[MUD-Dev] BIZ: Who owns my sword?

[Mike Shaver]

On Sep 11, Tamzen Cannoy wrote:
> At 5:22 PM +0000 9/11/03, Matt Mihaly wrote,

>> Well, as far as I am aware (and I am not a lawyer), the law would
>> not recognize a collection of database entries as having any
>> legal right whatsoever. Without legal right there is no legal
>> ownership. Companies can own things. Individuals can own
>> things. I'm pretty sure an avatar or the copy of Word sitting on
>> my harddrive cannot, at least in the eyes of the law.

> The EU is proposing just such copyrights for databases and the US
> is also considering it.

>   http://www.mbc.com/db30/cgi-bin/pubs/TPA-European_Commission.pdf

>   http://www.avnonline.com/issues/200309/newsarchive/news_090503_10.shtml

Matt isn't talking about copyright issues (although the idea that
mere mechanical aggregations of content can have copyright status
independent from the status of the source material -- which is
typically public domain or freely distributable -- is itself
interesting for people who are busy creating interfaces that
translate database entries into "fun").

Matt's talking, AIUI, about the idea that a database -- a collection
of data, not even the management software, lest AI fantasies
distract -- could itself _own_ things.  This would most likely
require them to be "persons under the law", as corporations are in
most places.

Mike
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