Re: Where to put Open Transport Tycoon (openttd)
On 5/16/05, Michael K. Edwards <m.k.edwards@gmail.com> wrote:
> Note that there is no question (IANAL, TINLA) that openttd infringes
> the copyright on Transport Tycoon in any jurisdiction that recognizes
> the doctrine of "mise en scene", i. e., pretty much any jurisdiction
> that has a copyright law. See Micro Star v. FormGen.
There are always questions, of course. And, I do think you
have a pretty strong point here, in the sense that this can be
a very real issue.
But, the scenes are not a part of openttd. They are the non-free
component which forces openttd into contrib.
> In general, Debian should not be distributing game clones, in main, in
> contrib, or anywhere else. The fact that copyright holders rarely
> bother to pursue legal action against half-assed clones of obsolete
> games does not mean that they are legitimate in the eyes of the law.
I agree with your second sentence. I'm just not sure that your
general statement from your first sentence applies here.
The question is: does openttd contain copyrighted material from
Transport Tycoon?
I don't have the answer to that question, and it sounds like the
copyright holders are not currently interested in stating their
opinion.
That leaves us with "due diligence" -- whatever that means in this
context.
I don't think a blanket prohibition on clone software (or even
game clone software) will serve us very well. Sometimes it's
going to be a problem, sometimes it's not. The times it's
going to be a problem is when the clone software copies
a tangible expression of creative content from the original
work.
We have not yet identified any such elements which are
relevant to openttd.
--
Raul
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