AlanC9 wrote...
Neofelis Nebulosa wrote...
That person is using copyrighted material to earn money. He's plagiarizing thoughts that are not his own and publicly available for free, again to earn money.
No matter how much you or anyone else might want to ignore that fact, it is against the law.
Really? What law?
People are allowed to write about creative works. They do not need the copyright holder's permission, and they are permitted to quote portions of the work to support whatever argument they're making.
EA could certainly abuse the legal system and shut the kid down if they like, but they'd be wrong.
The moment you want to use copyrighted material in any commercial way, you have to get clearance from the copyright holder.
I can write about Mass Effect, or whatever else all day if I want, correct. But the moment I try to sell what I am writing, if it is based on proprietary work, I have to get the permission to do so, or it's plagiarism.
Plagiarism is punishable by law. Punishing the kid as per the law would be right, since he obviously broke it. Would it be necessary to punish him? That's another question, one that I have not tangled with contrary to what some people in here might think.