Also reacting to this. The oof sound is actually copyrighted by Tommy, once you create a icon, sound or anything else it’ll automatically enter copyright, no need for registration of anything else. So Roblox claiming it isn’t copyrighted is completely wrong. I know paying isn’t fun, but you guys are lying alot in this post.
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Maybe he should’ve gone to roblox first before bashing roblox on interviews and screaming about theft on twitter. I wouldn’t give you a dime if I didnt legally have to if you treated me this way.
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I am deeply concerned about the fact that ROBLOX states that Tommy has no copyright to the oof sound which under the LAW is completely false any sound created after 1978 is automatically copyright protected.
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Perhaps he has sold it(thus how roblox eventually got it from a different allegedly legal source) and no longer has full rights to it? Tommy definitely would not tell us this tidbit(and he blocked me for this on twitter) if he just wanted a payout. Not saying its the case, but someone is lying here or dead wrong at least.
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I’m happy to have this issue officially adressed, and in such a professional way.
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The thing that seems so fishy to me is that if Tommy really does “own the copyright to ‘Oof’” as he keeps saying he does, why not just register the trademark already? It’d prove he’s serious about his claim, it’s provide proof that he owns it, and he’d finally have legal standing in the court of law. It costs him $55 to register it, and in court he could make out way more than that.
But he’s not registering it because he’s “acting in good faith.” My guess is, he can’t register it, because he has no legal grounds or proof to be able to register it. And now there is claims that Joey Kuras is the one true ‘Oof’ king when someone was digging through the game files in Messiah.
We’ll just have to see how it all shakes out I suppose, but for now, it’s quite the show ain’t it?
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The oof sound will always be in our hearts. Ngl, almost anyone on this planet knows the sound, even my marj does, which is pretty crazy. It actually brings people to roblox, and it’s sad to see that the new generations are gonna grow up without it. Now that’s a big oof. ik im not funny
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I don’t agree with this response being in the light and sugar coating of what ROBLOX is. ROBLOX is far beyond the oof sound, the falling noises have been taken away, as well as swimming, like the oof sound.
If Tommy has rights to this product, then its still his sound, not ROBLOX’s.
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The only reason why Tommy is making a big deal about this is because he wants money. Because Roblox is so big, he thinks that he can sue them to get a lot of money. He doesn’t care about how important the oof sound is to Roblox.
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That is correct, I took a screenshot that proves this if anyone else is wondering:
(For anyone wondering how to see these files, for mac you right click the roblox application in the finder and click Show Package Contents.)
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Unless you didn’t read the aforementioned, publicly bantering nonsense to escalate a private issue does not support his case legally. His legal status is unstable as his evidence is weak. To sue Roblox, he needs legal evidence rather than public nonsense. Him fooling individuals to side with him does not support his legal status, and therefor does not support his chance to sue Roblox.
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This is exactly my point. If there was registered copyright on the audio, you’d think he would’ve released the document publically, or sued by now. The USCO does have an entire library for normal people to go into and view copyrighted assets, and even Messiah is on there (as a computer file). There was definitely nothing stopping him from bringing us the link if it actually existed.
He’s actually blocked alot of people for calling him out on the holes in his case, even blocking someone for asking for a link to the exact copyright certificate, because he is relying on the Roblox community and the deception that Roblox’s handling of this situation was unjust, to spread his cause. It’s pretty clear that the OOF sound was used somewhere in Messiah, and that he had a hand in making it, but again, the only bargaining chip that he holds is his legal contract with Shiny Ent. (A contract that only shows that the audio is his to distribute and reuse, not the companies), and in a court case, even that would struggle to give enough evidence about the specific audio.
The issue here, is that alot of people viewing those tweets and replying to them, are uneducated about the entire situation. Whenever he’s been asked to provide actual feasible proof that might change the tide of the conversation, he’s failed to do so (and blocked those who have asked), and to compensate for this lack of evidence, he’s brought up the original employment contract he had with Shiny that only declares the rights of distribution of the audio as his own, not the copyright ownership of the audio. This contract does not mean that the audio is instantly registered under the USCO, it just means that Shiny can’t claim copyright protection on it because it’s Tommys property, and that would mean Tommy would’ve had to register instead.
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What are you talking about? I’m responding to him in regards what he was saying.
