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Roland Laborie Rafale

Unbelievable......but I do remember a similar issue with American Airlines textures...way way back in time.

But another point of interest, what if I want to re-download the file from Simmarket? I'll check the website.


Cheers,
Hank
 
warchild said:
That kind of news though a relief too hear that Thor's is still there, none the less pisses me off to the point i want to go and make an exact model of the flight characteristics of their precious little plane just to piss Dassault off..
Click to expand...
Do it. Please.
:ernae:
 
vonstroheim said:
Sad news: Due to copyright issues or similar licencing matters, Dassault lawyers forced Roland Laborie (rollus) and Jean-Pierre Bourgeois (beegee) to remove their Payware FSX Rafale from SimMarket. Not sure why, but this is what I understood from the french pilote-virtuel forum: "only Dassault can sell Dassault branded products".

The freeware FSX Dassault Rafale by Thor Hammer (and other freeware Dassault aircrafts) are safe, because they are not for sale...
Click to expand...
Interesting. When I was putting the manual together for Mark Harper's Flanker I had originally included a Sukhoi company logo on the manual cover. I thought it looked cool (which it did) and had also done it on the new Mirage manual but Mark insisted I take them off. Didn't want to appear as if they were sanctioned even though I had included a disclaimer.

Well, if Roland simple renamed it and edited all documentation to remove "Dassault" he might be able to sell it again. Surely they don't have a trademark on "Rafale"?
:ernae:
 
Sad to hear, but to put things into perspective, the FS team was making money off of another company's "product" in a sense (not saying he was ill intentioned...it just is what it is), and Dassault does have a right to channel all branded merchandise with a monetary value through them.
Yes, yes, yes, I know the argument is "but it's free advertising for them!" and the like.
If a niche hobby addon has that much pull as an advertisement for a multi-million dollar military aircraft, then something is very, very wrong.

If this payware team didn't have approval to make money off of Dassault's product, then that's the way it is. Again, it's very unfortunate for us, but it makes business sense. Nickels and dimes for Dassault compared to their ROI on the real deals, but it's still a monetary gain from their product, and this time, their legal team caught it.

Obviously, other aircraft companies do take a different stance to this, and even help some developers (thinking of Lionheart Creation's products here), but I see the reasoning behind Dassault's decision....although I agree that it is unfortunate.

All in all, some companies turn a blind eye (or even help), but others want to be (and have every right to be) more protective of their products and services.
 
This is sadly a case of how petty and greedy a large corporation's legal dept can be. My understanding is that Dassault won't even license outside commercial products such as flightsim models, etc. Sure, I agree it is their trademark name and they have right to control/sanction it but the aircraft itself, the Rafale in this case technically could be public domain since it is a taxpayer funded military aircraft, not wholly owned by Dassault. Years ago here in the states, there was a major fight between two software companies who developed a stand alone F-22 model. One company actually was licensed by Lockheed Martin on the product and the other wasn't. The fight was headed to court before the Secretary of the Air Force stepped in and issued a statement declaring that the F-22A Raptor name was public domain and no one had right to license it at will. Of course the other software company never actually used the Lockheed name/logo so they went ahead with their product.

In the case of Rolland's Rafale, perhaps simple renaming on the product/removing the Dassualt name can resolve the issue? If not, maybe re-release it as freeware with the option of a donation. In any case, this whole matter is sad and personally having been a first day customer of the Rafale, knowing the high quality of this model I would tend to think that Dassault might actually be proud of this representation of the Rafale in this model.

I know these legal/licensing debates have been run over well before now and I don't want to throw more gas on that fire but I truly hope this isn't yet another episode that will lead to further erosion of high end FSX developments.
 
It's just pathetic from AMD. The work of Rollus could only make them good publicity, and now they are ridiculous. I board shame on them !
 
some years ago there was a freeware standalone Rafale sim being developed and beta's were released....It was pretty good...v/c and all....dassault canned it too saying that it was too realistic LOL...................If DCS can come out with an active duty a/c like the A-10C why can't Dassault ?
noddy said:
A real shame, luckily I got mine when it first came out.
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He should 're-brand' it as the 'Dissonant Squall' and put her back on. Simple. I see lawyers on the continent are as bone headed as else where, eh?
 
fantumfan2003 said:
If DCS can come out with an active duty a/c like the A-10C why can't Dassault ?
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Because DCS never uses the manufacturer's name in the product. An "A-10C" could be any manufacturer's model number for anything -- a shoe, a hat, a bolt. No copyright there. And a "Warthog" is an animal the runs around in the forest. But "Fairchild Republic" is the name of an aircraft manufacturer and they do own that.

Honestly if he were to just remove any and all reference to "Dassault" he should be fine. Rafale is just a French word for "gust".
:ernae:
 
fsafranek said:
Because DCS never uses the manufacturer's name in the product. An "A-10C" could be any manufacturer's model number for anything -- a shoe, a hat, a bolt. No copyright there. And a "Warthog" is an animal the runs around in the forest. But "Fairchild Republic" is the name of an aircraft manufacturer and they do own that.

Honestly if he were to just remove any and all reference to "Dassault" he should be fine. Rafale is just a French word for "gust".
:ernae:
Click to expand...

I think Frank you have direct contacts with Roland Laborie.

Do you know if he intend to re-release its Rafale as a payware without any "Dassault Aviation" names
or as a freeware ?

Personnally, I think the most intelligent way would be a joint venture between Dassault Aviation and Roland Laborie
with all profits of the FSX Rafale sales going to a charity organisation.
:mixedsmi:
VaporZ
 
I sent a note earlier this week when I learned why it
had been taken down but haven't heard back yet.
:ernae:
 
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