A short interpretation of this letter by me. > Mr. Schridde, > > Unfortunately, the Software Freedom Law Center cannot offer to represent > you in this matter. However, I will try to assist by answering your > questions in a general sense below. > > > Am Mittwoch, 27. September 2006 23:02 schrieben Sie: > >>> 1. Does the readme.txt give us any indication on what license the data > >>> was released under, ie. does "as is with no guarantees" give us any > >>> permissions (like an implicit "with no restrictions", since they don't > >>> mention any)? > > The language itself may not confer an express license, but the conduct > associated therewith may confer an implied license. Further, if you or > others have put the copyright holder on notice of your use and they do > nothing to object to that use, you may also claim laches and equitable > estoppel against them to prevent them from asserting their claims > against you for the use you identified to them. So a documented notification of the copyright holder (Eidos, s.b.) is needed. (Shall I ask him whether this can happen via email or should better be done via certified mail?)
> >>> 2. Is there a way to legally distribute the game data without further > >>> word from the copyright holders? > > The best course of action is to probably tell your licensees what the > facts are: > > (1) The source code has been licensed under the GPL; > (2) Other aspects of the program have been released for free to the > community under terms that imply the right to modify and redistribute; > (3) Attempts to clarify the licensing of those other portions have been > to no avail because the copyright holder has not responded to express > requests for clarification. > > ... and not draw a legal conclusions. You could include something along > these lines with supporting references in the license file or copyright > notice. That sounds similar to the idea to simply use the readme.txt as a license for the data, doesn't it? Sounds sensible to me, we just need to setup a text for distribution... > >>> 3. How can we best ensure that the possible legal ambiguity of the > >>> license does not threaten or opens up to lawsuits on the project and > >>> anyone who distributes our builds of the game? > > Attempting to contact the copyright holder in a documented fashion is > one excellent step to take. If you've done a good faith analysis of the > situation and attempted to ensure you are complying with the copyright > holder's wishes, that goes a long way towards mitigating your and your > licensees potential exposure for any legal action. Again he says we should contact the copyright holder. > >>> 4. Does it make sense to try to contact Eidos on this matter? > > Yes, you should attempt to contact them, as they may very well now be > the copyright holder since they acquired the original developer. Make > sure to retain copies of all correspondence you send to or received from > them. Eidos is possibly the copyright holder and we shall contact them for that matter. --Dennis
pgph2lqrlpbA1.pgp
Description: PGP signature
_______________________________________________ Warzone-dev mailing list [email protected] https://mail.gna.org/listinfo/warzone-dev
