16 replies to this topic

[Tom Henrik]

Yesterday Kosta got an angry mail from the ESA (the Entertainment Software Association), where they stated that we had to remove Maniac Mansion Deluxe for reasons of copyright infringement.

We believe that the people over at ESA simply mistook the game for Maniac Mansion by LucasArts, but we have decided to play it safe. Kosta has mailed them back for clarification, but for now we have taken the game off the site.

[Juni Ori]

I believe Deluxe was remake? I believe the whole thing is human error, but it's best to play safe.

[A. J. Raffles]

Well, but then again, they probably never got an official permission from LucasArts to do a remake. Maybe that's what they mean by copyright infringement...

[Juni Ori]

Umm... Could that be? It still isn't commercial.

[A. J. Raffles]

I don't think it matters whether it's commercial or not. You'd still need the copyright owner's permission.

[Tulac]

A. J. Raffles, on Apr 23 2006, 12:50 PM, said:

Well, but then again, they probably never got an official permission from LucasArts to do a remake. Maybe that's what they mean by copyright infringement...

I don't think you can get prosecuted for copyright infrigenemnt if freeware (remake) is in question, but only if money is involved...
Isn't like the whole Linux community based on that?

[A. J. Raffles]

Is that really the same thing, though? I mean, Linux isn't a Windows remake, is it? But supposing Linux looked exactly the same as Windows 3.1, worked exactly the same way as Windows 3.1 and called itself Windows 3.1 Deluxe, you can bet that Microsoft would sue...

[Tulac]

I was more thinking about using elements of others software and then freely distributing it...

[A. J. Raffles]

Well, but as far as I know that isn't the case with Maniac Mansion Deluxe. It's an exact copy (except for one or two details). And you do need permission for that.

[Tulac]

I don't believe it's a copyright infrigenemnt if they've redrawn the characters themselves (not sure though) then it would be trademark infrigenement, and  I think you can use it if you didn't make any profit on it...

(it's sort of like using famous characters in your own free game)

[A. J. Raffles]

Perhaps you're right. Well, it's not for us to decide anyway.

[BeefontheBone]

In that case isn't the official site for the remake the people they need to be moaning at? We weren't even hosting it were we?

[Tom Henrik]

Yes, we were. The creators closed down their site. The reason for why they did that, is still unanswered.

[Moogle]

Ah well, taking that into account it's probly a good idea, I think ESA probly screwed up because normally Lucasarts is really friendly towards fan based "games / remakes" but its a good idea just in case.

[DeathDude]

Bummerness, yeah a misunderstanding hopefully by the ESA. Good thing Lucasarts is somewhat friendly towards fan creations, although in a way wasn't that why the originial remake site was shut down in the first place?