Must Konami Credit me f they Stole my CAC Ideas I posted on Yugioh Card Maker?

[BLASTERZ]

Today I was talking with a good buddy friend of mine and he was also formerly a Yu-Gi-Oh Player. During one of our conversation, I asked him what he thinks of Yu-Gi-Oh, and he was like

"Oh i quit cause Konami stolen my idea, did not gave my any credit, and all because long ago I posted an experimental card ideas I ha on DNF, and they just took that idea and made it their own called it Xyz Summoning" 

 

I also asked him bout Links and Pendulums and his head just hurts so thats that.

 

The only difference was that the monster used for this summon still has levels, but overall the idea and concepts are the same. 

 

Another friend I knew invented an archetype long long ago which involves tributing spell and traps and the archetype gains effects depending on the diff crystal beasts tributed. Now, the main deck currently active right now are True Dracos.

 

I also had another friend who actually in fact did came up with links summoning before it even existed. His idea was that there are cards which unlocked zones and these zones allows you to summon monsters from the extra deck to that zone. There wasnt no Extra monster zone though. 

 

Overall, all these stories woke my eyes and made me realize that Konami do not have their own employees creating the cards for the game, but rather they scavenge websites like DNF, Pojo, YugiohCardMaker, Duel Academies, and Discord Duel Academies. Sleeper Konami agents are discarded throughout all the Yugioh Forums, where they plaigarise the designs of various CACers and make it to their own cards with some small subtle changes to avoid copyright infringement. 

 

What do you guys think is the best method to deal with this situation?

 

1. Root out all infilttrators: We all know Konami employees are members of the website, but they dont even post anyway, so we could start by removing all inactive users which signed up but have 0 post
2. Members only: Of course, Konami employees can still view as a guest, so we have to make YCM members only in order to view threads, like some forums like DuelistGroundz. This way Konami employees wont scavenge and take my or your CAC ideas and use them in the game without crediting us at all.
3. Waiver form: Perhaps a waiver form can be placed under each card you make, thereby forcing konami that if they were to take your ideas, they must credit you and if they do not they will be in a lawsuit. Here's an example I drafted up
   1. I hereby declare that the card I designed are my own personal creation and that Konami of America or Japan, who is the sole Creator of Yu-Gi-Oh! and who owns all property, does not have the right to recreate or reproduce my design into their game, and should any resemblence in the name or card description arise, I have the right to claim reparation and monetary payment for the unauthorized netdecking of my own ideas.

 

 

 

 

[Flash Flyer - Sakura]

I'm not a law student, but from a legal perspective (hey Wahrheit, can we get some insight on your end as a law student?), your ideas technically aren't protected by copyright laws and are free domain. So...if they coincidentally make a copy of your work (either by this or they legitimately lurk around and steal stuff; which we have no proof of them doing), then it's technically their design and you cannot file a lawsuit. 

 

Then again, one member made Cosmic Cyclone several months before Konami ever did (albeit with half its current cost). Said member claimed Konami butchered it, but there's not much that can be done about it now. 

 

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We just can't send them ideas ourselves because some Konami employee replied a while back that they cannot accept fan submissions. (But yet, they let viewers in Japan do it nowadays, with TCG only getting one shot at it ten years ago.)

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[BLASTERZ]

I'm not a law student, but from a legal perspective (hey Wahrheit, can we get some insight on your end as a law student?), your ideas technically aren't protected by copyright laws and are free domain. So...if they coincidentally make a copy of your work (either by this or they legitimately lurk around and steal stuff; which we have no proof of them doing), then it's technically their design and you cannot file a lawsuit. 

 

Then again, one member made Cosmic Cyclone several months before Konami ever did (albeit with half its current cost). Said member claimed Konami butchered it, but there's not much that can be done about it now. 

 

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We just can't send them ideas ourselves because some Konami employee replied a while back that they cannot accept fan submissions. (But yet, they let viewers in Japan do it nowadays, with TCG only getting one shot at it ten years ago.)

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There is proof of them doing it tho. I was talking with someone who worked for konami and he outright admitted that Konami scavengers various websites. Sites like Dueling Network Forums are the best because after it closed all the data and storage are gone (thanks dan), meaning they had covered up their tracks. They allowed Dueling Network to last that long and eventually filled a C&D when DN loses its value. 

[Flash Flyer - Sakura]

For this site, we can't tell if guests are actually Konami lurkers or not (unless we somehow know what IP addresses Konami frequently uses and can track them).

 

It would be nice if people get credited if Konami does borrow works, yes, but then we go into laws concerning copyright and domain (if using stuff from this site / Pojo / YGOrganization / wherever people post their stuff requires this, or we can place a Creative Commons license on our work).

 

But that being said, Konami technically owns the game, and anything we design is technically building up on stuff they control, so...

[UltimateIRS]

Even disregarding what Sakura said, you cannot copyright game mechanics.

[BLASTERZ]

Even disregarding what Sakura said, you cannot copyright game mechanics.

yeah but my friend did came up with the idea after all

 

see people dont post fanfics online because it might be like 50 shades of grey or the shadowhunters, fanfic works that all get their credential off of being ideas stolen by hollywood executives. its the same scenario here with konami

[Azuriena]

I don't know what the best course of action is, but I'm also sick of Konami stealing my ideas with their new cards like Triamids and Metaverse. They even did it retroactively with Ghostricks.
 

I also had another friend who actually in fact did came up with links summoning before it even existed. His idea was that there are cards which unlocked zones and these zones allows you to summon monsters from the extra deck to that zone. There wasnt no Extra monster zone though.

 
Nice.

[Flash Flyer - Sakura]

Bottom-line, Konami owns the copyright to this game and our designs are built using their concepts; therefore we cannot copyright our works or request credit if a similar design appears on their end.

 

Locking this.

[Flame Dragon]

Bottom-line, Konami owns the copyright to this game and our designs are built using their concepts; therefore we cannot copyright our works or request credit if a similar design appears on their end.

 

Locking this.

My knowledge of this subject comes from MTG, but I'd assume it to hold for Yugioh or anything really. This isn't true. For legal reasons companies can't look at any fan made anything. Mark Rosewater (MTG's head design) has said many time that if he is reading an article, or a question on his blog, or a piece of fan mail that has a card design he legally can not look at it and often will just close out whatever it is. You can prove that they saw your idea and then stole it you have grounds to sue. However, good luck proving they actually did see something you made. And no, someone saying something isn't going to hold up in court.

[Flash Flyer - Sakura]

As I mentioned earlier (although not explicitly), someone here did email Konami about fan submissions. I don't remember the precise time when it was posted nor the actual response that Konami gave, but they did reply back; something along the lines of "While we appreciate your patronage of the game and support, we cannot accept fan submissions due to legal reasons."

 

Their answer was posted for us to see in this section (buried some pages back), but same thing.

 

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I already locked the thread with the above reason, so leave it at that (Konami and the like are under no obligation to credit you for similar ideas) and the burden is on you to prove they plagiarized your work.

[Flame Dragon]

I was in the process of the replying to this before you locked it and got side tracked.

 

Regardless, the burden of proof that Konami plagiarized your work is on you and if you can't prove it you can't do much of anything. Konami using designs you've made doesn't mean anything. Parallel design happens all the time.