Our Intellectual Property Policy

Our Intellectual Property Policy

A. GENERAL

The Projects, including, without limitation, all Lawi Features, contains copyrighted material, trademarks and other proprietary information including, without limitation, text, software, photographs, video, graphics, music and sound, and the entire contents of The Project and each area contained therein are copyrighted as a collective work under the United States copyright laws. Lawi owns a copyright in the selection, coordination, arrangement and enhancement of such content. You may not modify, publish, transmit, participate in the transfer or sale, create derivative works, or in any way exploit, any of the content contained on The Properties (including, without limitation, content that The Station enables you to download) without the express written permission of SOE and any other applicable owner. In the event of any permitted copying, redistribution or publication of copyrighted material, no changes in or deletion of author attribution, trademark, legend or copyright notice may be made. The downloading of copyrighted material from The Station is allowed by you only for your own use. You acknowledge that SOE and/or third-party content providers remain the owners of all materials posted on The Station, and that you do not acquire any of those ownership rights by downloading copyrighted materials.

Lawi hereby grants to each Project user subscriber or member that is in good standing (i.e. a subscriber or member (1) who is current in his or her payment of all applicable fees for their use of the games and services on The Station to which he or she subscribes and (2) who is not otherwise in breach of this Agreement) (each, a “User Subscriber”), such grant to be automatically revoked as of the moment that the subscriber’s account is no longer in good standing, a limited, personal, nonexclusive, nontransferable, non-assignable and fully revocable license to use (a) the relevant SOE game name, and (b) trademarks and copyrighted material from the applicable game, including non-player character (NPC) names and images, deity and monster names and images, geographical names, item names and images, character names and images, background art, and screenshots containing any of the foregoing (collectively, the “SOE Game Property”), solely to be used for material (for example, so-called “fan fiction” and “fan artwork”) that the Game Subscriber posts to and/or transmits through SOE Communication Features (“GameLicensed Content”) in accordance with this Agreement — and for no other use. Each Game Subscriber undertakes to SOE that any Game Licensed Content that he or she provides shall comply in all respects with this Agreement.

B. COPYRIGHT AND TRADEMARK NOTICES

All contents, games and other information offered on or through The Station are subject to copyright and trademark protections, as detailed in our Legal and Copyright Notices.

C. Fan Sites

Solely in connection with your fansite or your fansite pages dedicated to the games that SOE develops, publishes and/or distributes, we may (in our sole discretion) grant you, on a non-exclusive and non-sublicensable basis, permission to reproduce and redistribute on the fansite to end users, certain SOE and Third Party Provider game-related images, graphics or artwork (the “SOE Fansite Content”) and certain SOE and Third Party Provider trademarks and logos (the “SOE Marks”) that SOE may expressly designate “for fansite use” on fansite pages at www.station.com or its associated game sites, so long as you comply with the terms and conditions described here and on the fansite pages, as those terms and conditions may be modified from time to time in accordance with this Agreement. You acknowledge and agree that SOE shall have the right to amend, delete, add to or otherwise modify any SOE Fansite Content used or accessed by you in accordance with this Section VII(C)(1).
As the operator of an independent, unaffiliated web site, you will have sole editorial control over the fansite, except that you represent and warrant to SOE that the fansite will not post material that is illegal or infringes on the rights of third parties or harms the reputation of the game, SOE, its parent or affiliate companies, or its officers or employees. If at any time you post such disparaging material, or material that is illegal or infringes upon the rights of any third party, SOE may terminate the grant set forth in Section VII(C)(1). Your ownership in the fansite excludes the SOE Fansite Content and SOE Marks and excludes any derivative works based upon or including the SOE Fansite Content and/or SOE Marks. The fansite is not a “Joint Work” as that term is defined in the United States Copyright Act, Title 17 United States Code (“U.S.C.”), and is not otherwise a joint, collective or collaborative work under any other applicable laws.
You agree to include SOE’s trademark, copyright or other proprietary rights notices, as provided on the fansite page for the game referenced, when displaying SOE Fansite Content or SOE Marks, and agree to comply with usage guidelines that may be provided by SOE from time to time. You shall not remove or alter any identifying information or copyright management information conveyed in connection with copies of SOE Fansite Content or SOE Marks, including in digital form; nor challenge SOE’s or its Third Party Provider’s ownership of the SOE Fansite Content or SOE Marks, nor use or adopt any trademarks that might be confusingly similar to such SOE Marks.
SOE reserves all rights, title and interest in and to the SOE Fansite Content and SOE Marks which are not expressly granted herein. You shall not rent, lease, reproduce, modify, translate or create derivative works of the SOE Fansite Content except as expressly permitted herein, nor create any derivative works (including without limitation fiction or visual art) from, or in any way exploit, any of the characters or content contained in the game or on The Station, without the express written permission of SOE. SOE does not consent to the protection under the copyright law of any unauthorized derivative work. The creation and sale of merchandise based on the game or upon SOE Fansite Content or SOE Marks is expressly prohibited.
If you intend to charge a subscription or access fee to generate revenue from the fansite, we would require you to execute a simple license agreement with us. The limited permission granted here with respect to fansite use of certain SOE Fansite Content and SOE Marks does not cover such circumstances.
Fansites that quote an article or patch message from an SOE site (such as Harpy’s Head Tavern or other game site associated with The Station) are requested to limit the quote to a paragraph or less and provide a link back to The Station or associated game site for the full article or message, rather than reproducing on the fansite the entire patch message or article. Permission to link from the fansite to Station.com or the associated game site is granted in such circumstances.
Subject to Section VIII(B)(4) below, under no circumstances will SOE be liable to you for any direct, indirect, incidental, consequential, special or exemplary damages of any kind in connection with this permission. SOE reserves the right in its sole discretion to expressly refuse this permission to any particular fansite, or to revoke this permission at any time.
D. POLICY ON REPEAT INFRINGERS; AGENT FOR NOTIFICATIONS OF CLAIMED INFRINGEMENT

