Ahplabs.324
net.games.pacman
utzoo!decvax!cca!sri-unix!hplabs!hansen
Mon Apr 19 09:39:43 1982
Re: ATARI policy towards similar games
...copyrighting the screen image doesn't seem fair.  I have worked
for some time in the typesetting industry, where the copyright laws
gave very little protection from copies of typeface designs.  It turns
out that the typeface design itself was not 'copyrightable,' only the
name of the typeface design.  Consequently, other companies would
copy the typeface design and give it a different name.  We couldn't
touch them.  Any attempt by Atari to circumvent that ruling without
asking for revision of the copyright laws should be bound to failure.
As to expecting any revision, many of you may recall that many major
changes to the copyright laws were made a few years ago.  The issue
above was under consideration, but was rejected (the company I
was working for was lobbying for a change at the time).