Re: Hexpack

[Ben Finney <ben+yahoogroups@...>]

steve@... writes:

> There are two different items here. 
> 
> The first is the piecepack system itself, which is public domain.
> Anyone can go out and make a set for piecpeack (with their own
> graphics).[…] any manufacturer can make a piecepack set, if they
> choose.

Understood.

> The second item are the graphics themselves. […] Many folks maintain
> a copyright on their piecepack graphics but put them out there on
> the web with "permission allowed to copy for personal use only".

Which unfortunately means that, for example, I can't take those
graphics, derive a new work (e.g. a set of graphics suitable for
Hexpack), redistribute them to Blue Panther, and expect you to be able
to sell me a set of Hexpack equipment with those graphics.

In that case, we're both stuck not being able to derive from those
graphics for this purpose unless we can contact the copyright holder
for a special license to do this, which in general is far from a sure
thing (even *contacting* someone whose work was published several
years ago is often prohibitively difficult).

The copyright holder in this instance (Jonathan C. Dietrich) is
contactable now, which is good news; however, there's no guarantee
that will continue to be the case years into the future, when someone
else might have another great idea to expand or modify Piecepack and
wants to derive from those graphics again.

> In the case of the JCD graphics set, we have a specific license
> agreement for the graphics that allows us to manufacture sets for
> sale using these graphics.

I see, so that's not a license to the general public to do this, nor
to derive a work from those graphics and offer the result for sale.

> This is stated on our website and printed on the covers of the sets
> we sell. This specific license is what allows us to put them on the
> sets we engrave and sell.

On the sets you sell you mention that you do so under permission, but
that could mean anything in terms of what the license terms are. In
particular, it doesn't rule out the possibility that your permission
was one that the copyright holder had granted to the general public,
which was my hope.

> We also have created one or two other piecepack sets - such as a
> Zodiac set. We licensed those graphics from a different source,
> under different terms. For graphics we created, we own the copyright
> to them and can modify as we require.

Thanks.

So it appears in this case that the JCD Piecepack graphics can't be
the basis for a new work which is then redistributed commercially
(e.g. selling a Hexpack with graphics derived from the JCD graphics)
unless all parties involved are acting under specific license from
JCD. There is no license from JCD to the general public to do this.

Not the answer I'd hoped for, but thanks for responding promptly to
clear this up.

-- 
 \         “It has yet to be proven that intelligence has any survival |
  `\                                   value.” —Arthur C. Clarke, 2000 |
_o__)                                                                  |
Ben Finney