Hard Light Productions Forums
Site Management => Site Support / Feedback => Topic started by: Galemp on June 19, 2007, 05:12:24 pm
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I have a friend who would like to package FS2:SCP for Debian and Ubuntu. We know about the EULA clause about 'friends and acquaintances' but now that Turey's installer allows the download of all the data files, it's obviously reached far greater distribution. BitTorrent, HotU and other methods of redistribution are all in that legal no-mans-land.
So, specifically, what are the terms the FS2 source was released under? Is it GPL, or just Fair Use? Is there a clause or license in legalese that clarifies exactly how and under what terms it is to be used?
And what about the data files? We know that Interplay owns the franchise rights and the IP, but on what legal basis are we permitted to redistribute the core VPs? Just because it's defunct and freely available doesn't mean it's legal, after all.
There are a lot of people who take these things very seriously; anyone who's tried to upload an image onto Wikipedia recently knows this. To actually become part of the Free Software / Open Source community we need a CREATIVE COMMONS LICENSE (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/) for Freespace 2. Right now Noncommercial Share-alike (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/) looks like the best fit, but the administrators and caretakers of the community need to get in touch with Volition, if possible, and negotiate on this.
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This probably belongs in General Freespace or the SCP board.
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Perhaps, but I'd really prefer to keep the attention of the veterans and admins and not have it buried or flooded with unhelpful comments. Ideally it would migrate to an admins-only arbitration forum, but I can't see any of those.
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Yay Galemp is back :)
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As for the Source license, PM Taylor or Inquisitor.
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I have a friend who would like to package FS2:SCP for Debian and Ubuntu. We know about the EULA clause about 'friends and acquaintances' but now that Turey's installer allows the download of all the data files, it's obviously reached far greater distribution. BitTorrent, HotU and other methods of redistribution are all in that legal no-mans-land.
Actually they're all illegal. But no one seems interested in prosecuting anyone for it as long as they aren't making money.
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Interested, or capable?
Obviously Interplay is in no position to prosecute. But if they were--and if the next owner of the FS license is--would we have any legs to stand on?
If not then the hosts of the ISOs and data files are doing so illegally, which we shouldn't be supporting. I recommend we keep distribution on a word-of-mouth basis and not publicize, then.
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But if they were
I think that is way too big of an "if" to be worth worrying about at this stage.
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Sorry, CP, but it's a big issue for the free software community. And if we want this game packaged and mass-marketed like Turey seems to be, we need these issues straightened out, one way or the other.
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It has already been mass-marketed for well over a year and things have worked well. If we ever do run into problems in the future, we can remove the downloads at that point. Until then, I see no reason to worry about it. Of course, I'm referring to our existing downloads/installers and not the Linux distribution you're talking about.
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I think we can continue until the Cease and Desist letters start arriving. Until then any owner or potential owner should thank this community for keeping this great game alive and in the public eye. Not only that but the TC's are certainly safe!
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How about we just put a statement on the front page of the site, that states very clearly that anyone who downloads from our community is a friend of our community?
EULA friends clause = Problem solved.
IANAL, though.
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So, no CC license then?
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The code isn't open source, and isn't GPL compatible (it would matter more for a distro than for us). It's not "open source" since you can't profit from it in any way. That means you couldn't include the source in a distro which is sold, for instance.
They basically just released the source code for educational/recreational purposes only. All of the code belongs to Volition, everything based on the code belongs to Volition, and profiting from the code in any way is a violation of the license that the code was released under.
As far as the data goes, Volition still has the copyrights on it, just not the distribution rights (as far as I know). So, technically, both Interplay and Volition are fully capable of suing you if you distribute the game data. I have a feeling that if Volition had the rights to do so, they would release the data for download, but they haven't. That may be the reason that they haven't sent out any C&D letters yet, but that could change at any time. Just FYI.
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Ah, great. That's what I needed to know. Thanks, Taylor!
We now return you to your regularly scheduled programming...