tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Thu Aug 28 17:13:21 1997

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Re: Game analogy for tlhIngan Hol

'Robyn Stewart wrote:'
> 
> I've been looking at Chet's postings and thinking "sigh," and I've 
> thought of a legal analogy for our use of the language.
> 
> Klingon is a game.  The rules are written in the dictionary and you 
> win the game by having intelligible conversations in the language.  
> That's certainly how I play.
> 
> Consider a copyrightable game.  I buy a Monopoly set.  I buy a
> Microsoft Golf disk.  I buy a Klingon Dictionary.  Now 
> what commercial activities can I legally use them for?
> 
> Can I charge people money to teach them how to play?
> Now I've never seen Monopoly lessons advertised, but would 
> Milton-Bradley (or whoever makes Monopoly) sue you if you offered 
> them? You could charge anyone willing to pay to come over to your 
> house and play Monopoly. 
> 
> Can I rewrite the rules in an easy to understand format 
> with lots of examples and tips for winning strategies and sell that?
> People certainly do that for computer programs and I've never heard 
> of Microsoft suing the Dummies book people for Microsoft Golf for 
> Dummies.  But a for profit tlhIngan Hol Step-by-Step book would get 
> you sued so hard by Paramount it's laughable to think of it.
> 
> Can I write a novel about playing Monopoly?
> 
> Can I write a book about actual real estate trading full of examples 
> from the Monopoly board, in the pretense that a Monopoly game is a 
> real life event?
> 
> I dunno.
> 
> I certainly may not recopy the game and sell it myself.
> 
> - Qov
> 
  The whole issue is probably more properly attributable to computer
'languages'.  They too are built for a specific purpose have a distinctive
grammar and lexicon and are generally proprietary.  
   However the programs written in the language ( books, magazines, CD-Roms,
etc) belong solely to the programmer (or his employer if his contract reads
that way.)  However, unless the original creator of the language releases
it royalty free the best the author or company can do is give it away. 
Derivitive works may not be used for profit without compensation or
permission from the original copyright holder.
  This works in reverse as well however... the original language developer
may not make use of or sell 'derivitive' works without permission of the
creator of that work.
  
 Basically if Viacom/Paramount won't work with you you're stuck until or
unless you catch them using your material.... Then its a free for all.

Please note this is a simplification of copyright law in the US and its
premises may or may not apply to other countries.  On top of that I'm *not*
a lawyer.
    --Steev
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