File format licensing of the TirNanoG RPG engine

File format licensing of the TirNanoG RPG engine

Postby bzt » 21 Jan 2023, 08:11

Moderator notice: This topic has been split from the original here: https://forum.freegamedev.net/viewtopic ... 46&t=19294

Julius {l Wrote}:Moved to off-topic as the author clearly does not intent this engine to be used in FOSS projects.
Please move it back, you clearly misunderstood, all code is GPL'd, and you misunderstood the file format's licensing terms too.

Julius {l Wrote}:A non-commercial license is not Free/Libre as by the common definition (for a long list of reasons). And your open-source definition is commonly called "shared source" and is not "open" at all.

As for you explanation about not needing permission; This can't work for two reasons: 1st a license is always linked to a legal person (but you can allow people to sub-license / transfer it) & 2nd what happens if that other person makes a commercial fork resulting in a totally different game from from the source covered under your the license.txt that you claim is libre? Either they can do that, or the license in your license.txt is not open-source.
You are totally confused by the fact that that file is called license.txt. I've linked an example deliberately, it is not linked to a person, but to a game, and it does not contain legal mambo jumbo rather bytes that tells the editor the game can be used with whatever license the author wishes to use.

Julius {l Wrote}:The legal construct you are trying to built here is just not open-source at all... it is plain and simple CC-BY-NC-SA or a roality-free proprietary commercial license.
Again no. I want to support proprietary games too, yes, but that does not rule out FOSS games, you misunderstood the licensing terms.

Julius {l Wrote}:As for licensing file formats... that is like trying to license the house I made with the hammer you sold me. That just doesn't work.
Are you really saying that Java bytecode, GIF, HVEC etc. formats aren't copyrighted and subject to legal terms either?

Julius {l Wrote}:What companies do is make thier exporter include a lot of proprietary code automatically over which they can then claim copyright,
That's not true. What proprietary code is included in GIF files or in .bik videos?

Julius {l Wrote}:but since your editor is fully AGPLv3, where is that proprietary code supposed to come from?
Again, you're clearly mistaken, the GPL license says:
{l Code}: {l Select All Code}
The output of a program is not, in general, covered by the copyright on the code of the program. So the license of the code of the program does not apply to the output, whether you pipe it into a file, make a screenshot, screencast, or video.
TirNanoG does not use any proprietary code, it is fully open source and licensed under GPL, and it does not include any proprietary code in the output files either.

Julius {l Wrote}:Alternatively some companies try to patent file formats, but that is also on shaky legal ground or outright impossible in many countries.
I've already pointed out that this isn't about patents, it is about file format copyright. TirNanoG File Format only uses FOSS licensed algorithms exclusively, deflate, vorbis and theora, no patent problems at all.

I kindly ask you, please do not punish TirNanoG just because you misunderstood GPL and the format's dual licensing terms. Please be reasonable.

Cheers,
bzt
User avatar
bzt
 
Posts: 332
Joined: 23 May 2021, 21:46

Re: TirNanoG Open Source RPG engine

Postby Huitsi » 21 Jan 2023, 14:09

Well I, certainly, am confused, and confusing licensing can be grounds enough to consider stuff non-free, at least by the FSF.
What I'm seeing is a free tool that works (only) with a (somehow) non-free format. The end result, like Julius said, is that the tool can't be used to create free games.
That is, of course, assuming that what you have is legally functional.

As for "the output of a program is not, in general, covered by the copyright on the code of the program", I always took it to mean that the user is the sole copyright holder of the output.
The idea that a program could automatically create something under a different copyright than its own seems strange.
User avatar
Huitsi
 
Posts: 50
Joined: 25 Jul 2018, 23:45

Re: TirNanoG Open Source RPG engine

Postby Julius » 21 Jan 2023, 14:22

Sorry, but I have been reading up on open-source licensing issues for close to 20 years now, and I can tell you with 95% certainty that you are deeply mistaken in your interpretation of how such licensing works. And you definitely can not license something "to a game"... a license is always a private contract between two legal entities/persons*.

P.S.: the reason why only 95% and not 100% is that the highly publicised lawsuit between Google and Oracle over the use of Java specifications in Android did muddle the water somewhat.

