Re: [piecepack] ANNOUNCING THE 7th PIECEPACK GAME DESIGN COMPETITION: Good Portsmanship

["Ron Hale-Evans" <rwhe@...>]

On 9/4/06, Michael Van Biesbrouck <mlvanbie@...> wrote:
> I have a couple questions.  As they apply to a non-competing entry,
> anonymity isn't an issue.
>
> On 9/3/06, Ron Hale-Evans <rwhe@...> wrote:
> > 3. If you port a copyrighted game, you _must_ completely rewrite the
> >    rules in your own words. The original text of the rules is covered
> >    by the copyright, so it is illegal to copy it and simply change a
> >    few words to apply to the piecepack (besides, that wouldn't be a
> >    very good port).
>
> Is there a ruling on tables of numbers?  Simple mathematical functions
> should be safe (such as a table of logarithms), but what about tables
> of point values, as can be found in the more complex trick-taking
> games?

Hi, Michael. The rule cited is for the legal protection of the
authors, the piecepack community, and me. Basically, if it's legal,
it's OK as far as I'm concerned.

U.S. copyright law is fuzzy on these issues. One restriction on
whether copying something like a table is considered "fair use" is how
much data you're copying. Straightfoward copying of a simple 2x2
matrix is probably no problem; copying a unique table that runs for
tens of pages probably is. In between, it's anybody's guess, and
depends on a number of factors. Wikipedia has an extensive page on the
fair use doctrine in U.S. law that may help:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fair_use

I think I answered your question about the Vassal module. :-)

Good luck,

Ron

--
   Ron Hale-Evans ... rwhe@... ... http://ron.ludism.org/
Mind Performance Hacks book: http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/mindperfhks/
	   Center for Ludic Synergy: http://www.ludism.org/
(revilous life proving aye the death of ronaldses when winpower wine has
		   bucked the kick on poor won man)