While English isn't my mother tongue, I still think it's pretty clear...Patch61 wrote:Hmmmm...... where do I start?
Where did we claim ANY copyright? Why are you bringing up that notion? Nobody holds any copyright to anything for most GameBase projects and that's the very point: we don't want any trouble from copyright holders that may trace back our work. Have YOU been in touch with some of the authors or software houses? We have and we know this is just semi-legal.First of all, to claim that you own images and scans of items COPYRIGHTED BY OTHER PARTIES, is at best fallacious and at worst, piracy. While I greatly appreciate all the work Atarimania has done in the name of preservation, it just strikes me as odd that you claim rights over something that does not belong to you in the first place. Just because you scanned something that is copyrighted by somebody else does not mean you suddenly own the image or the rights to it.
At the very least, from a moral point of view and in our limited circle, you should respect the fact that we don't want to spread what we did, particularly the "fragile" stuff (VAPI images) or the scans. The cracked and widely available games, of course, are OK. Screenshots you can easily take yourselves to prove that I'm wrong when I say that you're just doing some "basic compilation work".
Which refrains people from politely asking?Secondly, to turn around and tell somebody else that they can't use the images that you don't own is just senseless. I do agree it would have been nice if he asked permission to make use of the scans from your site. That would have been a thoughtful acknowledgement of the efforts your team has made. However, you do make those images freely available to the public.
The difference is that we spent THOUSANDS of hours trying to do something the right way (we feel) and don't like the idea of fly-by-nighters (no offense but I can't find a better term) grabbing our work.Also, I do not agree that his use of them is any less valid than yours just because his use is more for entertainment (in whatever sense) and yours is for preservation. Everybody values things differently.
As I wrote, we're open to discussion.Perhaps instead of putting down his efforts, you could suggest ways to improve the perceived (in your eyes) quality of what he is trying to do. Especially given that you say you would support a 'quality' effort in that direction. Maybe what he has done can be steadily improved until it is of sufficient quality for your tastes.
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Atari Frog
http://www.atarimania.com