Re: Scott Adams & Legalities


8 Nov 1995 01:46:28 GMT

In article <47nl3c$ca9@otis.netspace.net.au> entropy@I_should_put_my_domain_in_etc_NNTP_INEWS_DOMAIN (Dark Fiber) writes:
>scott's company has been out of business for eons
>so i was wondering about the legalities
>and so on of make his old games available?
>can i be sued?

The short answer is that, yes, it is illegal, and you can be sued.

To be "legal" you would have to do a difficult search to find out who
currently holds the copyright. Once you found them, you would have to
ask their permission to distribute it.

That said, it is very unlikely that anyone would sue or arrest you
for distributing software that is only worth a couple bucks retail, if
that much. Especially since the owners of the copyright would have to
find out and then care enough to do something about it.

As far as the ethics goes, there are generally 3 opinions regarding
distributing "obsolete" software:

1) Until the copyright expires and the software goes into public
domain (between 50-150 years from now), copying the software is
THEFT, just the same as if you broke into the author's house and
carried off his stereo.

2) It's technically illegal, but basically no problem since it is
"out of print" and therefore the copyright owner isn't losing any
money by you copying it, and even if he were, it is worth so
little and there are so few people interested in it that at most
you might cost him a few bucks.

3) All software should be free. Who cares what the laws say?!?

So, take all that into account when deciding what to do...

That said, if you decide to give out copies, I would really like a copy
of the Scott Adams games you have, along with a description of what is
in the paper documentation that comes with it (basically, is there any
info in the docs that would make the games more enjoyable, like a story,
or hints, or necessary instructions/maps).

Greg

-- 
Videogames, Unicycling, and Anarchism: http://www.cs.utah.edu/~galt/