On Sun, Nov 11, 2001 at 12:39:13PM -0800, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > Exactly how 'changed' does a rom MUD have to be until someone doesn't > have to listen to the licence anymore?
100%. http://www.loc.gov/copyright/faq.html#q49 49. How much do I have to change in order to claim copyright in someone else's work? Only the owner of copyright in a work has the right to prepare, or to authorize someone else to create a new version of that work. Accordingly, you cannot claim copyright to another's work, no matter how much you change it, unless you have the owner's consent. See Circular 14. If you follow up and read Circular 14, you will see: The copyright in a derivative work covers only the additions, changes or other new material appearing for the first time in the work. It does not extend to any preexisting material and does not imply copyright in that material. In short, your MUD will be a derivative until you type 'rm -rf' and start over. Hit google for 'copyright clean room' for more information on how to avoid infringing. It's not a trivial process: you will have to start from -nothing-, and your existing knowledge of the code will tend to taint your implementation.
