Re: Copyright laws

From: Some Dude (bastian@net2.netacc.net)
Date: 10/17/96


There's a difference betweeen copying a letter you dashed off without
thinking about and a section of code you spent hours and hours working on.


On Wed, 16 Oct 1996, Ebon Mists wrote:

> As far as just putting copyright blah  blah on something goes... Ok. You
> 'copyright' your zone.
> 
> I steal a copy, go into a text editor, change it a little bit, and change
> the copyright to ME. I now use it in my mud.
> 
> Legal actions ensue. You sue be for stealing your area.
> 
> Who's to say you didnt steal mine? It would be your word against mine. Sure,
> you could have your players say that areas been in your mud for 2 years, but
> I could just as easily say I wrote mine 3 years ago, and the mud has been in
> beta without any 'witnesses' IE: players.
> 
> It comes down to a you say vs. I say issue. Unless you had some extremely
> convincing evidence in your favor, the case would not go anywhere. I'm not
> positive on that 4 year copyright thing that someone posted, but even if
> that were true... during that 4 year perios without a legal copyright
> documented somewhere in some government office, it's a matter of my word
> versues yours, in which case, the actual copyright becomes pointless.
> 
> Hades
> 
> This email Copyright 1996 by Ebon Mists Productions. Reproduction or use, in
> part or whole, without express written permission of the author will bring 
> about severe legal action.
> 
> You mean to tell me that by me typing that, if anyone quotes parts of this
> message back to the list without my permission, I have the right to sue, and
> WOULD win? I think any court in the United States would laugh that case
> right out the door.
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