*Edit: maybe to clarify: Open source licensing works basically like that: the original author puts up their work with the license texts and says "I am willing to make a personal contract with anyone according to these terms". For the license to qualify as "open-source" it then has to fulfill some strict requirements in regards to usage permissions (not prohibiting commercial use for example) and it is especially important that the person receiving the work under the license terms must be able to sub-license/transfer the work to other people freely (but usually restricted to keeping the license terms intact otherwise).

Edit2: as for the completely seperate file format question: it is either that the output file has to include proprietary code, depend on some patented algorithm or that the software used to read/write the files is proprietary. If you do an independant re-implementation of the exact same file format that is totally legal in most countries. Yours is a especially strange case as all the tooling you use is AGPL, so in theory I could fork your code, not change a single line of code and just say that the file format restrictions you put on the output of your binaries does not apply any longer.

Edit3: I am trying to be reasonable here. Normally we completely remove proprietary projects from this forum. We need to protect users of FOSS projects from hidden licensing caveats that make a project non-FOSS despite vendors claiming them to be. There is a term for that: "open-washing" and you are clearly doing that with your project, even if maybe unintentionally due to a deep misunderstanding of what "open-source" means.
User avatar
Julius
Community Moderator
 
Posts: 3297
Joined: 06 Dec 2009, 14:02

Re: TirNanoG Open Source RPG engine

Postby bzt » 21 Jan 2023, 16:04

Julius {l Wrote}:I can tell you with 95% certainty that you are deeply mistaken in your interpretation of how such licensing works.
And I'm 100% sure you're misunderstanding the whole file format copyright thing here.

Julius {l Wrote}:original author puts up their work with the license texts
See? This isn't what I'm talking about at all. For example: you can store a FOSS licensed drawing in a proprietary GIF image. That won't revoke CompuServe's copyright to GIF format, and using the GIF format won't revoke the author's right to their work either. I'm trying to tell you, these are different things, you're mixing up creative work's license with the format's license that's used to store that work.

Or: the original author can put up their FOSS licensed work and their license text on the net using a copyrighted PKZIP archive. Will PKWARE's copyright revoke the author's rights to their work? No. Will the FOSS licensed contents in the archive revoke PKWARE's copyright to the archive's file format? Again, no. These are separate, different things.

Julius {l Wrote}:And you definitely can not license something "to a game"
I do NOT. That license.txt isn't a "license to a game", that's where you're mistaken.

Think of it this way: it is a configuration file that tells the editor the game uses arbitrary license, so allow creating a proprietary, disassembly-not-allowed game files. This is totally independent of the actual licensing terms of the game, which are defined elsewhere (between entities/persons whatever). Using this disassembly-not-allowed feature on a FOSS game isn't needed, hence they don't need this configuration file, so registration not needed either in the first place.

To very very simply put: my one time permission is only needed if you want to create non-FOSS, proprietary, disassembly-not-allowed game files. Does this now make sense to you?


Cheers,
bzt
User avatar
bzt
 
Posts: 332
Joined: 23 May 2021, 21:46

Re: TirNanoG Open Source RPG engine

Postby bzt » 21 Jan 2023, 16:20

Huitsi {l Wrote}:As for "the output of a program is not, in general, covered by the copyright on the code of the program", I always took it to mean that the user is the sole copyright holder of the output.
Exactly. Assume that user creates a PKZIP archive, that user will be the sole copyright holder of the output, but not the copyright holder of the format, which belongs to PKWARE. I'm using this example because the TirNanoG File Format is also a container format for assets, just like an archive file.

Huitsi {l Wrote}:The idea that a program could automatically create something under a different copyright than its own seems strange.
You can save a proprietary image with GIMP, and you can save a FOSS image with Photoshop.

Or: you can compile a proprietary program with gcc, and you can compile a FOSS program with VSCODE. You'll own the copyright of the output program, but that doesn't make you the copyright holder of the ELF or PE executable formats.

