MS legal is okay with UT3 Master Chief mod

[360fanboy11]

Filed under: News
The legal implications of creating a Master Chief or Marcus Fenix Unreal Tournament 3 character mod (like the ones we posted about the other day) never crossed our minds, but it did cross the Gamerscore Blog's mind and they went all the way to Microsoft's legal team to get answers. But don't worry, nobody is in trouble ... yet.

Filed under knowledge that we never knew but are now glad we do, according to Microsoft's legal team, their Microsoft Game Studios published characters and likenesses can be used for non-profit use as part of their Game Content Usage Rules that were first implemented for machinima. This allows fans to create mods like the UT3 Master Chief legally and also puts us under the impression that Microsoft's legal team isn't as ... "evil" as we all think they are. Map props to Microsoft for being so cool, mad props for Master Chief being so bad ass and mad props for attorneys. Without them, where would we be?
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[bah]

Legal teams only act on behalf of the wishes of the person/company that pays them to do so.

The lawyer's masters are hardly likely to object to PC/PS3 users seeing an XBOX mascot. It's only when something is against a company's interest that they instigate legal action and non profit fan recreations become illegal.

The law is about making grey areas black and white (drawing a line). It wont be defended if people crossing it benefits the 'owner' of the 'property'.

Large numbers of the target market thinking 'hey, that's the Halo guy. That game is on XBOX.' is a marketer's wet dream and when marketing is happy the lawyers are kept in wait of a less fortuitous situation.