5 ms·
How do these types of projects get around the fact that the new source code is clearly a derived work of the old game? I’m not saying they copied code, but they
by jl6 9y ago
How do these types of projects get around the fact that the new source code is clearly a derived work of the old game? I’m not saying they copied code, but they must be copying the design or the game would be a different game.
- klez 9y agoI'm not sure the design of the game is covered by copyright, otherwise you couldn't have clones of neither games nor applications. Also, code that replicates the functionality of other code is not the definition of derivative work.
- ChrisSD 9y agoIt can get dicey if you end up copying actual machine code, even if you translate it in to something higher level. One way round this is clean room design: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clean_room_design https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clean_room_design
- dr_zoidberg 9y agoMany EULAs state that there will be no attempt by the user to reverse engineering the workings of the program. How would that fit with clean room implementations?
- ClassyJacket 9y agoEULAs are just EULAs, not laws.
- pizza234 9y agoAlthough this clone is clearly not the case, and I'm not aware any (high profile) cases, it is actually possible to patent the design of a game. There is a very interesting read about a video game patent: http://www.kmjn.org/notes/tapper_videogame_patent.html http://www.kmjn.org/notes/tapper_videogame_patent.html titled (drum roll) "Video game in which a host image repels ravenous images by serving filled vessels".
- matt4077 9y agoThat's patent, not copyright. Any patent on SimCity would have run out by now, as they last only 20 years.