Cheers,
bzt
User avatar
bzt
 
Posts: 332
Joined: 23 May 2021, 21:46

Re: TirNanoG Open Source RPG engine

Postby dulsi » 21 Jan 2023, 16:39

bzt the big problem is that NC make something not FOSS. NC games will not be included in an distribution directly. (They might have a data downloader but I really don't like that model.) You are free to do that if you want to prevent commercial use. Witch's Blast is a great game that I wish I could package for Fedora but the NC license makes that impossible,

Copyrighting a file format and using a license to restrict usage is not common. Yeah people have done it. For the most part people ignored it. Sometimes corporations would sue over it but reverse engineering tends to be allowed.

I'm surprised Julius moved the topic. This site tends to more permissive than true FOSS. I suspect he is concerned people will see this engine, find it AGPL and think they can make an AGPL game with it.
dulsi
 
Posts: 570
Joined: 18 Feb 2016, 15:24

Re: TirNanoG Open Source RPG engine

Postby Huitsi » 21 Jan 2023, 16:48

Clearly we have a very different understanding of how copyright works. I don't think a format can be copyrighted the way you describe.
A format specification document can be copyrighted and an implementation might in some cases considered to be a derivative of that,
but you have already licensed the implementation otherwise.

Ultimately it does not matter: if you intend for only non-commercial games to be creatable without a separate permission, you intend your tool to be proprietary.
User avatar
Huitsi
 
Posts: 50
Joined: 25 Jul 2018, 23:45

Re: TirNanoG Open Source RPG engine

Postby bzt » 21 Jan 2023, 16:57

dulsi {l Wrote}:bzt the big problem is that NC make something not FOSS. NC games will not be included in an distribution directly.
But programs using sqlite are, aren't they? The encrypted version of sqlite isn't public domain, but strictly proprietary, yet you won't refuse to add a GPL'd software using sqlite databases, won't you?

We are again confusing things: the copyright of the sqlite format is totally different thing than the copyright of the contents stored in that database for example. The file format's copyright does not influence the copyright of the content, and vice versa, you can store FOSS licensed material in a proprietary, encrypted sqlite database format.

dulsi {l Wrote}:(They might have a data downloader but I really don't like that model.)
Me either. But I've added in-app download because that's what people want. I will never ever restrict downloading games from other sources though, because I'll never use the in-app download myself, that's for sure :-)

dulsi {l Wrote}:Copyrighting a file format and using a license to restrict usage is not common.
Yes it is, take for example sqlite, PKZIP, AVI, syslog, etc. etc. etc. All of these have a proprietary, encrypted version, yet nobody thinks they aren't FOSS.

dulsi {l Wrote}:Yeah people have done it. For the most part people ignored it. Sometimes corporations would sue over it but reverse engineering tends to be allowed.
And don't forget, that this whole encrypted file format thing isn't needed with FOSS games in the first place.

dulsi {l Wrote}:I'm surprised Julius moved the topic. This site tends to more permissive than true FOSS. I suspect he is concerned people will see this engine, find it AGPL and think they can make an AGPL game with it.
Thank you!

Cheers,
bzt
User avatar
bzt
 
Posts: 332
Joined: 23 May 2021, 21:46

Re: TirNanoG Open Source RPG engine

Postby bzt » 21 Jan 2023, 17:02

Huitsi {l Wrote}:Ultimately it does not matter: if you intend for only non-commercial games to be creatable without a separate permission, you intend your tool to be proprietary.
It's the opposite: commercial games need my permission (because they'll need a special configuration file that allows no-disassembly outputs in the editor). To be clear, technically you can create a proprietary game using the unencrypted format, but everybody will disassemble and steal your assets.

It is your in your best interest to register the game to create encrypted files if you're thinking about a proprietary game.

Cheers,
bzt
User avatar
bzt
 
Posts: 332
Joined: 23 May 2021, 21:46

Re: TirNanoG Open Source RPG engine

Postby Huitsi » 21 Jan 2023, 17:13

bzt {l Wrote}:The encrypted version of sqlite isn't public domain, but strictly proprietary, yet you won't refuse to add a GPL'd software using sqlite databases, won't you?

This is the first I've heard on that addon, probably because nobody uses or ships it. I don't think anyone would care if you provided a separate, proprietary encryption module either.

bzt {l Wrote}:commercial games need my permission (because they'll need a special configuration file that allows no-disassembly outputs in the editor).

