Date   : Sat, 19 Mar 2005 22:00:59 +0000
From   : jgh@... (Jonathan Graham Harston)
Subject: Re: Beebem question / game copyright question

Jules Richardson <julesrichardsonuk@...> wrote:
>   b) Copyright issues on classic games. Running one of the "greats" on
> the emulator would seem like a good choice - something like Repton,
> Manic Miner, Citadel etc.   Issue there is copyright. Are any of these
> out of copyright, or if not does anyone have contact details for the
 
None of them will be out of copyright. Copyright in the UK lasts
for 75 years from the death of the author. Full Stop. End Of
Story. No Quibbles.
 
This is completely and utterly different from whether the author
has chosen to remove any duplication restrictions from their work.
Do not confuse "is this still copyrighted?" with "am I able to
freely redistribute this?".
 
In all cases, if you own an actual original work, you are
licensed to use that work within any restrictions published with
that work. There is a question as to whether the statement "Repton
for the BBC" is an implicit license condition of "Repton, may only
be used on a hardware BBC computer". I'm of the opinion, based on
my interpretation of current copyright laws, that it doesn't. My
opinion is that if you have an original "Repton" you are licensed
to use exactly one copy of it at any one time, on a system that
allows it to be used.
 
-- 
J.G.Harston - jgh@...                - mdfs.net/User/JGH
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Sheffield Boundary Review at http://mdfs.net/User/JGH/Docs/Politics/ParlReview