| Author |
Message |
Matthew Burke (Mburke)
| | Posted on Wednesday, January 10, 2001 - 4:47 pm: | |
It seems to me that the typical practice for distributing games (i.e. having a folder with the rules file in it and a subfolder with the images) makes it difficult to share images between games. Is there some trick that I'm missing?
Also, what are people's thought on reusing images others have created? Is it sufficient just to credit them in your distribution? Should you ask the person's permission first? |
Tomas Forsman (Tomwolf)
| | Posted on Friday, January 12, 2001 - 5:53 am: | |
On the second note.
If the pictures are made by someone you need their permission if nothing else is stated.
They have the copyright of the pictures.
I don't see what you mean with the first note.
Tomas |
Karl Scherer (Karl)
| | Posted on Sunday, January 21, 2001 - 4:09 pm: | |
Thomas Forsman wrote:
"If the pictures are made by someone you need their permission .."
He does not explain how one can know whether
the publisher of a game actually made the pictures and if yes, whether he wants to retain any copyright on it.
As far as I know, a copyright exists only when
the word "Copyright" is mentioned somewhere
in the code together with the author's name and the year of creation.
(legally I think even the special copyright symbol must be there as well, but we do not want to get too serious, do we?)
.....
Apart from this, I strongly recommend that authors who insist on retaining the copyright
add their email address to the code
to that other authors are able to ask them
for permission to use the one or other bit
of their graphics (or the conditions of using it).
..........
I for my part would like to state categorically that anybody may use any of my graphics
and game code freely as long as
- he/she notifies me of that use.
- it is not for commercial purposes.
- my name is quoted in connection with it.
Cheers, Karl Scherer
karl@kiwi.gen.nz |
Jeff Mallett (Jeffm)
| | Posted on Sunday, January 21, 2001 - 4:23 pm: | |
Copyright varies by country, but I want to clarify that in the U.S. a copyright exists as soon as a creative work is expressed in some fixed form. It is *not* necessary to put the word "Copyright" or a symbol to have your work copyrighted. It is also not necessary to register your copyright with the U.S. copyright office. Doing these things helps prove your case in court if a copyright were to be challenged, but that does not mean that these things are necessary for legal protection of your work. |
Karl Scherer (Karl)
| | Posted on Monday, January 22, 2001 - 4:59 pm: | |
Thank you very much for clarifying this, Jeff.
The fact that the word "copyright" is not
necessary to create a copyright makes it the more important that any author
who is willing to share some or all of his/her
code and/or graphics with other authors
attaches the email address to the rules file.
(If the word "copyright" is missing, indeed nobody knows whether the author has any copyright
and if yes, whether he/she is interested in protecting it or how much he/she bothers about
sharing it. That does not make things easier. Rather it complicates the matter.)
Hence I suggest we add a new MAIN TOPIC
"Sharing Copyrights"
to the discussion board where (I suggest) each title contains only the author's name
(and hopefully email-address)
and the text describes how much the author
is willing to share his/her copyrights.
That will make development of further games much easier and free of any worries and misunderstandings.
My suggestion gives authors who are willing to share (and I suppose there are more out there
than just me) a place where they can express
this willingness to give and share.
I hope Zillions follows up on this suggestion.
Cheers, Karl |
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