There's no inherent need for commercial or even proprietary games to use "no-disassembly outputs".

Edit (response to an edit):
bzt {l Wrote}:It is your in your best interest to register the game to create encrypted files if you're thinking about a proprietary game.

But the question is: am I allowed to create a commercial (that is: somehow monetized) game without a separate permission? The way the restrictions are worded implies not.
User avatar
Huitsi
 
Posts: 50
Joined: 25 Jul 2018, 23:45

Re: TirNanoG Open Source RPG engine

Postby dulsi » 21 Jan 2023, 17:45

bzt {l Wrote}:It is your in your best interest to register the game to create encrypted files if you're thinking about a proprietary game.

Is that allowed? As Huitsi says the license doesn't imply that is allowed.

Love does not have any encrypted form to my knowledge. It has a number of commercial games using it. Sure you can look at the code but you legally aren't allowed to copy it and distribute it. People used to sell Basic program games before it was compiled to binary code.
dulsi
 
Posts: 570
Joined: 18 Feb 2016, 15:24

Re: TirNanoG Open Source RPG engine

Postby bzt » 21 Jan 2023, 17:46

Huitsi {l Wrote}:This is the first I've heard on that addon, probably because nobody uses or ships it. I don't think anyone would care if you provided a separate, proprietary encryption module either.
That's exactly what I do, that's why I don't understand you people. The proprietary encryption is separate, and can be acquired with my permission. Non-encrypted files do not need my permission at all, and they do not need any encryption-enabling config files either. So that's exactly how TirNanoG works.

Huitsi {l Wrote}:The way the restrictions are worded implies not.
I've rephrased the license, now it is using the words "unencrypted" and "encrypted", and added this sentence to the LICENSE file:
The decision and the responsibility of which licensing version to use for the game files is up to the editor's users, and it does not influence the game's license stored in this format.
And also to avoid absolutely any confusions,
Under no circumstances can I, bzt, the TirNanoG Editor and TirNanoG File Format's author be held responsible for the game files created by others.

I hope now this makes everybody happy.

Cheers,
bzt
User avatar
bzt
 
Posts: 332
Joined: 23 May 2021, 21:46

Re: TirNanoG Open Source RPG engine

Postby Julius » 21 Jan 2023, 17:54

bzt {l Wrote}:To very very simply put: my one time permission is only needed if you want to create non-FOSS, proprietary, disassembly-not-allowed game files. Does this now make sense to you?


Sorry, but that is not what your dual license says at all. It says either CC-by-NC-SA or custom permission. Neither is FOSS. Thus it is impossible to make a FOSS game with your engine while respecting your intention for licensing the engine/file format.

I kept quiet about you promoting your by-intent proprietary engine here as I think your licensing makes legally no sense and is thus likely invalid and people might find some of the AGPL code you share useful for other projects. But promoting your engine to replace a truly FOSS FLARE engine project is something I can not keep quiet about on this forum :(

But indeed this forum is not hard-core FOSS and generally quite accepting of non-libre media licensing or such. But this is clearly one step too far on this gradient.
User avatar
Julius
Community Moderator
 
Posts: 3297
Joined: 06 Dec 2009, 14:02

Re: TirNanoG Open Source RPG engine

Postby Huitsi » 21 Jan 2023, 17:59

There are still several places in both README.md and LICENSE that make it seem that the output has to be CC-BY-NC-SA licensed. If that is indeed not the intention, please try to explain what is.
That is: What does it mean, in your opinion, for the "format" to be CC-BY-NC-SA licensed?
User avatar
Huitsi
 
Posts: 50
Joined: 25 Jul 2018, 23:45

Re: TirNanoG Open Source RPG engine

Postby bzt » 21 Jan 2023, 18:27

Huitsi {l Wrote}:There's no inherent need for commercial or even proprietary games to use "no-disassembly outputs".
Have you told that the Unity developers? Or to RPG Maker developers? I don't know where you've spent the last decades, but all commercial games have some sort of no-disassembly countermeasures... I nothing else, then at least legally forbiding reverse engineering in the EULA. Only a fool would spent a big pile of money on creating a game, then upload them publicly and yet hoping for an income...

