Well, time to put my case here personally before Raichase steps in.
First of all: Unfortunately, this will not be the last time that "copyright" will be an issue here.
But that´s not because I am a "bad guy", it´s because that this forums is one of the places where people are a) notoriously ignorant of copyright issues and b) some others like to deny copyright at all.
But that´s not my fault.
The DB Set as well as all other .grfs released by me (execept the very first TempSet and
ArcticSet which were under the GPL) are copyrighted, graphics as well as the code, as is the case with every computer program.
The "licence" for these sets allows using, copying and distribution. It does not allow modifying of any part of the .grfs nor including it into other software, e.g. other .grfs.
Please do inform yourself about international copyright law if you have lack of knowledge with regards to this.
O/c I am aware that there are constant infringements of my copyright, some are minor (I usually don´t care) but some are severe. E.g. there have been unauthorized modified copies of the DB Set on some german servers which have been removed on my request. There have also been foreign vehicle sets where the foreign graphics have been pasted into the original DB Set .nfo code like the first CSD set did. These have also been removed on my request, both from the forums and from czech servers.
OTOH, I´m working closely together with many other developers and there has never been any complaints about usage of my code or graphics. I´m even collaborating with Petr Vanek which once made that first CSD set in denial of my copyright.
But here we are again.
So what has happened? Some people want to build yet another "DB Set" and Saskia uploaded "work done so far". But this file didn´t contain "own work" only. It contained also *original graphics* derived from the DB Set, which is not allowed according to the DB Set licence and the aforementioned copyright laws.
The real problem is that the graphics from that file would have been included, possibly modified, into some other vehicle set just because other people wouldn´t know it´s original material from the DB Set. That´s why I asked Owen to remove that file.
The requested comparison could be found here:
http://www.ttdpatch.de/copyright.png
It seems that Owen didn´t get the attachement.
So, the *legal case* is chrystal clear.
An equally severe second point is that - as always! - those people who violate copyright and talk bad about the copyright holder when trapped, are finding again their cheap excuses: "case closed". That´s really "as always" and o/c that´s one of the reasons I prefer to not use this forum.
Saskia "never planned to officially release them" - but she did it right here! Another guy once did a screen-scrapping of some freight stations to be released by me - but "they should never leave my PC". Petr Vaneks CSD set was "never intended for release". And so on and on.
And I bet that there are still people here who think that Saskia did right and I did wrong. And o/c there would be future copyright violations just because new users arrive but "copyright" isn´t an issue on ttd-forums but something evil like M$.
Well, I can´t help that but I´d really like if Owen could put some basic information about copyright in the general section.
It´s simply like patchman said: "to take them first and hope for forgiveness later is rather rude" but there are people who *always* do it this way. I have a well-defined stand for these cases.
And o/c I have a valid email address and in addition you could reach me by the ttd mailing list or the tycoon news group when you have any questions concerning my work.
kind regards
Michael
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Deswegen fand ich deine Reaktion etwas übertrieben, selbst wenn Du natürlich im Recht bist. So, und jetzt Ende, die beanstandeten Sprites sind komplett gelöscht, und bei der 216 und beim Transrapid werde ich deine Sprites abstrahieren, soll schließlich nur eine Orientierungshilfe sein.
