this post was submitted on 25 Dec 2023
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Because even the possibility that you implemented somebody else’s proprietary code from memory or inspiration opens up a lot of legal issues.
And while you may win there’s no winners when you or your employer has to pay your side of legal fees. It’s best to just avoid it to make that process easier.
If they can prove it. There's only so many way to do something in code
They don’t have to prove anything to take you to court
Yes they do. And they'd need to look at your source code to prove you copied theirs. It'd be basically impossible to prove unless you were stupid enough to have the GTA V source code on your work machine.
Peep the code on a website, and they'll have no evidence and the case will get dismissed for being frivolous. Do you think Rockstar is omniscient? People look at the source code, then leave the company for a competitor every week.
Code can't even be patented, so unless you copy some propriety process for computing physics or something, that they have a patent on, then they really have no legal standing.
This meme of "don't look at it" is very ignorant to the reality of professional software development. Our memories aren't wiped when we switch jobs and they'd have to prove you didn't pick that idea up from another job, a forum, a colleague, or even a dream.
Seriously. There is actually zero way Rockstar would ever know even if you outright stole some of the code unless you were to admit it. And definitely not if you got some inspiration from it.
The derivative code will get compiled. What are they going to do, pick apart the machine code from every game released from now on to see if it somehow matches a chunk from GTA? And then somehow track down and prove that one of the probably dozens of employees who worked on the game looked at this leaked source code? Good luck with that.
Yeah there's no chance anyone would even know unless you straight up copied enough code that the same bugs and weird physics behaviors show up in your game.
You can get in trouble for having it on your hard drive because it's copyright infringement, but not for looking at it on a website.
Not sure about Rockstar, but this seems like something Nintendo would do lol.
Nintendo would replicate that FTC Family Guy episode if they could.
Now that's the real problem here /s
Also, this already been a trope in a movie
Companies do get sued for that as well
~~For wiping memory of ex-workers? Or for illegal non competitive contract items? You lost me somewhat~~
Ah, nevermind, I got your point. Yes it happens and it doesn't always happen fairly
The proof is they have more money and lawyers.
If this includes the euphoria physics engine and someone copies it… it will be incredibly easy to prove that it’s stolen.
Sure if you copy the whole thing. But if you treat it like another resource like Stack Overflow then the only way to get caught is if you put the code on your work machine.
People quit their job and move to a company every week and the knowledge of rockstars engine doesn't leave their brain.
Didn't you hear about TakeTwo's TakeTwo brain implants? They take two chips and put them in emloyees heads. It acts as their work-related memory. When they come into the office it activates and when they go home it turns off (supposedly). There's no way you could fool such sofisticated TakeHome tech!
/s obv
They should make a show about that!
Depends on which country you're in. I would bet if you do it in Russia there will be zero consequences.
The consequence of living in Russia is you will die in occupied Ukraine.
Where I live, the losing side must pay for all legal fees
That is if you will have enough to keep going until you win. Having to pay a hundred grands for years may be a price to just prove you're innocent, after that you'll be refunded (sometime)
Ok, that's what I thought you meant by the original comment but I wanted to make sure.
Thanks
Also to add to this, you are disqualified from contributing code to the WINE project if you've seen parts of the Windows source code for this exact same reason.
oh interesting. kinda impossible to ensure all the contributors have never seen it though.
Directly, probably not. But if you work on an engine team or on a game and there’s some future lawsuit implying that the methods and techniques match their stuff then it will be costly. Companies would rather just avoid the potential liability.
Here’s an article discussing some aspects of Nintendo leaks being risky for those who work on emulators
https://www.vice.com/en/article/g5pxjx/using-leaked-nintendo-source-code-poses-serious-legal-risk-to-emulators