Disclaimer!: Not willing to start a legal discussion here, but as jurist I will tell you some things I know. Not for further discussion, but for simple information.
The intellectual property is not protected by the contents of a stupid license you supposedly accept when you install the game, for the very simple reason that you had no chance to negotiate it with the company. That's what we call in Spain "general contracting conditions" or unnegotiated conditions. The contents of the intellectual property is defined by the law, and anything in the EULA that is against the law, or the laws that rule customers rights in the EU simply is considered as not put there, as a protection of teh customer. Period.
Now, regarding the contents and extents of the intellectual property of the code by UBI, they could theoretically enforce a prohibition to MODIFY their stuff, using it as a base, but NOT to release for free stuff that is not based in their property. This, for example, includes any new graphic that you create from scratch and can be used to replace an original SH3 one. There could be a deep argumentation about the extents of what would and not be prohibited, but as I have already said, this is not something I would like to happen here.
The official subsim.com position on this matter, else Neal says something different is:
We will respect any decission that UBI makes regarding such questions. If UBI wants the modding of their products to stop in subsim.com forums, so be it. Subsim.com will not enter legal discussions or unfriendly relationship with gaming companies, unless something very serious would justify it. And the modding thing is right now not such a reason.
Now please, let the thread continue but avoid legal discussions, and let those for lawyers in the courts.
