[Coco] HWGA (was) Coco games copyright

[Joel Ewy]

James Hrubik wrote:

> Why am I waiting with bated breath, holding my finger over the DELETE

> key...

>

> Maybe each newbie should get an email from Dennis with something to

> the effect that discussions of religion, politics, and copyrights

> should be avoided because they are equally likely to start flame wars.

>

> (Sorry, Joel.  I know you just wanted to help the guy, but I can't

> help thinking you were just trolled.)

>

Maybe so.  But I've now said all I have to say on the matter, and I
won't respond to insults or taunts.  Nothing anybody can say to me on
this list can be worse than things I've been told in person.

JCE

> On Feb 11, 2009, at Wednesday, February 11, 2009 - 1:51 PM, Joel Ewy

> wrote:

>

>> Ben Jimenez wrote:

>>> Hello,

>>>

>>> I was thinking of converting some Coco games over to a new platform,

>>> but was wondering what the copyright was on them now?

>>>

>>> -- 

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>>> http://five.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/coco

>>>

>>>

>> Copyright is forever.  Well, not quite forever.  It's the life of the

>> author plus 70 years plus the amount of time since Walt Disney died, or

>> something like that.

>>

>> Seriously, it isn't like patents, which expire in 17 years.

>>

>> There are a number of authors of CoCo games who have given permission

>> for their programs to be distributed for free, often with certain

>> restrictions, such as "you may not charge for a copy", etc.  This does

>> not mean that they have renounced their copyright and put the programs

>> in the public domain, only that they are using their copyright to

>> specify the terms under which their works can be copied.

>>

>> L. Curtis Boyle has received permission to make some of these games

>> available for download from his web site, and has documented the

>> permissions he has.  Since these authors have given some enhanced

>> permissions for their works, they might be amenable to discussing a

>> port.  You'd just have to get in touch with them and see.

>>

>> Of course, if you're just talking about writing your own clone of their

>> original game, you don't need to get any permission or worry about

>> copyright, unless you directly copy stuff from the game, or use

>> trademarked names and so on.

>>

>> Now since these things are pretty old, and many of the old authors

>> aren't involved with the CoCo anymore, you might get away with just

>> appropriating it, but of course you'd be doing so at the risk that they

>> would take notice and threaten a lawsuit.  How likely that would be

>> would probably depend on how you use it.  If you are trying to sell

>> copies of a game that blatantly steals their copyrighted materials, they

>> would probably be more likely to take offense, or take action.  If you

>> do it for fun and give it away for free, and position it as a fan paying

>> tribute to a great game of the past, they may not care, and might even

>> feel honored that their old work has been remembered.  On the other

>> hand, they might still be perfectly within their rights to sue you.  Do

>> so at your own risk.

>>

>> One other factor is that for most of these programs there's no economic

>> benefit to be gained from suing you.  It's not as if you're depriving

>> them of any significant potential income from these 20+ years old

>> programs.  But for some people it may be a matter of principle.

>>

>> Now, there may be some CoCo games out there that are really Open Source,

>> or something approximating that.  Those you should be able to port more

>> freely.  But for those that aren't you are either going to have to

>> disassemble them or contact the original author and see if the source

>> code is still around.

>>

>> JCE

>>

>>

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>

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