THE CLOSING OF LEGO UNI!

[MsRowdyRedhead]

THE REAL SCOOP ON WHAT HAPPENED

I got this from a friend in the know:

Jayko kind of made a announcement on a podcast today saying that Lego shut down Lego Uni. soon after that Elementron showed up on the broadcasters skype and said that Lego did not shut down Lego Uni! it was Lego Uni's site master who shut it down. Lego contacted Curse and asked for a few legal issues to be fixed and Curse responded by shutting the whole thing down!  that's what Elementron said.



EDIT


TIPS and little things..
1. The report to mod button works just like Uni.. the report spam button has never done anything.
2. After 10 or so posts, you will be able to PM without the validation
3. If you have a slower computer, use the default skin. Some of the others slow it down.
4. Ask questions and make suggestions, please. Also remember that we are still recovering from a year of data deletion, so some things will happen faster than others change wise.
5. Major changes will require a vote by community.
6. Please feel free to ask me about anything.
 If I am "on" here but do not answer a PM, I am either AFK or in game at LU.

[Dash]

Yeah I heard that from Jedi.
I really wish they hadn't shut it down!
Maybe we can convince Curse to reopen it!
.....maybe.......

[SullyTheUnusual]

If Curse is going to shut the site down due to a simple fix-it request and then not tell anyone it's going to happen, I say we're better off without them.  It would be nice to recover data from them, which, given their track record, isn't going to happen, but I won't support a company who arbitrarily destroys innocent communities without notice.

[Magical Girl Mimi]

Quick question; Curse is a company then?

[Sim533]

Quick question; Curse is a company then?

Yes, it is a company that makes forums for MMOG's.

[Magical Girl Mimi]

Ah, I see... So they ran into a problem, and instead of fixing it, just shut the forum down, likely to try and maintain a spotless reputation then?

[Sim533]

Ah, I see... So they ran into a problem, and instead of fixing it, just shut the forum down, likely to try and maintain a spotless reputation then?

Yes, they did. But I'm not sure if they closed it down because they want to keep their reputation as high as possible. If they hadn't shut it down, nobody would every know that LEGO contacted Curse...

I think it's more because the problem was too big.

[MsRowdyRedhead]

I would highly advise that this site do something about the LEGO in the name. I understand that the acronym in the URL is fixed unless someone is willing to pay for a custom domain, but the alternative is to leave open the possibility of the LEGO Group discovering this site and Simple Machines doing the same thing here as Curse did to Uni.

Knowing the information on LEGO's legal notice would be invaluable.

I am working on getting that info. I know it includes the use of LEGO in the URL, and images and skins. I should have more by Monday when Geoff comes back to work.

[Magical Girl Mimi]

It's not Simple Machines; it's SMFForFree. Simple Machines only makes the software; host is different.

However; if you have any suggestions what could replace the LEGO for L, then it'd be nice.

[Sim533]

Well, the money for the current domain is wasted. The domain was purchased for 2 years and ends on March 12, 2012.

What about luni.com

[Legodac]

I'm not sure what Uni is, however, I have read the words and have come with a comment.
  The one way I know of to use Lego in your domain or any other business name is to become a Lego certified pro, you can become number 10 in the whole world, after me...when I get #9

[RBull]

"Dear BHolden,

Curse Buddy Caanthelpyu has a message for you.

Thank you for contacting us about not being able to log onto LEGO Uni.  It's great to see you've joined the quest to post about saving imagination!

Those pesky Stromlings are at it again!  The Maelstrom is trying some very sneaky tricks to keep you from logging onto LEGO Uni!

Try adjusting your graphics settings, many other posters have found that this helps!  After adjusting any graphics settings, you will need to restart your computer for them to take effect.

Our Development Team are working as hard as they can to find a fix for this evil trickery; we thank you for your patience while we do so.

We are certain that you will be posting on LEGO Uni again in no time!  The Maelstrom won't know what hit them once you return!

Good luck with all your adventures, Poster!

If you have any other questions, please contact us again.

LEGO Uni Support Team"

[Magical Girl Mimi]

Rahkshi: Wrong document, it's the Fair Play one.

It stated not to have it in the domain name/url/address/whatever you call it. We have mlno.org as our domain name. And it also says not to have the logo or such either; which we don't have.

