It's not at all suprising. Neither company is going to want a hand full of lawsuits arriving each day and with the possibilty that some developers will release their own levels anyway on little big planet (like the current rumour of a steam boat willie level by Disney) there is a stronger case.

Hopefully it means we'll see more original levels rather than just thousands of rip off the same levels and games.

Its sad that fear of lawsuits will seriously hamper the burgeoning communities that both these games could grow. I'd prefer to see a system something similar to youtube. If the copyright holder has an issue with an uploaded video, it gets pulled.

I am sure that many of the IP holders would see tributes in these games as a pleasing tribute and potentially a nice viral avenue for marketing. Lets take the Gradius level on LBP as an example. Nobody will play that thinking its a replacement for the real deal. If they want to play Gradius, they'll play Gradius.

GH:WT is probably more challenging. I was about to say the same for the Zelda tune, but with Wii Music coming, perhaps Nintendo would be more protective.

However for LBP, let the copyright holders decide rather than decimate large swathes of very well produced content.

....meanwhile Criterion is adding the Back to the Future car (in all but name) to Burnout. Lets see if that actually makes it into the game without a lawsuit

I must insist that you remove all references to anything and everything other than yourselves on this forum.

May I remind all of you - that we are plentiful in numbers and we have people everywhere.

Don't even think an unoriginal thought or we will be forced to enter into litigation.

Remember Electric Birdland? Remember Lik-Sang?

You're nothing to us!

Muwahaha!

I can understand the GH concerns, as the music is protected by copyright. But LBP? User-created levels may reference licensed properties/characters such as Batman, Shadow of the Colossus, Mirror's Edge, Mario, etc. but these seem to be "homages" and parodies that ought to be protected under the fair use doctrine. Is Sony removing all of these on its own, or just when a copyright holder complains?

What is to stop an enterprising copyright holder from building its own LBP level and releasing it to promote their product? Or from granting players permission to use its logos? I can imagine officially sanctioned Mountain Dew or McDonald's levels, for example. Isn't this free advertising, or should Sony charge them for it?

Vulgar and obscene levels are already prohibited, so it isn't as if LBP users are creating a Lara Croft porno level or something. I can understand removing something like that.