| Author |
Message |
Karl Scherer (Karl)
New member
Username: Karl
Post Number: 339
Registered: 9-2000
| | Posted on Sunday, March 25, 2007 - 6:20 am: | |
One of my Zillons games, RAMSES, has now been rewritten (by Sergey Konienko) for Pocket PCs,
and other games might follow.
The link for downloading RAMSES for Windows Mobile is:
http://s-k-tools.com/index.html?pegsol/m_skpuzzlespack.html |
Greg Schmidt (Gschmidt2)
New member
Username: Gschmidt2
Post Number: 13
Registered: 1-2007
| | Posted on Sunday, March 25, 2007 - 7:32 pm: | |
Cool! But did the name change? Under Zillions, I found "Rhamses" but I did not find "Ramses".
Now if only Zillions would run on a pocket PC, I might just buy one. Does anyone know if this has this been done?
-- Greg |
Karl Scherer (Karl)
New member
Username: Karl
Post Number: 340
Registered: 9-2000
| | Posted on Monday, March 26, 2007 - 3:18 am: | |
Yes, I forgot to mention that the Pocket PC version of Rhamses has been renamed Ramses
by Sergey Konienko |
M Winther (Kalroten)
New member
Username: Kalroten
Post Number: 15
Registered: 1-2007
| | Posted on Friday, April 06, 2007 - 9:16 am: | |
The new mini-computer OGO 02, with a 1.5 GHz processor, can run both Vista and XP. So I suppose Zillions would function on it. Would be great to have in one's pocket. /Mats |
Karl Scherer (Karl)
New member
Username: Karl
Post Number: 341
Registered: 9-2000
| | Posted on Saturday, April 21, 2007 - 6:39 pm: | |
Zillions game ALTERNATE for Windows Mobile!
Sergey Konienko has now published another of my games for pocket computers, namely my game ALTERNATE :
http://s-k-tools.com/index.html?pegsol/m_skpuzzlespack.html |
Karl Scherer (Karl)
New member
Username: Karl
Post Number: 344
Registered: 9-2000
| | Posted on Tuesday, May 22, 2007 - 2:00 am: | |
SQUAREDANCE on SUPER DUPER game server!
You can now play my game SQUAREDANCE (originally written in Zillions) on the Super Duper game server:
http://wiki.superdupergames.org/games/square
Cheers, Karl |
Karl Scherer (Karl)
New member
Username: Karl
Post Number: 345
Registered: 9-2000
| | Posted on Tuesday, May 22, 2007 - 2:09 am: | |
2-player game BARRIER for Mobile PC and PALM
My 2-player game BARRIER (originally written in Zillions) is available as commercial product
(for US$10) for Mocile PC and for PALM under the name "xBarrier".
Please note that this game xBarrier, published by Setup Group, is an unlicensed and unauthorized commercial copy of my Zillions game Barrier. I reserve the right to take legal action against Setup Group. Setup Group acknowledges my authorship on their website but never asked me for permission nor are they paying me any licence fees.
I have stated on several occasions that any of my games can be copied, changed and used for free for non-commercial uses.
Cheers, Karl |
Greg Schmidt (Gschmidt2)
New member
Username: Gschmidt2
Post Number: 17
Registered: 1-2007
| | Posted on Tuesday, May 22, 2007 - 9:12 am: | |
Have you contacted Setup Group, and if so, what was their response?
If the tables were turned and I was violating someone else's intellectual property rights, I would want to be contacted first and given the opportunity to resolve the issue in a friendly manner.
Could this be related to the fact that you have other games that have been turned into Pocket PC games? Those games are free though, correct?
-- Greg |
Keith Carter (Keithc)
New member
Username: Keithc
Post Number: 137
Registered: 8-2000
| | Posted on Tuesday, May 22, 2007 - 11:15 am: | |
Hello Karl,
Nice to know Squaredance is up on Super Duper Games. Great site for live opponents. I will be giving it a try.
