Comments on: No Answer Does Not Mean Go Ahead

By: Benjamin Supnik

Benjamin Supnik — Sun, 10 Feb 2008 23:29:00 +0000

Hi Y'all,

I have not posted any policy on commenting in the past, so I will let Brett's comment go through as I did Pauli's. With that in mind:

NO MORE on this topic. This blog will not be a referendum on any of this incident. Any further comments on the specifics of this package and the subsequent actions in the x-plane community will NOT be accepted.

(Comments and questions about derived works and copyright in general will be permitted.)

By: Brett Sumpter

Brett Sumpter — Sat, 09 Feb 2008 12:04:00 +0000

I'll just note that Pauli getting banned from x-plane.org for the above comes from multiple violations & ignoring warnings to stop posting derivative works without permission.

Since he wouldn't stop posting it or simply remove the items that weren't his own creation he got banned.

The first occasion can perhaps be blamed on ignorance, but not the several after that - he decided the rules didn't apply & ignored them. Bad choice...

As a freeware author that's been burned I take copyright violations very seriously, as do most people these days. Ben - thanks for posting on the topic :)

By: Benjamin Supnik

Benjamin Supnik — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 13:28:00 +0000

Pauli, it is up to the people who run x-plane.org whether they ban you or not...they run their own forum and we all visit their at their discretion. You are a visitor in their home - it is not like a public park.

90% is clearly not good enough for copyright law. If you have a package with 90% your work and 10% someone elses, it is a derived work of that other person. You have to get their permission.

If that 10% is really trivial, remove it from your package. If that 10% is not trivial, then clearly you have used something of value without permission.

By: pauli

pauli — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 12:28:00 +0000

Hi Ben
I am a "burned child" - perhaps an old child, I am becoming 67 this year.
My problem was about similar, not the same:

I was down loading a MSFS scenery pack and was inspired because the design was very primitive and i got the feeling there is a better way to do it. I was spending some time in the near of the place of the airport as an extra bonus.
Due to that I spent one week on reconstructing the airport according photos from the internet and my own.
I left some items in the package which are common and FREE in the MSFS scenery world like NATURE, PARKING, AIRPLANES - without wheels.
The next step was to ask the original designer for permission to place that into X-Plane community for free download.
There was NO ANSWER - similar to your case.
Then i tried to finder over some other sources, as the one where the files have been downloaded and got the answer: we do not know that person, he is not on our list.
O.K. for me it was only the INSPIRATION and nothing else- 90 percent and more was my own design work. I sent it to the X-Plane forum with the remark: I did not got a contact with the original designer - FINALLY I WAS BANNED - form the forum.
Ben I was so shocked like never before. I know it was only an inspiration - and inspirations are completely free, in the whole world. I still feel to be punished for something - he called me a THIEF - a case in Switzerland for the court.
love paul