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Message: 4277

Author: andrewbroad

Date: 06/06/2004

Subject: Re: Copyright / Cover-disks / Diagonal guardians

 

john_elliott_uk wrote:

However, putting these data on the cover-disk would raise thorny
copyright-issues, as "the copyrights in regard to anything on
these disks remain with their legal owners", not with Retro Gamer,
who would presumably have to seek permission from/through Stuart
Fotheringham to do such.

Of course, the same applies to putting nearly any Spectrum game on
a coverdisc, and I've seen that done before now. I imagine it
depends on whether the publishers think they can get away with it.
For that matter, if we distribute games based on JSW it's because
we think that we can get away with it.

Well, I've always been paranoid about copyright-issues since I
released Manic Miner 4 in 1997. But I know that Matthew Smith knows
about us, and I know that Jester Interactive know about us, so I
guess that if anyone had a problem with it, we would know about it
by now - except perhaps from Tommy Barton...

It's not like we're making any money out of Matthew Smith's
creations (unlike cover-disks), nor are we harming anyone's economic
interests since Spectrum software hasn't been sold in shops for more
than a decade.

If the worst came to the worst, I'd have to take a comparative code-
generation approach where I wouldn't actually be releasing any data
that was copyright to anyone else.

Matthew Smith has given explicit permission to freely distribute his
work:
http://www.worldofspectrum.org/permits/individuals.html

General copyright-issues for Spectrum-emulation:
http://www.worldofspectrum.org/permits/

I would not allow my Broadsoft software to be sold for money, not
even if I were offered a 100% share of the profits (though I am
perfectly happy for my software to be freely distributed, or
reused in other free software, provided that I am credited in the
accompanying documentation as appropriate). The Spectrum-
emulation scene thrives on a free-software culture.

Free as in beer, or as in freedom?

Well, I'm a strict teetotaller, so it must be the latter! ;-)

If one of my games were included on a cover-disk of a magazine
sold for money, I would be absolutely livid.

Interesting. I released JSWED2 under the GPL, so there's nothing to
stop people putting that on magazine coverdiscs. Indeed, I believe
it has been.

Which magazine?

That probably means that I can't use any code from your JSW
utilities in JSWED2.

If it's just a few code-fragments here and there (e.g. the way
SPECSAISIE MMtoJSW tweaks vertical-guardian boundaries), don't worry
about it.

It seems that ever since the original JSWED2, 48k games upgraded to
128k did not have the 'diagonal guardian' patches applied (an
example of a game in this condition is Party Willy 128).

It's a good job I don't use diagonal guardians in my games then! ;-)
I've never felt a need for DGs, although I suppose they do open a
new dimension of ramp-challenges.

Of course, had I wanted to have DGs in Party Willy, I would have had
to patch the 48K JSW engine to enable them, so that all the rooms
would be identical in both the 48K JSW and the JSW128 version.

I don't plan to use DGs until I write a pure JSW128 game such as
Narnia or Star Wars (not expected before 2010).

--
Dr. Andrew Broad
http://www.geocities.com/andrewbroad/
http://www.geocities.com/andrewbroad/spectrum/
http://www.geocities.com/andrewbroad/spectrum/willy/
http://www.geocities.com/andrewbroad/spectrum/download/

 

 

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