this post was submitted on 23 Jan 2026
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It would be like the architect who drew the plans for your home getting a court order to seize your home because you installed extra cabinets that were not on his plans.
In germany we have the "Architektenurheberrecht".
Architectural copyright (Architektenurheberrecht) protects an architect's original intellectual and creative achievements, including designs, plans, and completed buildings, provided they possess a sufficient level of originality (Schöpfungshöhe).
Architects can, and have, use this to deny changes to such buildings or claim injunctive relief, removal of the infringement, or financial damages.
Installing extra cabinets would most likely not be enough to seize the house, but if he can convince a judge that it will sufficient change his art he could get a order to have them removed and the original space restored again.
Not sure if this is germany only, but it shows that every bullshit is possible when it comes to laws.
I'm surprised and also not really.
It's exactly the same line of thinking where someone else is given more rights over a thing than the person who owns it.
If you want to fully own it then put a exclusive and unlimited license agreement into the contract with your architect.
If there is a law that puts limits on what you can agree to in a contract then you don't get around it by making a contract that violates the law.
Yes, but such a license agreement is fully inside the limits of the law, not beyond it. There is no violation, only a addition inside of the rules and limits of the law.
we were talking about laws that exist in Germany and perhaps somewhere else too. Are you commenting on the German law specifically and familiar enough with it to say it can be superseded by a contract?
It is not superseding anything, why would it? It is not doing anything that is not clearly defined in the law. It is just bundling to types of contracts together.
I fear we have some kind of missunderstanding somewhere and I am not sure how to resolve that.
Again because a law can either be unnegotiable or something that can be superseded by a contract. Anyway, I was just wondering what type it is in this particular case. What you seem to be saying is that it can in fact be superseded if it is possible to enter into a contract where you agree to waive those rights.
It is the superseding that I don't find correct, but maybe it is just a nuance of the word that i am missing.
But I would say, in some degree, yes.
That's what 'own' means.
Not really, or not always at least. Not every law system allows to sell your copyrights. In germany for example it is only possible to license your copyrights but not to fully transfer them. Copyrights are therefor not part of the transfer of ownership, you have to add a license agreement additionally.
Yeah, I know there's some nuance and was being a bit facetious. :)
Yeah exactly. It's crazy that people think it's OK for game developers to have a say in what mods you can apply to your own legally purchased game.
They don't say anything against applying or installing the mod to the game, at least not in this case, but against making money with their IP. This should not be mixed together.
Let's be clear: 3rd party mods do not in general contain 1st party IP. So no, I reject the idea that the modder was making money "with" their IP, unless there's something I don't know about this mod specifically. This is a perfectly legal and morally clear niche, and the game devs are overreaching.
For instance, the creators of phone cases don't need permission from the creators of the phone. I also have 3rd party controllers for my switch, 3rd party game cartridge holders. I fixed my phone using an iFixit kit (3rd party). In none of these instances were the third party required to get 1st party approval.
All your examples are physical objects that are owned and physically manipulated or extended, not software that is not owned but always only licensed (yes, even when you buy a physical medium, the software is only licensed), and subject of very complex trademark, copyright and intelectual property laws. Its like saying I can safe look directly at the moon that means i can safe look directly at the sun because both looking like lights in the sky. You can and should not, and things that look a lot like each other don't have to follow the same rules.
Oh and try to fix your physical John Deer tractor with anything not bought from John Deer (and even that is only possible to do in the US since 2023) you will very soon see the limits of 3rd party.
Btw the creators of phone cases and controllers and such need the permission when they use the trademarks and registered names owned buy other companies. You may be allowed to create unofficial accesoirs but you have no right to the trademarks to put them on your product or in your advertisements.
Granted, DRMs and the DMCA complicate things legally. Not morally though. Retro games don't have licences though, and courts have ruled that the copy protection systems on those consoles are generally insufficient to count for legal purposes. do you oppose paid romhacks too?
Why should retro games have no licenses? And I personally don't oppose anything, just pointing to the laws and how I understand it. Am I a lawyer? No! Is my knowledge of such laws primarly only valid for germany and the EU? Yes
There could be a legal basis against romhacks, and even a bigger one if they are paid, but it could may be legal too. That is one of those cases where a court ruling would be helpfull to be sure.
I mean to say, there's no T&C with retro games.
There can be, but most of the time yes.
And it depends on the definition of retro games. Retro games can include up to WiiU and Xbox360 era, there is a lot of T&C there.
But for the good old 8/16bit era, yes it is mostly unkown there.
It’s making money with their labor. Work is valuable, and deserves pay no matter what