The link you included led me to the wiki which has no entry yet. Though maybe it re-directs a new player to the main page http://superdupergames.org |
Karl Scherer (Karl)
New member
Username: Karl
Post Number: 346
Registered: 9-2000
| | Posted on Thursday, May 24, 2007 - 4:48 pm: | |
Hi Greg,
so if you rob a bank, you want to be contacted by the bank first for the matter to be resolved in a friendly manner before the bank tells the public they have been robbed??
This example should make it clear that you are putting the onus on the victim.
I don't think it is my obligation to chase anyone nor to fulfill other people's wants and wishes.
Nevertheless, I might contact them at some stage.
Or I might not. |
Greg Schmidt (Gschmidt2)
New member
Username: Gschmidt2
Post Number: 19
Registered: 1-2007
| | Posted on Friday, May 25, 2007 - 12:30 am: | |
Hi Karl,
Allow me to share a bit of history to help make my point.
A few years ago a company called "Seven Towns Limited" (STL) acquired the trademark to the Rubik's cube. They had an aggressive set of attorneys spend their time googling for "Rubik's Cube". They then sent a "cease and decist" letter to a number of sites threatening futher legal action so long as these sites continued to offer cube simulators/solvers and make mention of "Rubik's Cube". Now mind you, most of the
site owners thought they were doing a good thing by promoting interest in the cube and they were not profiting in any way from this, these sites were created by puzzle enthusiasts. Consider too that STL wasn't obliged to send a cease and decist letter. They could have immediately filed lawsuits to make their point in a manner similar to what the music industry has done for selective cases in the US in an attempt to curb unauthorized music downloads.
Now Karl, I hate to bring this up, but you have a game called "Rubik's Cube" posted on Zillions and you were lucky that STL didn't find you, though technically you are still at risk. Did you contact STL and ask for their permission to post this? You did say that the onus should not be on the victim. So do you think they have every right to sue you for damages and put you into bankruptcy (and STL is big enough for that to be a possibility) if they choose to do so without so much as a courtesy to discuss the matter with you first? I hazard to say, you would prefer a friendly exchange to resolve the misunderstanding in a gentlemanly way.
And lest you think I am on my high horse, let me say that I too have some Rubik's cube software that has been posted to the net. Given all the other cube software out there, it was unclear at the time that this could ever be called into question. In fact, other works have now been derived from mine and still bear reference to my name. This means that I no longer have the power to remove my work from the public, even if I desired to do so.
My point in bringing this up is that these are not black and white issues and this is what I mean when I say "if I was (inadvertently) violating someone else's intellectual property rights, I would want to be contacted first in order to resolve the issue in a friendly manner".
I think you can agree with me on this point, at least for the examples above.
Now I don't know the particulars of your situation with the Pocket PC game, you haven't provided any details, but if it bears similarity to the above examples, then I think we might agree.
Best of Luck,
-- Greg
P.S.
For reference see:
http://www.leinweb.com/snackbar/cube/index.htm
BTW, Shouldn't this topic be in "Sharing Copyright"? |
Karl Scherer (Karl)
New member
Username: Karl
Post Number: 351
Registered: 9-2000
| | Posted on Saturday, October 06, 2007 - 12:25 am: | |
Hi Greg,
I have no problem retracting my (non-profit) zsg game on Rubic's Cube if asked to do so.
Anyway, non-for-profit cases are a totally different subject from selling commercial software, as any lawyer and judge will tell you.
If yopu make money with someone elses intellectual property you are on the much more heavy end of responsibility to inform the author and share your income with him.
I have no income from my Rubic's cube Zillions software whatsoever.
Hence in my opinion you are mixing here two topics which have nothing to do with each other.
Cheers, Karl |
Karl Scherer (Karl)
New member
Username: Karl
Post Number: 352
Registered: 9-2000
| | Posted on Saturday, October 06, 2007 - 12:45 am: | |
In addition to the above, I want to emphasize (again!) that anyone can use or copy my software
for non-commercial purposes as long as the source is quoted.
