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Wraith Kings Army take down notice

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This topic contains 12 replies, has 8 voices, and was last updated by  limburger 2 years, 7 months ago.

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  • #1666213

    dazlamb
    Participant
    1219xp

    Noticed this searching for some Wraiths to print and use in Kings of War.  Was looking for alternatives to https://www.manticgames.com/games/kings-of-war/undead/undead-wraith-troop/

    And noticed this take down by GW

    https://www.kickstarter.com/dmca/the-wraith-kings-army-stl-files-submitted-by-games-workshop-l

    Do people think it’s to close to the Nighthaunt?

    https://www.myminifactory.com/object/3d-print-the-wraith-king-s-army-free-model-175910

     

    I think they substantially different to the GW stuff and not a copy.   Do you think the Kickstarter will go back up?

     

    #1666237

    blinky465
    17021xp
    Cult of Games Member

    Wow. GW are going in hard against anyone producing miniature-based games/files, it seems.

    Personally, I don’t see how GW have a leg to stand on with this one – it’s a hard one to demonstate that Z_axis are engaged in “passing off” their minis (which is the basis for upholding copyright law in the UK at least). The Wraith Kings’ Army are substantially different, and it’d be difficult for anyone to genuinely mistake them for any GW characters.

    Will be interesting to see how this one plays out. I hope Z_axis stands up to this one – though it’s hard for the “little guy” to compet,e purely because GW have the money to put behind their lawyers and could “frighten” anyone they want to shut down with threats of a long-drawn own, expensive legal battle (it’s why I never bothered taking out patents on toys I helped invent about ten years ago (after the first one) because defending your IP, beyond the initial threats of legal action, gets really costly, really quickly.)

    • This reply was modified 2 years, 7 months ago by  blinky465.
    #1666239

    templar007
    52353xp
    Cult of Games Member

    I think they look very different. My personal opinion is just that, my opinion.

     

    But……………..it all depends on how copyright law is written in the country where the filing took place.  Are there enough points of same verses difference.  Also, were the “Offending” models being advertised as replacement models to the Nighthaunts”?

    Could be GW is just relying on the muscle of it’s legal dept to scare off direct competition.  But the they might have enough grounds according to the law.

    #1666241

    dazlamb
    Participant
    1219xp

    I guess they are offering there models as alternatives to Nighthaunts:-

    ‘For a long time we wanted to make our own version of a spectral army to be able to play games like Warhammer or to be able to use in miniatures games like dungeons, RPGs or any other wargames.

    So we decided to make several heroes and various themed units with their own weapons. In total there are more than 60 miniatures to compose an army!’

    Maybe they should not have mentioned Warhammer?   I guess it will be filled in the US as Kickstarter are a US company never heard of Z_Axis until today so no idea where they come from.   Maybe they will be released on a different platform outside the US.

    #1666244

    osbad
    4274xp
    Cult of Games Member

    Sad to see that the twat is still high in GW.  I had hoped they had learned a lesson with the Charterhouse fiasvo, but sadly they can’t seem to help themselves.

    Don’t mind them defending their IP, but it should be *their* IP and not just generic fantasy tropes.

    #1666315

    fishman
    Participant
    1647xp

    The campaign will be back up shortly with the removal of the Blind Guard (too close to the GW Dreadscythe Harridans), The Ivory Guard (too close to Glaivewraith Stalkers) and the markers (too close to endless spells).

     

    Hi Backers!

    Good / bad news here

    The good new is…we know what we have to do to continue the project! And we will continue it.
    Soon the page will be available again 🙂
    We’ll notify you.

    The bad new is… we have to remove the markers, The Blind Guard and The Ivory Guard.

    — So … what happens now? —

    We’re going to start making other models to compensate for having to remove The Blind Guard and The Ivory Guard.
    We are sorry but we aren’t going to make any kind of markers this time.

    — And what is our plan? —

    There will be 11 days left when the project resumes.
    We will try to have everything done before the final 48 hours and We’ll be making updates of the new work.
    That way, we think you could see if you want to continue or not with this changes.

    Thank you for your patience, your messages and we’ll notify you of everything!

    Cheers

    #1666326

    fishman
    Participant
    1647xp

    Templar007 – “I think they look very different. My personal opinion is just that, my opinion.” As I said to them, their look like a Michelangelo to GW’s pre school scribbles. The Wraith King models are spectacular.

     

    “Also, were the “Offending” models being advertised as replacement models to the Nighthaunts”?”

    Not in the least.  They were not even being advertised as compliments to the Nighthaunt range. In fact, the Nighthaunts were not mentioned at all in the campaign. “Warhammer” was the closest they got.

    • This reply was modified 2 years, 7 months ago by  fishman.
    #1666331

    fishman
    Participant
    1647xp

    Dazlan, they are from Spain

    #1666342

    limburger
    21533xp
    Cult of Games Member

    @osbad this is how this works in the real world.
    Someone logs a complaint and Kickstarter has to take down the project until it is cleared and/or an agreement of sorts is reached.

    As outsiders we don’t know how, if or when GW contacted the creators of the project and kickstarter itself.
    We don’t know what timeframe was exceeded before Kickstarter had to act (they can’t afford not to act because there’s plenty of money riding on the fact that their platform survives).

    It’s real easy to frame a big evil corp as the bad guy, because they are easy to hate.

    They might not have gotten onto GW’s radar if they hadn’t mentioned any of their games on their official page, but they did …

    A short delay and back up in a few days.
    Better now than after the campaign as the latter would have cost quite a bit more than a few resculpts of potentially offending minis.

    #1666372

    captainventanus
    Participant
    4765xp

    Pretty much exactly what @limburger has said. These are nice models, personally I prefer them to the actual Nighthaunt ones. The inspiration is there though and while GW doesn’t own the IP to ghostly beings mentioning Warhammer is an obvious way to attract GW’s attention if somewhere someone is making money.

    #1666395

    iceeagle85
    Participant
    4965xp

    Interestimg that GW targeted them but not the companies which sell stl files for Warmaster scale minis which are basically donwsized WHF sculpts. But maybe they don’t advertise as Warhammer/Warmaster or theym ight just different enough. Or maybe because Warmaster is dead.

    #1666398

    dazlamb
    Participant
    1219xp

    Well it’s back up https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/zaxis/wraith-king and I have backed it now,   i think the Nighthaunt look good and so do the Wraith Kings army but I am after some STLs.   Looking forward to printing them out and painting them up for KoW Wraiths later in the year.

    #1666536

    limburger
    21533xp
    Cult of Games Member

    Now that I’ve seen it … there still are more than a few not-nighthaunts in those pictures.
    Even down to the grates on their base.

    Yes, you can’t ‘copyright’ ghosts with swords.
    However when the style of the ‘Risen Guard’ and ‘Midnight guard’  is nearly identical to the GW equivalents …
    The ‘moron in a hurry’ (or whatever it is called) certainly wouldn’t know which one was ‘official’.

    They definitely should consider themselves lucky because I kind of doubt they’d survive a day in court if GW really really wanted to neutralize them.

    //

    The black squires and their more unique looking sculpts in this kickstarter are looking good.
    It’s a shame a 3D printer is needed to use them.

    • This reply was modified 2 years, 7 months ago by  limburger.
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