And documents? What documents? And if we took out the L from everything; I'd take out the My part too; as I don't think 'My Nexus Organization' has the best ring to it. =P Just saying.

But I know what you mean; but if they moved to remove every single reference of something like this; then it likely wouldn't come back on them well. Because I get URLs; that was what caused MLT to change it's URL. And if Uni was using LEGO in it's URL, then that was just asking for something to happen.(Plus, it's name in general was five characters short of the game's name.)

[Legodac]

Perhaps to re identify Lego Uni, the site super could remember that Lego allows Lego in usernames, like mine, yet has a hard time with more numbers who are willing to love their product and keep promoting it aswell.

Re define definition, are the key words in this perticular legal battle...

legodac
Lego Uni
lego uni
legouni

I wonder if Lego would disagree to a website called legodac, after not only accepting the username, but featuring it aswell?

[MsRowdyRedhead]

I would highly advise that this site do something about the LEGO in the name. I understand that the acronym in the URL is fixed unless someone is willing to pay for a custom domain, but the alternative is to leave open the possibility of the LEGO Group discovering this site and Simple Machines doing the same thing here as Curse did to Uni.

Knowing the information on LEGO's legal notice would be invaluable.

From my experience LEGO has only gone after Commercial sites, and sites with paid membership about anything but the URL and Direct logo copying.

[Legodac]

Like the law, and the bible, interpretation is always open to the interpretor, the reader and the judge.
A legal notice would define or further complicate the process of who was right or wrong, the future of law and legal matters will someday reside in the hands of those who are able to manipulate common sense itself.

[Wantija$$$]

So does that mean this forum is in risk of being shut down? We use 'LEGO' in our name but not our url.

[MsRowdyRedhead]

No, not at all. We may need to make a change if LEGO approaches us, but they cannot do anything without contacting the site first, and unlike Curse, we will change if we have to.

[Intrepid]

No, not at all. We may need to make a change if LEGO approaches us, but they cannot do anything without contacting the site first, and unlike Curse, we will change if we have to.

Exactly. Please calm down folks. There are a bucket load of differences here from legouni.com.

1) The Curse site is a commercial interest. They sell page space to advertisers. They make money off of the LEGO Universe activity.
This site does not.
2) They used LU graphics from the LEGO site to make their page banner and background
This site does not.
3) Numerous news pages from LEGO were copied word for word on the legouni.com website without linking to their page.

Lego just wants to control the use of their information and graphics. If you look at the old legouni site it could very easily be misidentified as an official lego web site.

My advice is to continue the course here. This site has been around a very long time. It doesn't make money from the discussion of lego. It doesn't use lego in the url. It doesn't use lego trademarked graphics.

Without panic ASK them what advice they would offer to mlno.org in our quest to comply and be a good neighbor to lego. They do say in their terms that they will accept requests to use trademarked materials.

The key here is that mlno.org is ready willing and able to comply and that goes a long way.

[Flipz]

No, not at all. We may need to make a change if LEGO approaches us, but they cannot do anything without contacting the site first, and unlike Curse, we will change if we have to.

Exactly. Please calm down folks. There are a bucket load of differences here from legouni.com.

1) The Curse site is a commercial interest. They sell page space to advertisers. They make money off of the LEGO Universe activity.
This site does not.
2) They used LU graphics from the LEGO site to make their page banner and background
This site does not.
3) Numerous news pages from LEGO were copied word for word on the legouni.com website without linking to their page.

Lego just wants to control the use of their information and graphics. If you look at the old legouni site it could very easily be misidentified as an official lego web site.

My advice is to continue the course here. This site has been around a very long time. It doesn't make money from the discussion of lego. It doesn't use lego in the url. It doesn't use lego trademarked graphics.

Without panic ASK them what advice they would offer to mlno.org in our quest to comply and be a good neighbor to lego. They do say in their terms that they will accept requests to use trademarked materials.

The key here is that mlno.org is ready willing and able to comply and that goes a long way.

Vote UP!  Oh, wait...

Intrepid and MSRR are right.  Besides, we've had this discussion before, and the solution has been the same: we are in the clear, and besides, IF there is a problem, we can change.