On Wednesday 10 September 2003 07:52 am, Terry Hancock wrote: > On Wednesday 10 September 2003 01:01 am, John Lightsey wrote: > > The problem with this package (commercial music, sounds, graphics and > > levels used without any license) isn't something I'd picture anyone on > > Debian-Legal defending. It shouldn't have made its into Debian in the > > first place. > > Are you sure that's what's been done (e.g. did you figure this out from > a readme in the upstream sources), or are you just guessing based on > similar "look and feel"? Some elements such as sprites, may not actually > be copyrightable (for example, bitmap fonts aren't), and "similar" as > in "having the same tune" is not generally a violation for music. Similar > things might apply for game levels that are organized the same way, > but on a completely different game engine. Remember, *copyrights > aren't patents*, and the difference between "an idea" and "an > expression of an idea" is both significant and subject to legal > interpretation.
I asked the upstream author about the status of the music loops he was using since the titles and artists are listed in the game's info screens. A google of this information shows that these are taken from commercial songs, so I asked if he had permission to use them. He informed me that the music was used without permission and other items might also be a problem since they were taken directly from commercial games. The default tile set, for instance, doesn't just look like a commercial one. It is a commercial tile set that has been resized. As I said, I don't believe anyone would dispute that this content can't be a part of Debian, and there is enough good content to make removal possible. John
