Author: Robert Hyatt
Date: 20:27:47 04/30/02
Go up one level in this thread
On April 30, 2002 at 16:31:01, Peter McKenzie wrote: >On April 30, 2002 at 16:01:33, Slater Wold wrote: > >>On April 30, 2002 at 14:42:50, Jeroen Noomen wrote: >> >>>During the last 6 - 12 months I have noticed a trend that there are very clear >>>indications that non-commercial programmers of chess programs make use of (parts >>>of) commercially available books. As I was in Maastricht during the WMCCC in >>>2001, lots of speculations and complaints were heard about this topic. From >>>several sources I know that also the Rebel books have been ?hacked? by people (I >>>will not mention their names, I am sure they know themselves whom I am talking >>>about). As the Rebel books are my lifework I want to put a very clear statement >>>in this forum. >>> >>>The Rebel books have been developped by me during a period of almost 14 years. >>>Not only is it handmade, it also contains lots of stuff you will not find in >>>other books. In the past it has happenend a few times that chess programs were >>>caught as not being made by the programmer himself. Examples are Quick Step back >>>in 1989, Greif, the several Crafty clones. As we can see from todays rules by >>>the ICCA, such programs are not tolerated anymore. And in my view this is fully >>>correct. >>> >>>Jeroen Noomen >>>Bookauthor for Rebel and Chess Tiger >> >>I can understand your frustration. You've worked just as hard as Ed or >>Christophe on Rebel/Tiger. No doubt your books add a considerable amount of Elo >>to these programs, and I am sure Ed and Christophe are very appreciative of >>that. >> >>However, I must warn you that laying claim to a series of chess opening moves is >>not going to be easy to defend. You cannot copyright moves in chess, as you >>cannot copyright dance moves. While you can copyright a mvs book, you are >>actually only copyrighting the format. Again, you cannot copyright chess moves. > >This isn't a copyright issue, its not even a legal issue in the traditional >sense. It is about the rules for a particular competition, namely the ICCA >World Computer Chess Championship. If the rules say that you can't use someone >elses book in the tournament (and its not even clear that they do say this), >then you can't use someone elses book regardless of what copyright says. > >Of course ICCA can't send you to jail if you break their rules :-) But they can >chuck you out of their tournament. > > Actually copyright law _does_ apply. You can't copyright a single chess game, period. But you _can_ copyright a "collection" of games, because the work expended to "collect" the games is something that copyright law protects. It is very clear in this regard. IE you can't copyright a single word, or a definition of a word. But you can copyright a collection of words/definitions (called a dictionary of course) quite easily and correctly. Opening books fit this perfectly... >> >>I think anyone found 'hacking' a chess program, or its book, should face a >>severe punishment. Anyone claiming something is their, when in fact it is not, >>should be punished. >> >>I am not defending these people, I am simply stating the fact that it would be >>easier to encrypt the books, than to go after those stealing it.
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