I hope that more and more authors do the same.
Let us all work on a world with more free sharing
of ideas and fun!
Cheers, Karl |
Karl Scherer (Karl)
New member
Username: Karl
Post Number: 353
Registered: 9-2000
| | Posted on Saturday, October 06, 2007 - 1:10 am: | |
Another remark here:
Of course it is recommendable to contact people first in a friendly manner, as Greg suggested.
However, a 'cease-and-desist' letter is meaningless with respect to lost royalties.
Also, I do not want anyone or anything to 'cease and desist', so Greg assumes wrongly my intentions here. I wish everyone much success with commercialising my software. All I ask is to pay me royalties. |
Greg Schmidt (Gschmidt2)
New member
Username: Gschmidt2
Post Number: 38
Registered: 1-2007
| | Posted on Saturday, October 06, 2007 - 8:23 am: | |
Hi Karl,
[I have no income from my Rubic's cube Zillions software whatsoever. ]
That may be true, however Seven Towns Limited (STL) could legally claim loss of revenue on their part due to it.
Below is an excerpt from the copyright notice for the current owner of the cube rights (STL). The full text can be found at:
http://www.rubiks.com/lvl3/index_lvl3.cfm?lan=eng&lvl1=inform&lvl2=contct&lvl3=useofr
"Rubik® and Rubik's Cube® are registered trademarks throughout the world of Seven Towns Limited. Seven Towns Limited is the exclusive worldwide licensee of copyright in the Rubik's Cube puzzle and is the registered proprietor of European Community Trade Mark registrations in the images of the Rubik's Cube puzzle and the puzzle itself.
Rubik's Cube, Rubik's Magic, Rubik's Snake, Rubik's Tangle, Rubik's Triamid, Rubik's Infinity, Rubik's Eclipse, Rubik's Mini Cube, Rubik's Snake Key Ring, Rubik's Cube Key Ring, Rubik's Bricks, Rubik's Double Tangram are trade marks of Seven Towns Ltd.
Seven Towns Ltd will prosecute unauthorized reproductions of the Rubik's Cube Puzzle, the Rubik's brand or any other intellectual property rights identified above. Such reproductions may also be seized and destroyed by customs authorities throughout the world.
It is the policy of Seven Towns Ltd in granting licenses, to be selective and accommodating in the Licensees' needs whilst ensuring that this valuable intellectual property is not harmed in any way. is the policy of Seven Towns Ltd in granting licenses, to be selective and accommodating in the Licensees' needs whilst ensuring that this valuable intellectual property is not harmed in any way."
So, in light of the above, and according to what you wrote in your earlier response, STL assumes the role of the "victim" and the "onus" should be on you to contact them, not the other way around. Legally STL has every right to prosecute anyone that uses the "Ru... Cu.." trademarked name without license from STL.
Now I'm not trying to tell you what you should personally do in this or any other case, I'm just pointing out the legalities of the situation. I also wanted to make the point that it's not always obvious when intellectual property rights are being "violated" (you and I should both know that by now and I wouldn't be surprised if I personally have some infractions that I'm not even aware of due to the fact that algorithms can now be patented) so I consider it good practice to first contact the violator in a friendly manner. Note that this puts some "onus" on the owner of the property rights.
So here are the points I am making:
1 - It's not always obvious when intellectual property rights are being violated.
2 - Due to #1, some onus can reasonably be placed on the "victim" to point out the violation. A good way to deal with the situation is by first contacting the violater with a friendly "Did you know...?" style message. If you disagree with that, then you must agree that STL should be able to directly prosecute any violator, and attempt to recover damages, without the courtesy of first contacting the violator and attempting to resolve the manner in a gentlemanly way. If that's the case, then you have some cause to be concerned about that.
[All I ask is to pay me royalties.]
And you have every right to do so and to collect. I wish you the best of luck in this matter.
Regards,
-- Greg |
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