buggNewSense GNU/Linux - Bugs: bug #32797, Frets on Fire, Stepmania could be...

 
 

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bug #32797: Frets on Fire, Stepmania could be infringing on Konami's and Harmonix's (respectively) patents

Submitted by:  Adam Saunders <asaun>
Submitted on:  Tue 15 Mar 2011 11:43:40 PM UTC  
 
Category: gNewSense 3Severity: 3 - Normal
Item Group: All architecturesStatus: Invalid
Privacy: PublicAssigned to: Karl Goetz <kgoetz>
Open/Closed: Closed

Mon 11 Apr 2011 06:35:22 AM UTC, comment #3:

Adam, as Karl already said, we don't have a stance on patents. If we start removing software that could or could not infringe patents we couldn't use even the kernel.

Graziano <graziano>
Sat 19 Mar 2011 09:15:23 AM UTC, comment #2:

Our stance on patents has always been that we don't have a stance on patents. I'd rather not create one now.

Karl Goetz <kgoetz>In charge of this item.
Tue 15 Mar 2011 11:47:17 PM UTC, comment #1:

There is an error in the title of this bug. The word "Stepmania" should be replaced with "Pydance". I apologize for any confusion I may have caused.

Adam Saunders <asaun>
Tue 15 Mar 2011 11:43:40 PM UTC, original submission:

Disclaimer (which applies to all my package freedom bug submissions on Savannah, including this one): I am not a lawyer, and the following text is not the equivalent of a lawyer's legal advice.

From the EndSoftwarePatents wiki, I was led to this discussion of Fedora's concerns about patent infringement regarding a few "music games", which led them to remove the games from their repositories:
http://lists.debian.org/debian-legal/2008/01/msg00156.html

After reading through some of the text in the relevant patents, I believe that two games in the Debian Squeeze repositories could be plausibly interpreted as infringing on patents (note that these games are in the official Debian repositories, not in the contrib nor the non-free repositories).
The games are Frets on Fire and Pydance, and the relevant patents are held, respectively, by Harmonix (http://www.patentstorm.us/patents/7625284/fulltext.html), and Konami (http://www.patentstorm.us/patents/6347998/fulltext.html).

Adam Saunders <asaun>

 

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  • -unavailable- added by graziano (Posted a comment)
  • -unavailable- added by asaun (Submitted the item)
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    Follow 6 latest changes.

    Date Changed By Updated Field Previous Value => Replaced By
    Mon 11 Apr 2011 06:35:22 AM UTCgrazianoCategoryNone=>gNewSense 3
      Item GroupNone=>All architectures
      StatusNone=>Invalid
      Open/ClosedOpen=>Closed
      Discussion LockUnlocked=>Locked
    Sat 19 Mar 2011 09:15:23 AM UTCkgoetzAssigned toNone=>kgoetz

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