737 cockpit textures are being taken down.

so if you have been on the avsim forums recently, I have gotten into some trouble regarding Piracy. so the textures I created used a few of the textures from PMDG, all the others were ones I took myself off the real 737. However, because I used some of PMDG textures, this has gotten me banned from avsim.com and a list of every law I broke by posting these textures. They will be taken down and every piece of evidence that these textures even existed will be deleted from all forums. I do not wish to be charged with piracy and be charged 75,000 dollars, so everything is being deleted. thank you

if you downloaded the 737 Cockpit Textures, they must be deleted. I will post the full email I recieved from PMDG. I may make a new version not using the PMDG textures. But I do not know. here is the email.

 

" Joshua,

 

 

 

Cc: M Turlington – PMDG Legal Counsel’s Office

 

 

 

Thank you for reaching out. It seems that you created quite a stir on AVSim, which is unfortunate.

 

 

 

I am going to be very direct and blunt. I hope that you can take this reply in the spirit in which it is intended.

 

 

 

Under normal circumstances, when someone approaches us with a request to use graphics or artwork created by PMDG, we forward the request to our legal counsel, who drafts a license agreement to allow the user the flexibility to do what it is that they seek. In your case, there is almost no circumstance in which our legal counsel will provide you with any leeway to do what you are requesting.

 

 

 

Here are the problems with your request:

 

 

 

You accepting copies of PMDG’s artwork from your friend constitutes your participation in criminal theft and possibly, acceptance of stolen property.

You retaining copies of PMDG’s artwork without a valid license to do so, constitutes theft of intellectual property.

You distributing copies of PMDG’s artwork without a valid license/permission constitutes distribution of stolen property.

You proposal violates multiple provisions of our End User License Agreement (attached for your reading):

Modifying files that are not included in our SDK paint kit. (You are ONLY allowed to modify the files in that kit)

Failure to obtain written permission from PMDG *prior* to publicly releasing/announcing modification of *our* work in a manner that is specifically designed to work with a non PMDG product.

Your proposal constitutes distribution of PMDG’s intellectual property without our permission.

 

 

On the face of it, I haven’t even yet addressed the core question of “why would PMDG authorize you to improve a competitors product by using imagery stolen from our product?” The very core of that question defies logic and stands as an insult to the team of developers who have worked for years to create these products.

 

 

 

Beyond this, there are some serious implications that you should consider:

 

The End User License Agreement stipulates that your use/acceptance of our intellectual property in a manner outside of that for which it was licensed constitutes your acceptance of liability for liquidated damages of a minimum amount totaling $75,000 plus our reasonable expenses to enforce our rights legally and collect on said debt.

 

 

So my direct answer to you, is: No. You may not distribute this creation of yours.

 

 

 

My recommendation to you, is that you take whatever steps you must take to ensure that it never sees the light of day. If it *does* see the light of day, it could well represent a significant legal problem for you. Under the circumstances, I could simply turn your information over to our legal counsel for handling, but you mention being in school and this causes me to hope that you are simply an over-eager guy who didn’t realize how big a hole he was digging for himself by sharing files and modifying things in a way that may have seemed fun. As the head of a team of developers who make their living creating these works at great cost an expense, it is absolutely inconceivable that we would allow you to do what you are asking without taking steps to protect our work legally.

 

 

 

I am going to give you a bit of leeway just this one time, by telling you that you have until Sunday evening to confirm to me the following:

 

 

 

You understand that what you have proposed cannot happen.

You will guarantee that the files you created will never be distributed to any other person.

If you *have* given them to any other person- you should take this opportunity to explain this to me.

I would like the contact information of the individual who provided you the artwork in the first place, so that we may follow up with that individual regarding distribution of stolen intellectual property.

 

 

If I do not hear from you, then I will forward this conversation to our legal counsel’s office- and I can assure you that they will be far less accommodating.

 

 

 

Robert S. Randazzo

 

PMDG Simulations

 

1800 Diagonal Rd.

 

Suite 600

 

Alexandria, VA 22314 "

 

 

 

 

Hope you guys will understand. I really do not want to have this on my record for something that I didn't even know could happen, and I did not realize the scale of this mistake. thank you for your understanding.