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Emil wrote:
If Medievia is breaking the DIKU license, then it is operating without a valid license. That is its crime, if it is guilty of it.
Similarly, anyone using anyone else's IP without a license is committing precisely the same crime. It's not breaking the license that is a crime. It's operating without one.
It's not up to the original DBZ team. It's up to whoever owns the DBZ IP.
I'm not sure if there is a single document within which to find a "Star Wars" license, but here's a quote from the Terms of Service on starwars.com:
All trademarks, service marks, and trade names are proprietary to Lucasfilm Ltd. or its affiliates and/or third-party licensors. STAR WARS, STARWARS.COM; STAR WARS: EPISODE ITHE PHANTOM MENACE; STAR WARS: EPISODE II ATTACK OF THE CLONES; STAR WARS: EPISODE III REVENGE OF THE SITH; STAR WARS: EPISODE IV A NEW HOPE; STAR WARS: EPISODE V THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK; STAR WARS: EPISODE VI RETURN OF THE JEDI; and all logos, characters, artwork, stories, information, names, and other elements associated thereto are the sole and exclusive property of Lucas. Any use of any of the materials on this Site other than for private, non-commercial viewing purposes is strictly prohibited. The sale, auction, lease, loan, gift, trade or barter, or use of any of the text, graphics, photographs, audio and/or video material or stills from audiovisual material or any other materials contained herein, for any other purpose, in any form, media or technology now known or hereafter developed, including the use of any of the aforementioned materials on any other Web site or networked computer environment, without a prior written consent from Lucas, is expressly prohibited.
That's awfully clear, isn't it? "Any use of the materials on this Site other than for private, non-commercial viewing purposes is strictly prohibited." If your MUD is open to the public, you're violating their IP rights just as much as if you broadcast Star Wars on the side of an outdoor building and invite half the town to come watch for free.
I think you're missing the point here. This has nothing to do with crediting authors. It's to do with using IP without permission.
Actually, nobody else can use it because we purchased an exclusive license. Without the exclusivity, he'd be free to license it to others as well. Whether he had offered us that license or not wouldn't prejudice his ability, at all, to prosecute those who use his IP without a license.
Pardon? I'm not defending anything. I'm pointing out that I think it's highly unethical to use other people's IP without obtaining explicit permission. I'm not going to apologize for holding what I view as a completely reasonable stance that also happens to be in general concordance with IP law in virtually all of the industrialized world.
--matt
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