunately time allocation and funding for coding commissions and any new stuff outside of whats already planned to be worked on is a difficult option to choose since it will cause more delays to current projects. At the moment I have been trying to update VOID with him along with other members of the team to update other faction mods.

Sorry my friend but a new feature like this would cost extra time so I have to put it away
Chicken Plucker  [developer] 10 Apr, 2022 @ 6:51am 
Also thank you everyone for the kind words! Mario has been using this story for his law presentations and teachings.

Been meaning to update the mod page to give him and his company better credit, hope to do it soon
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