Re: New Apple II SuperSite Online

["Tom Zuchowski" <tzuchow@attglobal.net>]

"Greg Buchner" <nobody@wavetech.net> wrote in message
nobody-FDF744.09414022102000@news.wavetech.net">news:nobody-FDF744.09414022102000@news.wavetech.net...
> In article <39f2e5df_4@news3.prserv.net>, "Tom Zuchowski"
> <tzuchow@attglobal.net> wrote:
>
> > That seems like a totally ridiculous statement to me. I think I could do
> > that very easily. Or maybe I am just dense. Would you please enlighten
me
> > as
> > to some of the possible ways an author could be damaged from the sharing
> > of his 20-year-old DOS 3.2 game title?
>
> Maybe he's coming out with a new modern game based on the same story.
> Maybe some fan of the game is also coming out with the same type of
> game and beats the original author to the punch.  Original author sues
> saying he owns the copyright.  The fan responds that the game has been
> out available on the net for years so it must have been free.  Both
> authors spend way too much money on lawyers, both authors decide that
> the game isn't worth it, both authors abandon any continuation of the
> program, everybody looses...except the lawyers.

Greg, I think that your example of possible offense is a bit far-fetched,
but I'll grant it for the sake of argument.

That leaves my original question: how many instances of this has ever
occurred? I really, really want the names of the titles and authors that fit
this scenario so that I can respect their wishes. But I am aware of none.

I don't care to argue philosophy here. I am interested in actual damages and
actual author's wishes, not hypothetical what-if's. I do not wish to argue
how many angels can dance on the head of a pin unless I can get the names of
said angels!

And having said that, I wonder if you have ever actually played any Apple II
games from the DOS 3.2/3.3 era. They are so dramatically cruder than
anything that has been done in the past ten years that I can't imagine
anyone thinking that a modern game with the same title is in any way linked
to the old title. Apart from the title itself, of course.


> PPS.  Not defending a copyright is grounds for having the copyright
> abandoned I do believe.  How could the original author defend the
> copyright if he doesn't know what people are doing with his software?

If that were true, then every piece of software in the world is now public
domain, because somewhere in the world it HAS been copied without permission
of the author. No court is going to punish an author for ignoring activities
that he is unaware of. The court will be interested in what the author does
when he learns of the violation. In the case we are discussing here, all he
will have to do is ask us to drop his title. The honorable among us will do
so, and the true pirates among us will ignore him, as pirates have done for
20 years.

Tom Zuchowski