Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!van-bc! From: lphillips@lpami.wimsey.bc.ca (Larry Phillips) Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga Subject: Re: Tetris variants Message-ID: <1727@lpami.wimsey.bc.ca> Date: 11 Jun 90 23:03:00 GMT Lines: 62 Return-Path: To: van-bc!rnews In <4091@milton.acs.washington.edu>, gwangung@milton.acs.washington.edu (Roger Tang) writes: >In article <21774@snow-white.udel.EDU> EVERHART@arisia.dnet.ge.com writes: > >> The various games that have come out, some on the Fish disks, follow >>this idea. They are however not duplicating Spectrum Holobyte's code >>but are original works belonging to their authors and released to the >>rest of us. SH is attempting to deprive these authors and their beneficiaries >>(the rest of us) the benefits of their code. > > Let's make this clear. SH is working on behalf of the original >author. Hold that thought. >> One hopes that SH got some code from ELORG, since if all they got was >>the game idea, they paid for something that cannot be protected, save by >>extra-legal bullying. Taking on Fred Fish, whose lack of deep pockets is >>fairly well known, and who doesn't want to be involved in such controversies, >>was a cheap hit. It does not show the SH case holds any water at all. > > Sorry, but SH >>MUST<< take on any and all distributors of >potential violators of their rights. Or else they lose them. ^^^^^ Contradiction? Whose rights are they protecting? > It was hardly a cheap hit; ... You call it what you want. I am inclined to agree with those who feel it was a cheap hit. Do you seriously believe that if Apple had put out a possibly infringing game, that SH would have chosen to go after them first? When you want to set a precedent, it pays to try to set it against someone you are pretty sure won't come back with a battery of lawyers to stomp you into the dirt. >>3. Nastygrams to SH on the issue would not be inappropriate either. > > Please be sure and send a copy to the author, as well. Why? If, as you stated at one point, SH is protecting their own rights, then the author is not really involved. If, on the other hand, they are protecting the author's rights, it's up to them to decide whether to keep the author informed. Nastygrams to the author would be in order if the author was doing the nasties. I was not on one side or the other in this, right up until I saw the letter from SH to Fred. In it, they stated that there were various key points which they felt were grounds for pursuing the PD versions. One, in particular struck me as odd, that being the number of different pieces. Since at least one of the versions attacked has more pieces, and since at least one has pieces that act differently, I feel that SH has overreacted by at least one step, knowing full well that it would not be contested _at all_ by Fred. That leaves me with a lot more respect for Fred than I have for SH. -larry -- The raytracer of justice recurses slowly, but it renders exceedingly fine. +-----------------------------------------------------------------------+ | // Larry Phillips | | \X/ lphillips@lpami.wimsey.bc.ca -or- uunet!van-bc!lpami!lphillips | | COMPUSERVE: 76703,4322 -or- 76703.4322@compuserve.com | +-----------------------------------------------------------------------+