FIA sends out “cease and desist” letter to modding Teams

FIA sends out “cease and desist” letter to modding Teams

Appearantly the FIA (Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile) have send out a “cease and desist” letter to several modding teams working on mods resembling FIA governed cars and series. A cease and desist letter is a request to a party to halt an activity and not take it up again or face legal action. It is rumoured that more unauthorized modding projects are under investigation, including hardware mods. In essence, it is not yet known if this crusade will only impact the open wheeler series, or if it will apply to more related racing series.

One of the modding teams that where recently hit are the F1ASR team. They where working on an a Ferrari 643 F1 and Formula 1 1992 mod. After receiving the cease and desist letter, the team announced that they will suspend work on the mods till further notice.

It looks like this will not just stop there. A month ago we at Bsimracing received a cease and desist letter from a well known brand requesting us not to post or promote any to their brand related software and Hardware mod news. VirtualR.net received a similar Formula 1 related “cease and desist” request only a few months ago.

The last few years it has been discussed and debated that with the growing Sim Racing popularity also the rules of the game could get stricter. A while ago the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA) announced a long term partnership with Polyphony Digital (Gran Turismo), revealing that there might be an FIA sanctioned Sim Racing championship in the making. With federations such as the FIA involved Sim Racing could soon become a sport. As with all sports, advertising and sponsorship will have their influence on what can and cannot be done.

The Modding scene also changed allot the last few years. With high detailed and higher quality models, the risk of being associated with a product is becoming apparent. High quality mods could also be seen as competition for licenced material by the established companies. Then there are trends such as payed modding and sponsored leagues and teams that might open up a can of worms when it comes to copyright infringements and people creating revenue with it. The multiple cross-platform conversions that appear lately have also raised attention and could become an issue in the near future.

The Sim Scene is taken more serious and is now recognised as a business platform by many marketeers out there. While that is ultimately a good thing, it will change the way the established companies look at our little niche community. The bigger the market becomes, the more opportunities it will create for marketing. These opportunities will generate a bigger competition. If Sim Racing and the commercial world get even closer, there might be no room left for ” tolerated art” such as modding. Sim Racing livery services such as used in LFS and the “Trading Paints” project for iRacing might become a topic of discussion soon. Fingers crossed.

thanks for posting this ville33

FIA should first deal with the real life series they are ruining at a daily basis! like.. you know.. that formula 1 thing.. yeah.. that sucks big time and they ruined it. Also the wtcc and many others. Yeah, first deal with your real life problems and then come to the virtual world to mess with it. Many people got rich by ruining great racing (GROUP C comes to mind) and now they can't stop and want more. Greedy, unenlightend self important individuals don't impress me. >

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We have had the same letter at www.racedepartment.com a year ago and keep getting them from time to time. The sender is not the FIA but a company that acts on behalf of the FOM.

All they do is roam the internet for so called breach of their rights but if you read the letter closely its not a cease and desist letter, but good old internet bullying, but apparently for some teams and websites this is already enough to get (and spread) panic.

Just answer the email kindly, ask for proof (which they don't have as they just focus on trigger words, not actual content) and carry on. Their emails have a nice case number in the subject line to impress the receiver. I have returned all the emails kindly and added my own case number (looks really professional )

By posting this kind of news constantly you are giving them exactly what they want: publicity and successfully spreading of fear.

We will not remove any F1 mods that are created by users from scratch unless they provide and submit exact proof of what rule the particular modder is breaching. Still waiting on a proper explanation.

What they should go after instead are teams and individuals that sell F1 branded content for money without a license.

PS: those that keep claiming that Codemasters are the evil genius behind all this are wrong and should really check their facts before publishing comments on the internet. We have contacted them and they weren't even aware this is happening to websites and modding teams.

PS2: in case there is a letter being sent from the FIA directly then please post it as a source for reference.

Bernie has to try and get all the money back that he greased palms with to get favours and to also stay out of jail so it is said... don't know if that's true but sounds like it could be true...

Sad when rich, elitists want a slice of the virtual world as well as everything else they gouge us on. Can't afford a race car, I can't even afford to go to many of the races, but I can have my virtual races...or can I, you money grubbin, rich snobs. I'm sure the virtual racing community just augments the real racing world and brings youth up in a culture that continues to add to the motorsports.

rainmaker62 wrote:

Sad when rich, elitists want a slice of the virtual world as well as everything else they gouge us on. Can't afford a race car, I can't even afford to go to many of the races, but I can have my virtual races...or can I, you money grubbin, rich snobs. I'm sure the virtual racing community just augments the real racing world and brings youth up in a culture that continues to add to the motorsports.

I agree completely! If anything, they should be contributing to the virtual racing sites!

hmmguy wrote:

rainmaker62 wrote:

Sad when rich, elitists want a slice of the virtual world as well as everything else they gouge us on. Can't afford a race car, I can't even afford to go to many of the races, but I can have my virtual races...or can I, you money grubbin, rich snobs. I'm sure the virtual racing community just augments the real racing world and brings youth up in a culture that continues to add to the motorsports.

I agree completely! If anything, they should be contributing to the virtual racing sites!

T O T A L L Y   A G R E E !!!!!!!

are any of you familiar of the european competition comission ? they are generally quite strict about Bernie style corraling of wild horses, are any of you out there lawyers ? you might have an opinion ?

I am surprised that some private rallys by invitation go on in europe without fia sanction or threat (?)
On the contrary the simming world should paid compensation for keeping the general publics interest alive in all things automotive- otherwise the automobile might have gone long ago- the way of the horse and carriage by now ! Always turn the tables, as good lawyers will tell you.

I saw something rather unusual at another forum (gt-Italia) and it was a fellow offering to pay anyone willing to convert cars for them. Maybe just coincidence but with this topic being brought about, it seems a bit suspicious as though he is baiting.

You'd think they'd be happy to get the interest they get from this hobby and it's members.

quite honestly, I have given up hope on automobilism and auto racing;my F-1 television viewing stopped 4 years ago, I still watch Moto g.p though. Current endurance racing is getting too complicated/boring with "balance of power equations " yes perhaps there is a need for developing energy efficient cars & race cars but What happened to the old "index of performance" cup that was given at le mans - not glamorous enough ??

Endurance GTs run less horsepower than their stock counterparts, unlike the old days when cars would break todays 24 hr events are sprints. They are really messing up endurance racing too.

Vintage events ( as seen on you-tube ) are still nice but god knows when they will f..k that up too.

The FIA & Bernie realise this too, so go after the sim- hobby and see if they can latch on for a free ride, its perhaps the only good idea left in Automobilism ( Nissan think so, with their GT- academy using simulators to sort wheat from chaff drivers- see you tube for more info)

The big problem is, the big Gaming companies are making so much money from sales - especially in car gaming, that its attracting a lot of attention from the sharks. Honestly most of the games I have seen are just eye candy for spoilt rich brats who play the new discs till the next new expensive game comes along.
I started with the Need for speed - Porsche, then went on to GP legends and all its Mods, then to F-1 C and all its closed wheel mods and similarly for GT legends and GTR2. I still use all of these.
I think its mods like these and some rally mods that really need "protection " from the sharks as this is perhaps what simmers like us want to keep alive & free ? perhaps a strategy to keep these out of the limelight would help ?
Let the FIA & sharks make money from the rich spoilt brats market,then they'll leave us alone.