Levels in LBP being moderated

Interesting article from Kotaku that I found through Joystiq.

I thought it was funny that only a week (if even that long) after complaining about some of the unoriginal levels being created, we see action being taken to remove copies that infringe on copyrights and trademarks.

As much as applaud the action being taken, I find it upsetting that the user community is left in the dark as to why certain things are being removed and not others. There were two great levels in particular (God of War: Demon Skull & Shadow of the Colossus) that were removed and yet there are still other GOW and ICO levels on the servers. Both of these levels borrowed from their namesake but I would consider it more of an homage than a carbon copy; unlike many of the Mario and Sonic levels that are exact clones.

There is a lot of dialogue about a "Failure to Launch" level which only shares it's name with a 2006 movie; the level in question makes no references to the movie itself, but it is assumed it was taken down because of the possibility the name was trademarked. Apparently the way moderation works there is no possibility of reposting the level with a new name, which seems harsh and unfair.

On the positive side, there seems to already be an increase in the number of quality and original levels being created (or maybe they're just easier to find now that some of the lower quality levels are gone). I think the whole process of moderation won't be met with so much anger once their is some feedback for users about what criteria levels are being judged on.

On the negative side, some levels based on other people Intellectual Property are amazing. One particular user from japan recreated Tetris and Gradius, and when you consider the amount of effort put into figuring out how to emulate the mechanics in LBP, it would be a shame for the levels to be taken down. It also seems like there might be a little leeway with IP that Sony owns, which makes it odd that levels featuring a PS3 were taken down.

It seems like most issues will be resolved once users are informed about what specific forms of copyright infringement will result in moderation. Hopefully, MM and Sony will have an answer for us soon.