[Freeciv] Re: should I?

["Brandon Van Every" <vanevery@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

BTW *why* do I get 2 copies of everything?  Please don't CC: me, I'm
subscribed to the list.  I changed my margins so you can do this for
me....

> > Would anyone like me to perform the Hasbro
> > experiment?
>
> Absolutely.

Would anyone like me to most definitely *not* perform the Hasbro
experiment?  Anyone have any doubts about the legal grounds Freeciv is
on?  Anyone think that talking about it in misc.legal.computing is a
more rational course of action than just taking a loose cannon up on his
standing offer to rat you out?  :-)

I really think in terms of legal strategy, you're always better off
letting sleeping dogs lie.

Taking the test is an interesting crucible of how your idealism meets
reality though.

I fought a traffic ticket recently.  I *was* in the right, they tagged
me at 72 MPH in a 60 MPH zone and I was in fact going 65 MPH with my
cruise control on.  I pulled every stop and got them to reduce it to
what I said I was doing.  But as I went through all of it, I saw how
much the law was stacked against me.  I got a moral victory from it, but
if I had been paid a reasonable fee by the hour for all the work I did
trying to prove my innocence, I clearly lost.

Anyways, if enough people tell me they want me to track down the most
sue-happy person at Hasbro and try to inform them what you've been up
to, I'll be glad to do so.

You see, what I really want is for you guys to become educated about
what a "work of authorship" is.  Several false analogies have been made
about machines and well water.  The question is, how much of a poem can
you lift from someone?  How much do you have to change it around before
it's not plaigarism anymore?  When you ensure compatibility with Civ II,
when you use its tech trees, you're plaigarizing the concrete
expressions of their gameplay ideas.  You aren't utilizing "tech trees,"
or "tech trees that have mineral costs."  You're using *THEIR* tech
trees.

This intellectual property stuff isn't about "The State."  It's about
game developers being protected from people who willfully infringe upon
their works of authorship, thereby diminishing their profits and their
chance of ekeing out an independent livelihood by means of their
authorship.


Cheers,             Infernal Troublemaker                    Troll
Mallor              "By simple mistake, mortals themselves amuse."