Hi!

Due to the fact that we currently can't say for sure who owns the copyright on 
Warzone, on it's data or what the license of that data is I have decided to 
write an email to Eidos Germany.

With help from someone I trust to know that this will work I have assembled 
following email. It will be made available on our wiki as soon as I send it 
to developer at eidos.de. I will also make a translation to English 
available, but please remember that the original is in German and is the only 
one which is of legal importance. (And the English translation may contain 
translation mistakes.)


Warzone 2100
Von: Dennis Schridde <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
An: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
   
Sehr verehrte Damen und Herren.

Ich bin Mitglied des Warzone Resurrection Projects, einem Team von 
Hobbyentwicklern die das Spiel "Warzone 2100" seit seiner Veröffentlichung 
unter der GPL Ende des Jahres 2004 weiterentwickeln.

Leider hat die in der damals veröffentlichten warzone2100.rar Archivdatei 
enthaltene readme.txt Datei (siehe Anhang) einige bis heute ungeklärte Fragen 
aufgeworfen:

1. Es ist nicht vollkommen sicher wer das Copyright an dem Spiel hält.

2. Es ist nicht vollkommen sicher wer das Copyright an den in o.g. Archiv 
veröffentlichten sonstigen Daten hält und unter welcher Lizenz diese 
veröffentlicht wurden.


Aus diesem Grund interpretieren wir (das Warzone Resurrection Project) das 
Release folgendermaßen:

1. Das Copyright am Spiel und an den Daten verbleibt bei Eidos.

2. Sowohl jeglicher im Ende 2004 veröffentlichen Archiv enthaltener Quellcode 
als auch alle enthaltenen sonstigen Daten wurden unter der GPL 
veröffentlicht.


Wenn Sie mit unserer Interpretation des Releases nicht übereinstimmen oder uns 
helfen wollen den Status von Copyright und Lizenz klarzustellen dürfen Sie 
mich gern kontaktieren.

Bis dahin werden wir annehmen das unsere Interpretation des Releases korrekt 
ist und werden dementsprechend mit der Entwicklung fortfahren.


Der Text dieser Email sowie eine nicht rechtskräftige, sinngemäße englische 
Übersetzung derselben ist im Internet unter http://wz2100.net/wiki/... 
öffentlich zugänglich.
Mit einer Antwort auf diese Email erklären Sie sich unwiderruflich mit einer 
unveränderten Veröffentlichung des Wortlauts Ihrer Antwort sowie einer 
englischen Übersetzung einverstanden.


Mit freundlichem Gruß,
Dennis Schridde
Für das Warzone Resurrection Project

[ ... Attached readme.txt ... ]



Translation:

Dear sir or madam.

I am member of the Warzone Resurrection Project, a team of hobby-developers 
who continue to develop the game "Warzone 2100" since it's release under the 
GPL in late 2004.

Sadly the file readme.txt in the released warzone2100.rar archive file has 
thrown up some questions:

1. It is not 100% clear who owns the copyright on the game.
2. It is not 100% clear who owns the copyright on the released data and under 
which license this data is.

Therefore we, the Warzone Resurrection Project interprete it as follows:

1. The copyright on the game and on the released data remains at Eidos.
2. The released sourcecode as well as the data were released under the terms 
of the GPL.

If you disagree with our interpretation of the release or want to help us 
clarify on the status of the copyright or license you may contact me.

Till then we will assume that our interpretation is correct.

The text of this mail as well as a non legally binding, corresponding englisch 
translation is publicly available on the internet at http://wz2100...
With an answer to this mail you declare that you are unrevokably accepting 
publication of your answer unchanged in wording as well as an english 
translation.

...

[ Feel free to provide a better translation ]



This form of writing has one benefit:
It is their fault if our interpretation is incorrect and they don't answer. In 
this case we have the legal prove that they didn't clarify it and thus 
accepted our continued development under our assumptions.


I will send this mail after the weekend (late sunday or monday). Till then 
feel free to give corrections, but keep in mind that I won't change the 
general form.


The paragraph about publication of their text is needed IMO (not a lawyer) 
because of the German "Fernmeldegeheimnis" which prevents making public of 
private conversations via phone or mail or ... without the agreement of both 
sides. And even if the Fernmeldegeheimnis is not that strict I rather want to 
be on the safe side by including that paragraph, because I am not a lawyer 
and don't want to get sued by Eidos for publicating their speech, while I 
originally wanted to avoid getting sued by them for breaking their copyright 
and license.
If someone knows if it is legally (German law!) correct to say "when you 
answer you agree with this conditions" (What shall they do if they don't 
agree and don't agree with our interpretation of the license either?) then 
please feel free to tell me a better paragraph.


--Dennis

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