Re: Infocom Sample Transcript Games


Sun, 17 Dec 95 10:54:22 PST

mol@marvin.df.lth.se (Magnus Olsson) writes:

> I don't think Graham asked for permission. "Balances" is a *pastiche*
> of a sample transcript. We must distinguish that from creating a game
> that starts out *exactly* like one of Infocom's sample transcripts,
> which I think is what was discussed.

Yes. Unfortunately, this is a pretty clear-cut case of copyright
infringement.

> > Sometimes I wonder if people really want to be creative? All this
> >talk about copyrights, legal or not, etc. are immaterial if you want
> >to create, especially if you don't plan on selling it commercially.
>
> And, of course, if you don't mind being sued. :-(

Correct. Copyright infringement has nothing to do with your
creativity and -- most of all -- has nothing to do with whether you
made a profit or not. The biggest myths about copyrights seems to be
"If you don't hurt anybody, it's not infringement." Unfortunately,
that's just dead completely wrong.

> Honestly, I don't think Activision will sue anyone for writing games
> in, say, the Enchanter universe.

But they could if they were so inclined; such a game would be a
derivative work, and such an unauthorized work would be subject to
copyright infringement.

> However, if you do what I think the
> original proposal was, that is take one of Infocom's sample
> transcripts and incorporatae it, _verbatim_, in your game, then you
> *are* infringing the copyright, and you *might* get into trouble.

Yes. Copying words verbatim is a more clear-cut case of copyright
infringement, but in both cases there is infringement going on.

> > JUST DO IT! Infocom is dead, gone and buried.
>
> Their legal rights aren't dead, gone or buried, they have just changed
> hands.

Correct. Even if Infocom were completely dead, the copyright would
still exist and someone would own it. Copyrights don't fizzle away
when a company goes out of business.

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