[MUD-Dev] Ebay bans character selling

[Richard.Woolcock at rsuk.rohde-schwarz.com]

On Mon, 29 Jan 2001, the_logos at www.achaea.com wrote:

> On Sun, 28 Jan 2001, Frank Crowell wrote:

>> the_logos at www.achaea.com wrote:

>> It's not clear at all that any IP laws have been violated. There is
>> no transfer of items -- they are database entries. The only new
>> property that is "transferred" is the character itself -- created
>> by the player. Certainly the effort to create a character has more
>> IP value than a database entry.

> I agree, it's not clear. I would like to believe they have been
> violated though as I do not believe you as a customer own the
> database entry in their database

You might find this link of interest:

  http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/metaschool/fisher/joint/links/articles/wu.html

  "THE GROWING use of computer programs as tools to generate
  copyrightable works may result in a new class of disputes between
  computer programmers and the users of their programs, and a new
  issue to be addressed in computer software licenses: Who owns the
  copyright to the computer- generated works?"

It raises some interesting points.  In muds like mine (in which player
descriptions are generated entirely by the mud) the players would have
much less claim than they would in (for example) a MOO, where they had
written lengthy descriptions and personal scripts for their character.

--
KaVir.
_______________________________________________
MUD-Dev mailing list
MUD-Dev at kanga.nu
https://www.kanga.nu/lists/listinfo/mud-dev