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

[Nathan Yospe]

On Monday, September 15, 2003, at 03:24  AM, ceo wrote:
> Tamzen Cannoy wrote:

>> 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

Couldn't get the pdf...

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

> Yikes, for a minute there you had me worried. But I think you've
> misunderstood. The links you quote are for something that's been
> UK law for many many years (and it's a little worrying that this
> has not previously been reflected in the US).

Needless to say, IANAL...

In a sense, there is a US policy... see this:

  http://www.bitlaw.com/source/cases/copyright/feist.html#IIA

Note: "A factual compilation is eligible for copyright if it
features an original selection or arrangement of facts, but the
copyright is limited to the particular selection or arrangement."

See also:

  http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/casecode/uscodes/17/chapters/1/sections/section_103.html

There's a lot more, much of which falls under the heading
"compilation", but most of the application pertains to books and
directories, and using the same arguments for a game's contents
(subject to compilation in game context by users) could be
interesting.

Maybe this goes counter to some of the intent of the above links,
but it does reflect a consistent legal policy, and not one that I
think harmful to the industry... provided we provide some structure
for storing things beyond the level of a simple database.  It may
not help for story boards or game-world based and game hosted fanfic
sites...

--

Nathan F. Yospe - Physicist, Programmer, Writer, Artist, JOAT with a SAK
nyospe at mac.com  yospe at kanga.nu  nyospe at a2i.com
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