Huitsi {l Wrote}:There are still several places in both README.md and LICENSE that make it seem that the output has to be CC-BY-NC-SA licensed.
Give me links where.

Huitsi {l Wrote}:If that is indeed not the intention, please try to explain what is.
Seriously, isn't this enough and obvious explanation? Hard to believe.
notes.png
notes everywhere

Huitsi {l Wrote}:That is: What does it mean, in your opinion, for the "format" to be CC-BY-NC-SA licensed?
Exactly what it reads. You can't implement it commercially.

Cheers,
bzt
User avatar
bzt
 
Posts: 332
Joined: 23 May 2021, 21:46

Re: TirNanoG Open Source RPG engine

Postby bzt » 21 Jan 2023, 18:33

Julius {l Wrote}:It says either CC-by-NC-SA or custom permission.
For the FILE FORMAT. Not for the game you create and store in this format. I've told you a dozen times already that the content's license is totally different from the format's license. They have DIFFERENT copyright holders for one.

I know it is hard to admit when you're wrong, but I kindly ask you to do so. You're still talking about the game's license, and not about the format's license.

Let me ask you this: this file on freegamedev.net
Image
https://forum.freegamedev.net/styles/qs ... _email.gif
is encoded in the non-FOSS, proprietary GIF format, copyrighted to CompuServe. Does this mean that this email icon is copyrighted to CompuServe too?

Cheers,
bzt
User avatar
bzt
 
Posts: 332
Joined: 23 May 2021, 21:46

Re: TirNanoG Open Source RPG engine

Postby Huitsi » 21 Jan 2023, 18:48

bzt {l Wrote}:Have you told that the Unity developers? Or to RPG Maker developers? I don't know where you've spent the last decades, but all commercial games have some sort of no-disassembly countermeasures... I nothing else, then at least legally forbiding reverse engineering in the EULA. Only a fool would spent a big pile of money on creating a game, then upload them publicly and yet hoping for an income...

There's no inherent need for commercial games to spend a big pile of money, either. As for hoping for income, I understand it has worked pretty well for Thrive, just to give a single recent example.

bzt {l Wrote}:Give me links where.

README.md {l Wrote}:By default it allows creating unencrypted game files under CC-by-nc-sa license.

LICENSE {l Wrote}:the output's license is governed by the TirNanoG File Format dual license.


bzt {l Wrote}:Seriously, isn't this enough and obvious explanation? Hard to believe.

Well yes, that is explicit enough about what it is not, even if the quotes above seem to contradict it.

bzt {l Wrote}:Exactly what it reads. You can't implement it commercially.

Yet you have implemented it in a tool that supposedly allows commercial use.
User avatar
Huitsi
 
Posts: 50
Joined: 25 Jul 2018, 23:45

Re: TirNanoG Open Source RPG engine

Postby bzt » 21 Jan 2023, 19:06

Huitsi {l Wrote}:There's no inherent need for commercial games to spend a big pile of money, either. As for hoping for income, I understand it has worked pretty well for Thrive, just to give a single recent example.
Bad example, all games on Steam are explicitly forbidden to be disassembled https://store.steampowered.com/subscriber_agreement

Huitsi {l Wrote}:Well yes, that is explicit enough about what it is not, even if the quotes above seem to contradict it.
No they don't contradict. In this context (in the File Format's license file) they are referring to the file format, and you haven't quoted the very next sentence making this obvious.

Huitsi {l Wrote}:Yet you have implemented it in a tool that supposedly allows commercial use.
...only to be used with my written permission. Where's the problem?

Cheers,
bzt
User avatar
bzt
 
Posts: 332
Joined: 23 May 2021, 21:46

Re: TirNanoG Open Source RPG engine

Postby Huitsi » 21 Jan 2023, 19:43

bzt {l Wrote}:Bad example, all games on Steam are explicitly forbidden to be disassembled https://store.steampowered.com/subscriber_agreement

Well, the point is that disassembly is not required.

bzt {l Wrote}:No they don't contradict. In this context (in the File Format's license file) they are referring to the file format, and you haven't quoted the very next sentence making this obvious.

