Re: Statement from GoGoD

tb+usenet@xxxxxxxxxx (Thomas Bushnell, BSG) writes:

> T Mark Hall <tmark@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> writes:
>
>> For the first time ever, however, we do now feel constrained to
>> declare publicly that we abhor his actions, which even he agrees are
>> unethical, in using the work and resources of other database
>> producers without their consent.
>
> Can you substantiate this statement?
>
> Specifically, I am concerned with your claim that it is unethical to
> use the database without permission. Since copyright law does not
> protect hard work, but only protects actual originality, perhaps you
> could describe in what sense you are the authors of the games which
> you think nobody else should be allowed to distribute.

Oh, I'm not saying that if he happened to get the same games that
GoGoD from other sources (with permission), that he shouldn't
distribute them. GoGoD doesn't have exclusive right to distribute the
games in their collection, especially since the individual records
themselvers aren't copyrightable. I'm not sure how collection
copyright, beast though it is, applies here, especially give EU laws
(e.g. http://www.europa.eu.int/scadplus/leg/en/lvb/l26028.htm).

Regardless of the *legal* issues, If someone simply takes an entire
commercial database (or the parts of it that aren't publically
available elsewhere), and distributes it for profit against the
explicit desires of the authors, it's at *least* impolite and rude. I
personally find it against my personal ethics - I wouldn't do it
because I consider it unethical to exploit the hard work of the GoGoD
authors (that they have done more or less as a non-profit service to
the go community) for commercial gain without their permission.

Of course, that's my ethics and my judgemen, and it may not be the
common community opinion, but c'est la vie.

*Shrug*

-Patrick
.

Relevant Pages

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