fraggle
Super Moderator
Posts: 6000
Registered: 07-00 |
Sodaholic said:
Well, to be honest, I don't really see how this applies to FreeDoom itself. It's the engines that need to worry about copyright issues, since they're the ones including the strings, not us. As long as we aren't the ones including any trademarked strings in the IWAD, I think we would be safe.
Technically you're correct but you're missing the point. Freedoom isn't just an IWAD - in practical terms it's a complete game. At present, anyone who sees Freedoom in play can see references to "BFGs" and "Cyberdemons" in the messages that appear - in direct contradiction to the advice that John Carmack gave us when we originally started the project. The excuse that it's the source port doing it seems like a lame one considering that:
(1) the source code is available for us to develop a modified source port that doesn't display those strings, but we haven't done that or ever even considered going to the effort.
(2) a widely supported practical mechanism is available (DEHACKED) that we could easily use to change those strings, and we haven't used it.
Basically what I'm saying is: don't look at this issue as though you're a programmer, WAD author or a fan who understands the technical details about how Doom works. I think our technical knowledge can make us blind to the big picture here. Look at it from the simplest perspective of someone who just loads the game up and looks at what they see. Does it show trademarked names? Why? If it's possible to avoid showing those names, why haven't we done it?
If id included the strings in the free release of the source code, I don't think they care that much. The fact that the strings are in the free source code could mean that they are open to use with any IWAD. (but I'm not a lawyer, but still, I think they are not considered part of owning the full game)
Absolutely and totally incorrect - see Carmack's email.
Besides, what's the point anyway if some (even if not many) source ports do not include BEX support (or even DEH), and what about ports that add more strings related to the original content (like ZDoom's obituary messages). Should we really bother if we're gonna have to deal with consistency across every port?
Yes. There are definitely technical challenges to implementing a patch that works on all ports; however, we can at least show that we've made the effort. That is in fact the whole point of what I'm trying to argue for - that we at least have the defence that we've made a deliberate effort to avoid Id's trademarks. If there are ports in which the original messages still appear, it's because of bugs, not because we haven't made the effort.
Another thing that's worth pointing out is that Freedoom has no real ability to legally defend itself. If a legal threat were to come against the project (which fortunately hasn't happened yet), that would realistically be the end of the project. Perhaps in a legal court you might be able that Freedoom doesn't technically contain the trademarked names, but that's irrelevant because it would never even reach a court in the first place. The best defence is therefore to eliminate any potential reason why there might be an objection in the first place.
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04-27-11 09:04 