We respect the intellectual property rights of others and request that the people who use The Station do the same. Pursuant to 17 U.S.C. 512(i) of the United States Copyright Act, SOE has adopted and implemented a policy respecting the copyright law that provides for the termination in appropriate circumstances of users of the SOE online system or network who are repeat infringers. SOE may terminate access for content providers or forum participants (e.g., Station Voice, voice chat, universal chat, messenger type features, Message Boards, pagers, etc.) who are found repeatedly to provide or post protected User Content without necessary rights and permissions.
If you believe that your work has been copied and is accessible on The Station in a way that constitutes copyright infringement, you may notify us by providing our copyright agent (specified below) with the following information in writing and in the form required by 17 U.S.C. 512 of the United States Copyright Act:
The date of your notification;
A physical or electronic signature of a person authorized to act on behalf of the owner of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed;
A description of the copyrighted work that you allege is being infringed, or, if multiple copyrighted are to be covered by a single notification, a representative list of such works;
A description of the allegedly infringing material and information sufficient to permit us to locate the material;
Information reasonably sufficient to permit us to contact you, such as an address, telephone number, and/or an electronic mail address;
A statement by you that you have a good faith belief that use of the material in the manner complained of is not authorized by the copyright owner, or its agent, or the law;
To the extent applicable, a copy of any correspondence addressed to the author or the editor of the allegedly infringing User Content asking for its removal or modification to make it non-infringing, or any justification for being unable to contact the relevant author or editor; and
A statement by you, made under penalty of perjury, that the information in the notification is accurate and that you have the authority to enforce the copyrights that are claimed to be infringed.
Interim Designation of Agent to Receive Notifications of Claimed Infringement, pursuant to 17 U.S.C. 512 (c) of the United States Copyright Act and other applicable laws: Address: Sony Online Entertainment LLC, 8928 Terman Court, San Diego, CA. 92121. Name of Agent Designated to Receive Notification of Claimed Infringement: Office of the General Counsel. Address of Designated Agent to which Notification Should be Sent: Sony Online Entertainment LLC, 8928 Terman Court, San Diego, CA. 92121. Telephone Number of Designated Agent: (858) 577-3100. Facsimile Number of Designated Agent: (858) 577-3356. E-mail Address of Designated Agent: gcagent@soe.sony.com. This e-mail address is intended solely for the receipt of legal “Notifications of Claimed Infringement” under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998, as codified in 17 U.S.C. 512 and other applicable laws. It is not intended for general inquiries and permission requests concerning the use of SOE content.
E. SUBMISSIONS, FAN FICTION, ARTWORK, CONTENT, AND PHOTOGRAPHS