No, the (immediate) context is not making it obvious, not to me anyway.

bzt {l Wrote}:....only to be used with my written permission. Where's the problem?

No, since the tool is (supposedly) GPL-licensed, it may be used commercially without a separate permission.
User avatar
Huitsi
 
Posts: 50
Joined: 25 Jul 2018, 23:45

Re: TirNanoG Open Source RPG engine

Postby Julius » 21 Jan 2023, 20:10

bzt {l Wrote}:
Julius {l Wrote}:It says either CC-by-NC-SA or custom permission.
For the FILE FORMAT. Not for the game you create and store in this format. I've told you a dozen times already that the content's license is totally different from the format's license. They have DIFFERENT copyright holders for one.

I know it is hard to admit when you're wrong, but I kindly ask you to do so. You're still talking about the game's license, and not about the format's license.


You are trying to split hair where it makes no sense to do so. I think we agree that a game made with your engine and distributed with your engine's file format is (according to your intend) only usable under the terms of the CC-by-NC-SA unless you explicitly give permission for another license. As neither of these options are FOSS, this makes it impossible to make a FOSS game with your engine / file format combination. Thus as far as our forum is concerned this makes your engine partially non-FOSS and in a deceptive way as you continue to claim that it is "open-source" (CC-by-NC-SA is not).

There is an entirely different legal discussion if what you intent to do with the file-format licensing is even possible legally, but lets agree to disagree on that part.

Edit: to specifically answer your GIF example: Compuserve can claim copyright over the GIF format as long as they want, but that doesn't make it actually true. And in fact Compuserve seems to agree with this assessment as there are hundreds of other software implementations that output GIF files without any sort of special license from Compuserve and they have AFAIK never attempted to enforce their claimed copyright either.
User avatar
Julius
Community Moderator
 
Posts: 3297
Joined: 06 Dec 2009, 14:02

Re: TirNanoG Open Source RPG engine

Postby acme_pjz » 22 Jan 2023, 00:24

Well, what if I decided to fork your project, make slight changes to your file format, and claim the file format to be public domain? If this is legal, then I will do it. If this is not legal, then I think the situation is more or less like the GPL'ed unrar code which explicitly disallowed reverse engineering the RAR format.
Some of my open source games on GitHub
User avatar
acme_pjz
 
Posts: 665
Joined: 10 Dec 2009, 15:32
Location: PeeKing, China

Re: TirNanoG Open Source RPG engine

Postby bzt » 22 Jan 2023, 07:04

acme_pjz {l Wrote}:Well, what if I decided to fork your project,
You can do that, as long as your code is licensed under GPL too.
acme_pjz {l Wrote}:make slight changes to your file format, and claim the file format to be public domain?
Then you'd be obviously violating the CC-BY-NC-SA license of the format, which is illegal.

Julius {l Wrote}:You are trying to split hair where it makes no sense to do so.
I looks to me you are the ones splitting hair and denying obvious facts. Please consider the fact that you misunderstood the whole thing, because that's the case.
Julius {l Wrote}:I think we agree that a game made with your engine and distributed with your engine's file format is (according to your intend) only usable under the terms of the CC-by-NC-SA
No, we don't agree, only you think this, and I'm sorry, but you're totally wrong about that.

Answer me: this icon is distributed by you on freegamedev in ComuServe's copyrighted GIF format
Image
https://forum.freegamedev.net/styles/qsilver/imageset/icon_contact_email.gif
Is this icon copyrighted to CompuServe? Please answer that question.

And: here's the GPL'd licensed Tux mascot in a PKZIP container, a format that is copyrighted to PKWARE.
Tux.zip
Tux in zip
(11.79 KiB) Downloaded 116 times

Is Tux now copyrighted to PKWARE? Or has it kept it's GPL license?

And: under Windows, the compiler's output is in the proprietary MZ/COFF format copyrighted to Microsoft.
Can you compile a FOSS licensed source under Windows?

I'm dead serious, I'm expecting an exact "yes or no" answers to these 3 questions from you. You have 20 years of experience, you can surely answer these simple questions.