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No i wasnt ment to respond to you, sorry.
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EDIT: THIS WAS BEFORE I REALIZED TOMMY TALLARICO IS… NOT GREAT, READ WITH A HUGE GRAIN OF SALT
roblox, stop. stop stop stop. this is damage control, and it’s written all over this post. i’m upset so many people here aren’t questioning you right now as a company.
Despite the fact that Tommy has no copyright to the “oof” sound (and in response to our requests he has presented us no proof of ownership to it)
yes he absolutely does. here is the legal doccumentation proving otherwise in a tweet he sent here: https://twitter.com/TommyTallarico/status/1216140882224668673
it’s also stated on the back of the game’s box.
https://twitter.com/TommyTallarico/status/1216156419394691073
As part of that, we have asked Tommy to become part of our creative community and we look forward to exploring that opportunity with him further.
i don’t know if i believe this, considering he has been sitting here saying that you’ve been doing otherwise, saying he doesn’t deserve anything from this and so much more. the guy even claimed to offer to work with you guys and sell a liscence for you to use it still due to its history, as long as you pay compensation for illegally using the sound for a decade. here are tweets where he explained this:
https://twitter.com/TommyTallarico/status/1213875231032393728
https://twitter.com/TommyTallarico/status/1213875232038981633
https://twitter.com/TommyTallarico/status/1213875232970137603
Roblox’s founders, Erik and David, got the oof sound (along with all the original Roblox sounds) from a stock sound CD-ROM they purchased of licensed, copyright free sounds (not from an illegal website as Tommy has suggested on social media).
the fact he made it is in the metadata, as shown in konekokitten’s video here: roblox is getting SUED...(seriously, here's why) - YouTube
even if it was taken off of a CD-ROM, it does not matter. it still was illegal usage of the soundbyte. though, i am interested to see if you still have the CD-ROM to prove your claim. likely not, hm?
also, i don’t know if it’s just me, but the fact erik was brought up into this situation and is implied to be responsible for the oof controversy doesn’t sit well with me. i hope i’m reading into it too much here.
everything else in this post is mumbo jumbo for “we are right, tommy is wrong” and doesn’t even say to not attack him. it isn’t on roblox to really stop anybody from attacking him, but this post reaks of trying to get people to… i guess, go against him? i dunno.
at this point, even though i love roblox and what it presents for me and others, i want you to get sued now that i read this statement. this is ridiculous.
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Yeah. True, but ROBLOX have lost here.
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Roblox, I like you but the end of the day you’re a billion dollar corporation. It’s not uncommon that a bigger guy would take advantage of a smaller guy.
There are hundreds of example of bigger corporations stealing creations from smaller people because smaller people can’t afford big time lawyers to help them out.
And where’s the proof of this CD ROM you said you got the licensed sounds from? And even if you did get it from a CD ROM you bought, there is still the possibility that the company you bought it from stole a lot of their sound effects.
I still don’t understand why you guys just don’t come to an agreement with Tom. How hard is it to say “Sorry our bad. Let’s make this better between us.”?
Instead you are getting the fans and the devs wild up to go and slander Tom and call him nothing but a copyright troll even though his dang name is on the sound file.
I don’t know. I feel like it’ll be easier for everyone and even yourself to just come to a private agreement with Tom instead taking potshots at each other online. Because if he does end up winning in court, the damages will be much worse for you.
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I find it to be very suspicious that Tommy has blocked people for pointing out holes/asking for proof. LIke Alkan said, it is entirely possible that he lost the rights to the sound by selling it or something like that, and Tommy blocked Alkan after bringing that up, which makes it more suspicious. I don’t get why Tommy made all these claims on Twitter, especially when many people interacting with him are young people who do not fully understand the situation, but Tommy did say he thought it was a good opportunity to educate kids about how copyright works or something. But then what’s up with the holes in the case?
On the other hand, the people above me have a point, and Roblox may actually be in the wrong instead. It’s hard to tell without the full information.
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Who is to say Tom is being reasonable here? He could be asking for a wild figure. Both sides could answer a whole bunch of questions here.
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If this was the case, Roblox’s solution should be to remove the sound if they didn’t wish to pay up. Simple as that, no “we’re not doing anything wrong,” just remove it.
It does seem like they’re planning on that though.
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