Re: ITP some 13 years old code with unknown license
[No need to CC me; I'm subscribed.] Harald Dunkel wrote: > Next question: Blockade contains a lot of game levels generated > by a lot of people. I have to assume that the included list > of contributors is complete. That's generally a reasonable assumption, unless there is evidence to the contrary. > But is it save to assume that > their contributed work is in public domain, too? That isn't a safe assumption in general. Was this game in the public domain back when it was released, or did der Mouse decide to put it in the public domain recently (after the long period of distribution)? If the former, then in the absence of licenses or explicit copyright notices on the levels, it seems likely that the contributors provided them with the understanding that they would be included in the public domain work. I don't know if this would give us sufficient certainty that this was true. On the other hand, if der Mouse put the game in the public domain after the contributions were made, and he doesn't have the necessary rights to the levels to do so on their authors' behalf, then they must be assumed to be copyrighted and under an unknown license. You could also try asking der Mouse if the levels are public domain as well. > The game > is on the net since 1991 (even though it is pretty unknown), > and by now there were no objections, AFAIK. This is not to prove that the game levels are public domain or otherwise Free, although it does make it far more likely. - Josh Triplett signature.asc Description: OpenPGP digital signature
Re: ITP some 13 years old code with unknown license
-BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE- Hash: SHA1 Josh Triplett wrote: | Harald Dunkel wrote: | |>This did work. Mouse told me that Blockade is "public domain", |>which I would translate to BSD license. AFAIK this license |>allows me to do whatever I like with the sources. | | | "Public domain" has a specific legal meaning, and it isn't "under the | BSD license". "Public domain" means "not copyrighted". This is | actually even more permissive than the BSD license or any other | copyright-based license, since the BSD license (and most others) | requires you to include the copyright and license notice in source or | binary distribution, and copyright law alone (even without a license) | requires you to preserve copyright notices. | Mouse said so, too. OK for me. Next question: Blockade contains a lot of game levels generated by a lot of people. I have to assume that the included list of contributors is complete. But is it save to assume that their contributed work is in public domain, too? The game is on the net since 1991 (even though it is pretty unknown), and by now there were no objections, AFAIK. BTW, the source package has been uploaded to mentors.debian.net. Regards Harri -BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE- Version: GnuPG v1.2.5 (GNU/Linux) Comment: Using GnuPG with Debian - http://enigmail.mozdev.org iD8DBQFBf/3sUTlbRTxpHjcRAgaAAJ9J6+kZwfd4peb6NYf4GF4Irxh6VwCdFlX3 UzCHUdxTNfZHoyXWZK16L+c= =c/S+ -END PGP SIGNATURE-
Re: ITP some 13 years old code with unknown license
Harald Dunkel wrote: > This did work. Mouse told me that Blockade is "public domain", > which I would translate to BSD license. AFAIK this license > allows me to do whatever I like with the sources. "Public domain" has a specific legal meaning, and it isn't "under the BSD license". "Public domain" means "not copyrighted". This is actually even more permissive than the BSD license or any other copyright-based license, since the BSD license (and most others) requires you to include the copyright and license notice in source or binary distribution, and copyright law alone (even without a license) requires you to preserve copyright notices. > Question: Am I allowed to copy-n-paste some BSD license header > into his sources and distribute it as a Debian source package? Legally you could, since public domain works can be relicensed however you wish; however, don't do that. Instead, note clearly that the sources are in the public domain, and include the email from der Mouse authorizing this in the debian/copyright file. - Josh Triplett signature.asc Description: OpenPGP digital signature
Re: Re: ITP some 13 years old code with unknown license
-BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE- Hash: SHA1 This did work. Mouse told me that Blockade is "public domain", which I would translate to BSD license. AFAIK this license allows me to do whatever I like with the sources. Question: Am I allowed to copy-n-paste some BSD license header into his sources and distribute it as a Debian source package? Regards Harri -BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE- Version: GnuPG v1.2.5 (GNU/Linux) Comment: Using GnuPG with Debian - http://enigmail.mozdev.org iD8DBQFBf1cQUTlbRTxpHjcRAshVAJ9F2KtpIx8kBPUyZp5jEJ/Cu6GyXwCeLOvW epfL8jScDZxrql2eYRicW7o= =xmRq -END PGP SIGNATURE-
Re: ITP some 13 years old code with unknown license
[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: >Atari game, and he said its OK. Of course I tried to contact >der Mouse, but without luck. And since "Mouse" is widely used >in computing, Google didn't return something usefull. You need to know what to look for... der Mouse is well known in some circles. :-) mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] -- ciao, Marco
Re: ITP some 13 years old code with unknown license
"Harald Dunkel" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
> My problem is: There is no explicite license, except for
> some included fonts. The author ("der Mouse") just mumbles
> something about having contacted the author of the original
> Atari game, and he said its OK. Of course I tried to contact
> der Mouse, but without luck. And since "Mouse" is widely used
> in computing, Google didn't return something usefull.
A search on '"der mouse" blockade' with Google set to
English-only results turned up this webpage:
http://public.planetmirror.com/pub/hpfreeware/Games/Arcade/blockade-1.00/blockade-1.00.README.html
which listed these email addresses for the author:
old: mcgill-vision!mouse
new: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Some Google searches based on these email addresses might be useful.
--
Ben Pfaff
email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
web: http://benpfaff.org