SOE is pleased to hear from its customers and welcomes your comments regarding SOE’s online services. Unfortunately, however, SOE’s long-standing company policy does not allow it to accept or consider creative ideas, suggestions or materials other than those it has specifically requested. The intent of this policy is to avoid the possibility of future misunderstandings when projects developed by SOE’s professional staff might seem to others to be similar to their own creative work. Accordingly, we must, regretfully, ask that you do not send us any original creative materials such as game ideas or original artwork. While we do value your feedback on our services and products, we request that you be specific in your comments on those services and products, and not submit any creative ideas, suggestions or materials.
Any and all creative suggestions, ideas, notes, drawings, concepts or other information that you send to us, whether at our specific request or despite our request that you not do so (other than Content transmitted on SOE Communication Features) and any and all Licensed Content (collectively, “Submissions”) shall be deemed, and shall remain, the property of SOE from the time of uploading or transmission. Accordingly, SOE shall exclusively own all now known or hereafter existing copyrights and all other intellectual property rights to all Submissions of every kind and nature, in perpetuity, throughout the universe and you hereby assign to SOE as a present assignment of future rights all such intellectual property rights to the extent owned by you. In the event that any of the Submissions are not assignable, you agree that SOE shall be irrevocably entitled to, throughout the universe and in perpetuity, use, reproduce, modify, adapt, publish, broadcast, license, perform, post, sell, translate, create derivative works from and distribute any Submission for any purpose whatsoever, commercial or otherwise, in any medium now known or hereafter devised, without compensation or credit to the provider of the Submission, including sublicensing any third party to do any of the foregoing. To the extent permitted by applicable laws, you also give up any claim that any use by SOE and/or its licensee(s) of any Submission violates any of your rights, including but not limited to moral rights, privacy rights, rights to publicity, proprietary or other rights, and/or rights to credit for the material or ideas set forth therein. If you provide any Submission, you promise that you are eighteen (18) years of age or older; if you are under eighteen (18) years of age, you must first contact SOE at accounts@soe.sony.com to obtain an agreement for your Parent to sign. You agree at SOE’s request to execute such further documents and do such further acts as may be necessary or desirable to document, perfect, register, or enforce SOE’s ownership of the Submissions, including, without limitation, execution of a copyright assignment in a form provided by SOE in its sole discretion. If you fail or refuse to execute any such documents, you hereby appoint SOE as your attorney in fact, which appointment is coupled with an interest and is irrevocable, to act on your behalf and to execute, deliver, record and file such documents.
If you upload any photograph, video, or audio file to or through any SOE Communication Feature, to the extent permitted by applicable laws, you (i) grant to SOE the non-exclusive, worldwide right to use, post, publish and display such material on The Station, without royalty or compensation of any kind, (ii) expressly waive any and all rights of privacy, moral rights or rights of attribution and integrity, in and with respect to the photograph, video, or audio file, (iii) promise that the material is either a picture, video, or audio file of you or that duplication and distribution of the material will not violate any right of or require any compensation to any person or entity, (iv) promise that you are the copyright owner of the material or have all rights necessary to authorize its unfettered use and distribution and (v) promise that you are eighteen (18) years of age or older. You understand that, once your photograph, video, or audio file is posted, anyone can download and/or distribute that material. You expressly waive any and all claims you may have against SOE and release SOE from any and all liability arising from or related to the submission and SOE’s or any third party’s use or transmission of the photograph, video, or audio file.
F. STATION CASH AND OTHER VIRTUAL GOODS

1. Station Cash.

a. Obtaining Station Cash. If you have an active Station Account you may participate in our Station Cash service offering. Station Cash (“Station Cash”) is an online redeemable point system which can be used to obtain certain products and services offered by SOE for redemption through our online Store. Station Cash can be acquired, used and redeemed in a variety of ways. For example, you may have the opportunity to acquire Station Cash by participating in and/or by completing certain tasks or objectives in one of our Station games such as EverQuest. We may also offer Station Cash to you for free through one of our promotional campaigns. In addition, we currently offer Station Cash to you for sale in-game or through The Station or at retail in the form of Station Cash Cards. Station Cash is sold in bundles and the price may vary depending on the amount you purchase and the location it is being purchased. Please note that any Station Cash you obtain through a Station Cash Card will not be usable until such time as you register it online with your Station Account. We may from time to time limit the amount of Station Cash you may obtain in your account balance at any one time or in the aggregate. We will notify you if you reach such limit. No sales tax is charged when purchasing Station Cash in-game or through The Station; however, sales tax may apply to your redemption of Station Cash for SOE products or services in some jurisdictions. The amount of tax charged depends upon many factors, including the type of product or service purchased. Redemptions of Station Cash for SOE products or service in the following jurisdictions may be subject to sales taxes: California, Colorado, Indiana, South Dakota, Texas, and Washington, and the European Union. Where applicable, SOE will deduct the required sales tax from the amount of Station Cash you redeem and SOE will remit the required amounts to the taxing authority. For your convenience, the Station Cash value posted by SOE for any product or service being offered for redemption already is inclusive of the applicable sales taxes therefor. Except as otherwise set forth herein or in our Sales Policy in Section VI above and subject to anything to the contrary under applicable laws, you are solely responsible for any tax consequences that may result from your acquisition, use or redemption of Station Cash.

