Re: Bug#310994: ITP: openttd -- open source clone of the Microprose game "Transport Tycoon Deluxe"
On 5/27/05, Matthijs Kooijman <m.kooijman@student.utwente.nl> wrote:
> > That's correct; and, with or without that dependency, OpenTTD
> > infringes the copyright on Transport Tycoon Deluxe under a "mise en
> > scene" theory, as discussed on debian-legal. (Not to say there's a
> What do you mean by that exactly?
A video game with even the skimpiest of original story lines (see Duke
Nukem 3-D, as described in Micro Star v. FormGen) is a "literary or
artistic work" at run-time, over and above the expressive content of
its source code. Hence an additional form of "copyright infringement"
is possible -- the creation of an unauthorized "sequel" using the
original's characters and "mise en scene" (a term borrowed by lawyers
from the theater; imagine the accent grave).
The right to create sequels is reserved to the copyright holder,
absent the sort of potent First Amendment defense which prevailed in
SunTrust Bank v. Houghton Mifflin ("The Wind Done Gone"). Similar
reasoning holds in many non-US jurisdictions, under national
implementations of Article 2.3 of the Berne Convention.
OpenTTD -- a reimplementation of Transport Tycoon Deluxe with
enhancements -- is precisely such an "unauthorized sequel". It may
not have "characters", but it has some story line and has "mise en
scene" out the wazoo. Basically harmless, if TTD is abandonware; but
unambiguously (IANAL) an infringement of the copyright on the
original, whether any literal copying is involved or not.
> I have posted this issue on debian-legal before, where people seemed to agree
> to put it into contrib, which is what I am planning to.
> OpenTTD has IMHO nothing to do with abandonware, since it is still actively
> maintained and improved. Actually, there is an immense difference between the
> original TTD and OpenTTD by now.
> (I am aware that "an immense difference" doesn't really buy you anything,
> legally)
Unfortunately, the people who agreed to that don't seem to be applying
a sufficient knowledge of the law. I myself am no lawyer, nor am I a
DD, nor have I been a debian-legal denizen for long; but I fear I have
the misfortune of being right on this one, consensus or no consensus.
> > The same, really, applies to freeciv and the innumerable clones of
> > games, from Pac-Man to Doom, with anything resembling characters and a
> > storyline; but that's not a problem for debian-mentors.
> I expect that this discussion has already been done for those games and that
> apparently the consensus was to do include them.
Apparently so. Lots of things get onto Debian's mirror network
without the degree of scrutiny that an organization with assets to
protect should be applying.
Cheers,
- Michael
Reply to: