While the authors have said they're doing their best to avoid stepping into any illegal areas, we all know full well that any day soon these poor guys will most certainly be getting a nicely worded email from Nintendo's favourite law firm asking them to "Can the project or face the consequences!".
What I don't understand is why people would spend so much time and effort, when they know from the start that what they're working on belongs to someone else. Just...why? Do they not know that Mario is property of Nintendo? He's their most famous mascot and is tied to them like Mickey Mouse is tied to Disney. Do people similarly assume that Mickey can be appropriated to whatever purpose they want?
I suppose one reason might be the experience. Sometimes a project like this can be like spending your time doing a jigsaw puzzle; it gets the brain working and tunes up your logical processes. It rewards you with non-quantifiable internal benefits. Or at least a feeling of accomplishment.
In fact, they have to, otherwise their property can become public domain.
That's not exactly true. Trademarks can be lost if they're not defended, but not patents or copyrights. There doesn't appear to be any trademark issues here.
No they don't. You're mistaking trademarks with copyright. Copyright may or may not be defended at any time. In fact a company can let copyright infringement slide for years and then suddenly decide to enforce its copyright.
However, they won't be able to get damages during the time they let it slide.
Citation needed? I thought part of being a copyright holder is deciding what others can/can't do with your work - and it'd be obvious that those cans/can'ts are subject to change over time.
For many, making information of cultural or scientific significance freely available is a worthy pursuit, and philosophically as much a fundamental concern as property rights.
WARNING TO ALL PERSONNEL:
Firings will continue until morale improves.
Sadly it'll be dead within a few weeks (Score:3, Informative)
While the authors have said they're doing their best to avoid stepping into any illegal areas, we all know full well that any day soon these poor guys will most certainly be getting a nicely worded email from Nintendo's favourite law firm asking them to "Can the project or face the consequences!".
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Re:Sadly it'll be dead within a few weeks (Score:2)
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In fact, they have to, otherwise their property can become public domain.
That's not exactly true. Trademarks can be lost if they're not defended, but not patents or copyrights. There doesn't appear to be any trademark issues here.
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No they don't. You're mistaking trademarks with copyright. Copyright may or may not be defended at any time. In fact a company can let copyright infringement slide for years and then suddenly decide to enforce its copyright.
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However, they won't be able to get damages during the time they let it slide.
Citation needed? I thought part of being a copyright holder is deciding what others can/can't do with your work - and it'd be obvious that those cans/can'ts are subject to change over time.
Re: Sadly it'll be dead within a few weeks (Score:1)