b. License to use Station Cash. No matter how you obtain Station Cash, you acknowledge and agree that such Station Cash solely represents a limited license right to a virtual good which is governed by the terms of this Agreement, and that such Station Cash is non-transferable to another person or Station Account, has no cash value and is not redeemable for any sum of money or monetary value from SOE at any time. The Station Cash does not constitute a personal property right.

c. Redemption of Station Cash. From time to time SOE may offer opportunities for you to redeem your Station Cash (e.g., at the Store or while playing a game on The Station) for certain items or services provided that you have a sufficient balance to do so. While your Station Cash does not have any set expiration date, please be aware that SOE may from time to time cease, without notice to you, to continue to offer an item or service in exchange for your Station Cash. As such, if you see an item or service being offered by us for redemption that interests you, we strongly encourage you to redeem your Station Cash for such item or service as soon as possible. Similar to an ATM machine, in order to protect against theft, we will from time to time limit the amount of Station Cash you may redeem or purchase at any one time, day or week. We will notify you if you reach such limits. Once you redeem your Station Cash, the amount redeemed will be deducted from your balance. We will not reinstate any deducted Station Cash except in limited circumstances at our sole and absolute discretion after investigation.

d. Corrections. You are solely responsible for verifying that the proper amount of Station Cash has been added to or deducted from your Station Account. You can view your Station Cash balance from within any of our products or services that accept Station Cash for payment. If you believe that a mistake has been made with respect to your Station Cash balance, please contact us immediately so that we can investigate the matter. Note that we may require additional information and/or documentation to verify your claim. We will let you know the results of our investigation, however, you acknowledge and agree that we have sole and absolute discretion in determining whether or not your claim is valid and if so the appropriate remedy.

e. Improper Usage of Station Cash. We reserve the right to reduce, liquidate, deactivate, suspend or terminate your Station Cash or access thereto if we suspect, after investigation, that you have misused the Station Cash service or have otherwise used the Station Cash service to conduct any fraudulent or illegal activity.

2. Virtual Goods Generally.

You agree that SOE retains the unfettered right to modify its games and all aspects of characters, items, points and coin, including Station Cash (collectively, “Virtual Goods”) therein. You acknowledge that SOE has been, is, and will be constantly making changes to its games. You further acknowledge that SOE can and will, in its discretion, modify features, functions or abilities of any element of any of its games or any Virtual Goods (which may, among other things, make the Virtual Goods substantially more valuable, effective or functional, or less valuable, effective or functional, more common or less common, or eliminated entirely). You acknowledge and agree that all Virtual Goods represent a limited license right governed by the terms of this Agreement, and are not redeemable for any sum of money or monetary value from SOE at any time.

SOE may authorize certain third party service provider(s) (and has designated Live Gamer Inc. (“Live Gamer”)), as a permissible means through which you can barter certain transferable Virtual Goods with other Station Account holders (an “Exchange”). All transactions conducted through an SOE-authorized Exchange are processed by a third party service provider, such as Live Gamer, Inc., and your eligibility to participate in any such Exchange is governed by the terms of service, privacy policies and agreements implemented by Live Gamer, Inc. (or such other applicable SOE-Exchange) from time to time.

