[MUD-Dev] Custom Server Roll Call?

[Ola Fosheim Grøstad <olag@ifi.uio.no>]

"Jon A. Lambert" wrote:
> 
> On 5 May 99,, Ola Fosheim Grøstad wrote:
> >
> > Besides, in general copyright only applies if you actually looked at their
> > product while you created your own design doc. AFAIK you can have >
> someone
> > make an abstract description of the ideas contained in AD&D while looking at
> > them, then hand it to a cleanroom team which make a design and implement it.
> 
> No, this is most definitely not so.  This above is peculiar to software
> and some other processes.

I don't think so, although on this list I do of course refer to the making
of sofware!! Ideas are not protected. This is just a way to prove that you
have not built on somebody else's work. What is peculiar to software is
probably that the interface isn't protected, or whatever. In fact, in Europe
reverse engineering is illegal, UNLESS it is done to determine the interface
(or to make it work I think, not quite sure). And yes there are peculiar
things when it comes to copyright, and there are differences among
countries. Although there has been done quite a bit to make them more
internationally coherent.

> I would disagree here.  Game systems cannot be copyrighted.

_All_ the _works_ you create are copyrighted. If you make a copy or
translate an existing system then it is a derived work. If you build on
ideas in an existing work then it is not a derived work.  Basically what
matters isn't what the result looks like, but how you got there. That's at
least what I've learned.

I've recently become aware of some exceptions though. For instance, you may
produce copies freely if you do it as research in the US (fair use/progress
of science). In other words researchers does not have to heed copyrights, if
it prevents them from making a scientific progress.

> They only protection available is by patenting.

Doesn't apply to me :)

> OTOH, The practical bottom line is this:  If you receive a letter from a
> big corporate lawyer, immediately comply with whatever the hell they
> want, or be prepared to play the game of legal bluff and blunder, and
> accept the consequences, unjust though they may be.

Nope, in the international community you don't :)

I agree that it is off topic, but I think it is important that listmembers
understand that ideas are NOT protected.  In many countries ouside the US,
algorithms cannot be patented either. Some, I event think have explicit
clauses which states that software cannot be patented.  So basically,
relax!  Take the good _ideas_ and tweak them till they fit your own design. 
If you're going commercial, you might want some witnesses though!
--
Ola Fosheim Groestad,Norway      http://www.stud.ifi.uio.no/~olag/


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