If Roblox has a license to the sound (which they say they obtained by buying a sound collection that had the sound in it) then it doesn’t matter what the metadata is or who made the sound, since they have a license to use it. The company that sold the CD to them is the licensor and so that company should be approached with any inquiries about legitimacy of copyright instead – not Roblox.
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This is fantastic we’re getting a response about this, so we know more information. 
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I mean’t the part where they said he presented no proof. But, also a good point.
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Copyright threats, huh? That’s a big oof.
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Thank you for this communication, I have seen a lot of rumors and claims pop up and it’s nice having some clarity about this situation.
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I really hope they will stay, it wouldn’t make sense for Roblox to remove them completely.
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Understandable conclusion. I loved all this insider knowledge on how Erik and David got the sounds off a CD-ROM they bought and how the original Roblox face was drawn by David.
I’d love to know more about the development of Roblox, perhaps a full documentary would be cool!
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Hey dude, it hasn’t reached a conclusion yet. Roblox is clearly in the wrong here.
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Since ROBLOX said that they bought a stock CD with fully licensed sounds, that technically means ROBLOX owns the right to use the “uhhh.mp3” sound. I guess so the oof sound will stay?
If ROBLOX still owns that CD-ROM, they should show it to Tommy Tallarico.
By the way it’s good ROBLOX made a clarification about this.
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Quote from thomas, thought you would want to see this as it explains what you are “missing”
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He replied to me in the original post so I did see that. Again I mean’t where they said he presented no proof.
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Apologies, did not see who he replied to.
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You should check his social media account. He posted contract proof he owns the sound. Roblox is in the wrong.
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He posted it on a royalty-free website for sale. Either way, roblox literally said they were removing it.
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Proof that he made the sound isn’t proof that he owns it or has a copyright or that Roblox doesn’t have a licence to use it. I think you’ve missed the point of this post or simply haven’t read it.
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Perhaps the sound was stolen by the CD-ROM site and placed for sale illegally. If this is the case, Roblox would be able to countersue, but its unlikely the CD-ROM site is still in business or would have the massive damages that Tommy claims.
(just speculation)
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Turns out he did hold copyright.
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This is a strong move from Roblox. I’m really happy that you guys have publicly addressed this here and in a full detailed post. In the long run, posts like this are going to be way more beneficial for not only developers but also the platform in general, as it showcases clearly:
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the stance that you are taking on the matter
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how you are trying to remedy or approach the matter in the future.
My concerns initially were that the company had not made any of their views public, and it has been something I’ve scrutinized in the past as it promotes the misconception that Roblox had been saying no for an ill-willed reason. But clearly, they aren’t doing that. This post literally echoes the exact opposite of that. More importantly, it begs the question: if the audio was actually gathered from a CD, and if the data didn’t reflect Tommy’s ownership, then how would Roblox know at the time that the audio was actually made by him? It’s not fair to seek compensation for this, and I doubt it’ll even stand in court.
Having a contract that says you own the rights to distribute and give out anything made for the contractee does not mean that the person has copyright over that audio. In order to properly acquire copyright protection on creative works in the US, you usually have to go to the US Copyright Office, which seemingly he hasn’t displayed.
Never trust a contract if you haven’t read the entire thing.
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You have a copyright on the work you create by default, unless otherwise explicitly stated. Read this on the official Copyright website, here: Copyright in General (FAQ) | U.S. Copyright Office
However, if failure to provide proof you made the item, it’s harder for courts to decide on a resolution in a case of copyright infringement.
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Ouch, well that’s capitalism for you. Willing to destroy the fun of millions of children for fame and a quick buck.
Regardless, even though the Roblox “oof” sound is iconic, it is definitely not one of Roblox’s defining features. If we’re so bent on having it, we can easily make better and improved versions of the oof with tools Roblox have been giving us to do exactly that. I personally rarely hear it being used by game developers, who already have their own death sounds in place.
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