YOU PROMISE, THEREFORE, THAT YOU WILL NEVER ASSERT OR BRING ANY CLAIM OR SUIT AGAINST SOE, ITS LICENSOR(S) OR THIRD PARTY PROVIDERS, ANY COMPANY IN THE SONY FAMILY, OR ANY EMPLOYEES OF ANY OF THE ABOVE, WHICH IS RELATED TO OR BASED ON (I) A CLAIM ARISING FROM OR RELATED TO YOUR USE OF THE LIVE GAMER EXCHANGE (OR ANY OTHER APPLICABLE SOE-AUTHORIZED EXCHANGE), (II) A CLAIM ARISING FROM OR RELATED TO THE ACTS OR OMISSIONS OF LIVE GAMER, INC. OR ANY THIRD PARTY ACTING ON OR THROUGH THE LIVE GAMER EXCHANGE (OR ANY OTHER APPLICABLE SOE-AUTHORIZED EXCHANGE) (III) A CLAIM THAT YOU “OWN” ANY VIRTUAL GOODS IN ANY GAME, (IV) A CLAIM FOR THE “VALUE” OF VIRTUAL GOODS IF SOE DELETES THEM (AND/OR TERMINATES YOUR STATION ACCOUNT(S)), (V) A CLAIM FOR THE “VALUE” OF VIRTUAL GOODS THAT YOU MAY LOSE IF SOE DOES ANYTHING THAT IT IS ENTITLED TO DO PURSUANT TO ANY PROVISION OF THIS AGREEMENT, THE APPLICABLE GAME’S USER AGREEMENT AND SOFTWARE LICENSE, RULES OF CONDUCT, TERMS OF SERVICE AND/OR SOE’S PRIVACY POLICY, OR FOR ANY MALFUNCTIONS AND/OR “BUGS” IN SOE’s GAMES, AND/OR LIVE GAMER (OR SUCH OTHER APPLICABLE SOE-AUTHORIZED EXCHANGE) AND/OR (VI) A CLAIM THAT THE “VALUE” OF ANY VIRTUAL GOODS HAS INCREASED OR DECREASED BY VIRTUE OF ANY GAME MODIFICATION THAT SOE HAS MADE OR WILL MAKE. ALL OF THE ABOVE APPLIES WHETHER ON A LIVE GAMER EXCHANGE ENABLED SERVER OR ON A NON-LIVE GAMER EXCHANGE OR ON ANY OTHER SOE-AUTHORIZED EXCHANGE ENABLED SERVER.

G. SOFTWARE AVAILABLE ON THE STATION

Any software that is made available to download from The Station (“Software”) is the copyrighted work of SOE and/or the Sony Family and/or Third Party Providers or other suppliers. Use of the Software is governed by the terms of the end-user license agreement, if any, which accompanies or is included with the Software (“License Agreement”). End users shall not install or use any Software that is accompanied by or includes a License Agreement unless the end user first agrees to the License Agreement terms. For any Software not accompanied by a license agreement, the following shall constitute the License Agreement: SOE hereby grants to you, the user, a personal, non-transferable license during the term of this Agreement to use the Software for viewing and other use of The Station in accordance with this Agreement, and for no other purpose. Please note that all Software, including, without limitation, all HTML code contained on The Station, is owned by SOE and/or the Sony Family and/or Third Party Providers or other suppliers and is protected by copyright laws and international treaty provisions. Any reproduction or redistribution of the Software is expressly prohibited by law, and may result in severe civil and criminal penalties. Violators will be prosecuted to the maximum extent possible.
WITHOUT LIMITING THE FOREGOING, COPYING OR REPRODUCTION OF THE SOFTWARE TO ANY OTHER SERVER OR LOCATION FOR FURTHER REPRODUCTION OR REDISTRIBUTION IS EXPRESSLY PROHIBITED. THE SOFTWARE MAY BE SUBJECT TO OTHER LIMITATIONS, DISCLAIMERS OR WARRANTIES SET FORTH IN THE APPLICABLE LICENSE AGREEMENT ENTERED INTO BY YOU IN CONNECTION WITH YOUR PURCHASE OR USE OF THE SOFTWARE. IN THE EVENT OF ANY CONFLICT BETWEEN THE TERMS OF SUCH LICENSE AGREEMENT AND THIS AGREEMENT, THE LICENSE AGREEMENT SHALL CONTROL WITH RESPECT TO THE SOFTWARE ONLY. THE SOFTWARE IS WARRANTED, IF AT ALL, ONLY ACCORDING TO THE TERMS OF THE APPLICABLE LICENSE AGREEMENT. EXCEPT AS WARRANTED IN THE LICENSE AGREEMENT, AND SUBJECT TO SECTION VIII(B)(4) BELOW, SOE AND SOE’S THIRD PARTY PROVIDERS HEREBY DISCLAIM ALL WARRANTIES AND CONDITIONS WITH REGARD TO THE SOFTWARE, INCLUDING ALL IMPLIED WARRANTIES AND CONDITIONS OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, TITLE AND NON-INFRINGEMENT.