[H-GEN] Linux games are still proprietory

[Byron Ellacott]

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On Fri, 2003-04-04 at 12:26, ben.carlyle at invensys.com wrote:
> I would suggest that generally when a venture requires significant time or 
> energy input it should be the right of whomever invested the time to 
> control access to and operation of the product. Copyright law and 

Should it?  Or should it be the right of whomever invested the time to
be able to have access to and operation of their product?  If it's the
latter, then in the case of intellectual property there's no reason not
to allow others to have that access to and operation of the product
also.  This is a digression, however.

> Perhaps there are circumstances, though. If you need to share some 
> software so that your family can eat tonight no court in the world would 
> convict you, right? On the other hand if you want to share it because you 
> think the content provider doesn't deserve the right to control it's 
> creations then perhaps you don't deserve control over what you create, 
> either. If you want to share it because you think you can make a quick 
> buck out of someone else's product then perhaps you're just a theif. If 
> you think that you can just take a commercial product and make it "free" 
> of your own will and accord, then I suggest that a commercial vendor has 
> just as much right to confiscate all existing copies of your free software 
> and steal them to make them commerical.

First, noone violating intellectual property law is *EVER* a thief.

  Theft \Theft\, n. [OE. thefte, AS. [thorn]i['e]f[eth]e,
     [thorn][=y]f[eth]e, [thorn]e['o]f[eth]e. See {Thief}.]
     1. (Law) The act of stealing; specifically, the felonious
        taking and removing of personal property, with an intent
        to deprive the rightful owner of the same; larceny.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     Note: To constitute theft there must be a taking without the
           owner's consent, and it must be unlawful or felonious;
           every part of the property stolen must be removed,
           however slightly, from its former position; and it must
           be, at least momentarily, in the complete possession of
           the thief. See {Larceny}, and the Note under {Robbery}.
           [1913 Webster]

Note very carefully that phrase "with an intent to deprive the rightful
owner of the same."  If you make a /copy/ of something, you do not
deprive the rightful owner.  You have broken copyright law, not property
law.

Please, please, do not keep repeating that copyright violations are
theft, too many people believe this is the case already.

With respect to games, it may be that the free artist community is not
yet large enough, or that there is insufficient code base to produce a
quality game.

-- 
Byron Ellacott <bje at apnic.net>
APNIC

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