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List:       kde-licensing
Subject:    Fwd: Re: Monopoly patent infringement
From:       Rob Kaper <cap () capsi ! com>
Date:       2002-07-28 21:18:50
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Apparently kde-licensing is appropriate for this kind of stuff.

Dre, for some reason people also think you have insights on legal stuff, care 
to voice your opinion?

Rob

----------  Forwarded Message  ----------

Subject: Re: Monopoly patent infringement
Date: Sunday 28 July 2002 13:12
From: Rob Kaper <cap@capsi.com>
To: Jonathan Drews <j.e.drews@worldnet.att.net>
Cc: kde-core-devel@mail.kde.org

(cc:ing kde-core-devel as I couldn't found a kde-legal)

On Sunday 28 July 2002 05:20, Jonathan Drews wrote:
> Hello Rob:
>
>  I help on KDE docs. I wanted to warn you about your Atlantik game look at
> what I found:
>
>  MONOPOLY®, THE DISTINCTIVE DESIGN OF THE GAME BOARD, THE FOUR CORNER
> SQUARES, AS WELL AS EACH OF THE DISTINCTIVE ELEMENTS OF THE BOARD AND THE
> PLAYING PIECES ARE TRADEMARKS OF HASBRO, INC. FOR ITS REAL ESTATE TRADING
> GAME AND GAME EQUIPMENT. ©1935, 1936, 1947, 1951, 1952, 1954, 1961, 1973,
> 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997 HASBRO, INC.
>
> from: http://www.hasbro.com/home/copyright.html
>
> also see:
> http://www.monopoly.com/pl/product_id.9070/dn/view_product.cfm
>
>  I really think KDE and you can get sued over this.

Atlantik does not include any artwork similar to Hasbro's Monopoly or any of
the distinctive elements. All it does is render the XML monopd sends.
Most of the things Hasbro claims to be distinctive are actually not
distinctive at all and were acquired unlawfully:
http://www.adena.com/adena/mo/mo10.htm
See http://www.antimonopoly.com/excerpt_court_ruling_original.html
for the Supreme Court Ruling. Hasbro only has copyrights on the artwork they
added themselves, none of which is present in Atlantik nor monopd.
This very issue initiated the name change from KMonop to Atlantik and the
generalisation of the software into a generic board game platform.
Rob
--
Rob Kaper     | Gimme some love, gimme some skin,
cap@capsi.com | if we ain't got that then we ain't got much
www.capsi.com | and we ain't got nothing, nothing! -- "Nothing" by A

-------------------------------------------------------

-- 
Rob Kaper     | Gimme some love, gimme some skin,
cap@capsi.com | if we ain't got that then we ain't got much
www.capsi.com | and we ain't got nothing, nothing! -- "Nothing" by A

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