Cheers,
bzt
User avatar
bzt
 
Posts: 332
Joined: 23 May 2021, 21:46

Re: TirNanoG Open Source RPG engine

Postby Julius » 22 Jan 2023, 14:42

Your questions make no sense as it is IANAL not possible to copyright a file format.

Falsely assuming that it were possible to do so, you would violate the license of the three FOSS licensed things by combining them with a supposedly proprietary work and creating a supposedly proprietary combined output.

But since that isn't the case, the answers are no, no, and yes but that does not validate your point at all as the entire premise rests on the wrong assumption that you can indeed copyright a file format and that a format can somehow exist independent of the substrate it formats.

But I have an "yes" or "no" answer back to you. According to your intend of the licensing: Am I or anyone else (without any special permission) allowed to make a commercial open-source licensed game (as by the OSI definition) with your engine & editor and file format specifications?

If the answer is "no" then it is not possible to make a FOSS game with your (unaltered) game engine and your are open-washing it by claiming that it is open-source, when in reality only some individually non-functional parts are.

Edit: to illustrate my point that file formats can not be copyrighted:

Lets say you have some poems formatted in a certain way. Paragraphs, font style... you name it. Someone then writes a description on how to reformat the poem texts in a different way. They can copyright their description text and if it includes an especially clever algorithm to reformat the text they can also (in some countries) try to patent that algorithm. They can also write some software to automate such reformatting and claim copyright over this software. But if I can guess (reverse engineer) how to reformat the text of those poems to come to the same final format, there is nothing you can do to stop me and the copyright of the original poems is anyway unaffected by all of the reformatting done.

Edit2: The only way someone could start claiming copyright over a certain edition (formatted copy) of the poem is by adding substantially to it... lets say a nicely painted frame or a full translation into another language. If the original license of the poem allows them to do so, they can then also claim copyright over the combined work.
User avatar
Julius
Community Moderator
 
Posts: 3297
Joined: 06 Dec 2009, 14:02

Re: TirNanoG Open Source RPG engine

Postby acme_pjz » 22 Jan 2023, 21:26

bzt {l Wrote}:
acme_pjz {l Wrote}:make slight changes to your file format, and claim the file format to be public domain?
Then you'd be obviously violating the CC-BY-NC-SA license of the format, which is illegal.


I don't think so. I fork your project and changed the code to use MY OWN FILE FORMAT. I didn't violating the CC-BY-NC-SA license of your format.

EDIT: Oh perhaps I will write a converter to convert your format to my format, which doesn't contain any line of your code, only by reading your specification. I will release the source code as CC0. IS IT LEGAL??
Some of my open source games on GitHub
User avatar
acme_pjz
 
Posts: 665
Joined: 10 Dec 2009, 15:32
Location: PeeKing, China

Re: TirNanoG Open Source RPG engine

Postby bzt » 25 Jan 2023, 08:46

acme_pjz {l Wrote}:
bzt {l Wrote}:
acme_pjz {l Wrote}:make slight changes to your file format, and claim the file format to be public domain?
Then you'd be obviously violating the CC-BY-NC-SA license of the format, which is illegal.

I don't think so. I fork your project and changed the code to use MY OWN FILE FORMAT. I didn't violating the CC-BY-NC-SA license of your format.
You can do that, but only if your fork is GPL licensed. Forking TirNanoG Editor with any other license than GPL is ILLEGAL.

acme_pjz {l Wrote}:EDIT: Oh perhaps I will write a converter to convert your format to my format, which doesn't contain any line of your code, only by reading your specification. I will release the source code as CC0. IS IT LEGAL??
Now, that would be ILLEGAL. If your converter reads my format, then it has to be CC-BY-NC-SA (you can't release it under CC0), and it can only read the unencrypted version, trying to decrypt and disassemble the encrypted format would be ILLEGAL, no matter your converter's license.

You see, the file format is dual licensed, only the unencrypted version is CC-BY-NC-SA, the encrypted version is proprietary and requires the written permission of the copyright holder to be used.

Cheers,
bzt
User avatar
bzt
 
Posts: 332
Joined: 23 May 2021, 21:46

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 1 guest