Bug 6203 - Eliot, an open source Scrabble game
Summary: Eliot, an open source Scrabble game
Status: RESOLVED WONTFIX
Alias: None
Product: Mageia
Classification: Unclassified
Component: New RPM package request (show other bugs)
Version: Cauldron
Hardware: All Linux
Priority: Normal enhancement
Target Milestone: ---
Assignee: Mageia Bug Squad
QA Contact:
URL: http://www.nongnu.org/eliot/en/
Whiteboard:
Keywords:
Depends on:
Blocks:
 
Reported: 2012-05-31 14:03 CEST by Pavel Fric
Modified: 2013-07-19 18:41 CEST (History)
3 users (show)

See Also:
Source RPM: Eliot
CVE:
Status comment:


Attachments

Description Pavel Fric 2012-05-31 14:03:35 CEST
Eliot - http://www.nongnu.org/eliot/en/
Sander Lepik 2012-05-31 14:16:13 CEST

CC: (none) => sander.lepik
Hardware: i586 => All
Version: 2 => Cauldron

Pavel Fric 2012-06-02 19:43:09 CEST

URL: (none) => http://www.nongnu.org/eliot/en/
Summary: Package for: Eliot => Package for: Eliot, Eliot is an open source Scrabble game
Source RPM: (none) => Eliot

Pavel Fric 2012-06-02 19:47:19 CEST

Summary: Package for: Eliot, Eliot is an open source Scrabble game => Package for: Eliot, an open source Scrabble game

Pavel Fric 2012-06-03 04:21:17 CEST

Summary: Package for: Eliot, an open source Scrabble game => Eliot, an open source Scrabble game

Comment 1 Pierre Jarillon 2013-07-17 16:52:47 CEST
See also Bug 2134

CC: (none) => jarillon

Comment 2 Marja Van Waes 2013-07-18 09:07:23 CEST
Please see the note at the bottom of the page:
http://www.nongnu.org/eliot/en/index.html

> Legal note: SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property
> rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A. by Hasbro Inc., in Canada by
> Hasbro Canada Corporation and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear &
> Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc.
> Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro or Hasbro Canada. 

We can't package a game that is a copy of scrabble or derived from it, not even when it has a different name, without permission from the trademark owners:

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/technology/2008/07/scrabulous-sc-1.html
> Q: What if the creators of Scrabulous were to change the name to âXYZ Gameâ 
> and tweak the board and point system for their application. Would that make
> it legally permissible?
> A: People are always free to create their own original games. But if they copy
> the creative expression of a third party, or they try to mimic the logos or
> trademarks for a famous brand, they will typically be enjoined. Intellectual
> property law protects against copying and unfair competition. But people are
> always allowed to engage in fair competition which would require them to
> create their own original game. 

Maybe I looked over it, but on the Elliot site I don't see that this permission was given.

*If* their are countries where neither Hasbro nor (a subsidiary of) Mattel nor anyone else holds the intellectual property rights, then it could be maybe packaged for those countries and put in the tainted repository, but I'm not even sure about that (because our build server is in France, which surely is a country where "Mattel" holds the rights).

CC: (none) => marja11

Comment 3 Marja Van Waes 2013-07-18 10:12:45 CEST
If we don't have permission from Hasbro and Spear (Mattel) to package this, adding it to tainted for the few countries, if existing, where this is not patent-encumbered will be impossible, because our QA members and all or as good as all of our packagers live in countries where Scrabble is registered.

So closing as wontfix.

Feel free to reopen when we have the permission from Hasbro and Spear (Mattel)

Status: NEW => RESOLVED
Resolution: (none) => WONTFIX

Comment 4 Pavel Fric 2013-07-19 18:41:47 CEST
Hi,

I asked the developer of Eliot for his opinion about the situation via e-mail to understand more and here it is:

"Hi,

I'm not a lawyer, so I can only give you my understanding of the situation.

I would say that a trademark only protects the brand, and since
"Eliot" doesn't bear any similarity with "Scrabble" it shouldn't be a
problem. If rules and board layout are protected, then it is by
copyright, not trademark. this particular copyright will expire in
2063, if I understand correctly, which is a long time to wait :-)

Getting an authorization by Mattel would be great, but I don't think
there is the slightest chance to get it. So, I'm afraid that there
isn't much we can do. If Mageia prefers to avoid problems by refusing
to package Eliot, I cannot blame them.

On Thu, Jul 18, 2013 at 1:04 PM, Pavel Fric <pavelfric@seznam.cz> wrote:
> Hi,
>
> what do you think about this?
>
> https://bugs.mageia.org/show_bug.cgi?id=6203
>
> Greetings, Pavel Fric


Cheers,
-- 
Olivier"

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