On the Legality of MxO EMU

[Metalogic]

Ok, so this has come up in another thread about the legality of a MxO Emulator. I've done some research and this is what I've come up with.

On Reverse Engineering:

Another issue is a possible infringement of the game creators copyright. As the case of Lotus v. Borland demonstrates, recreating "methods of operation" is not a copyright infringement.[dubious – discuss] Thus, emulating copyrighted material is not a breach. However, this demands that the complete emulator is a work of its own.

Modified versions of such original server software are not considered to be server emulators.

Source

The last part basically means that any software or program that we use must be created, it can't be the software that SOE used. I think MxO EMU is in the clear on that.

However, I think this deals with SOE, which probably doesn't care at this point. Our problem will be with WB.

[Metalogic]

Apparently the Digital Media Copyright Act (DMCA) says as long as it's a hobby (IE no profit can come from this) then we're in the clear.

Also, we may be in the clear if we credited everything to SOE, WB and The The Wachowski Brothers. I'm going to be reading (DMCA) for the next few days to make sure.

[Vesuveus]

That's awesome. Thanks for doing the homework, Meta!

Would it be legal if we organized a fundraiser for our dev team? For example, I heard about this girl who broadcasted herself playing the guitar on some website (that you can watch television shows on) and her goal was to get 1million hits on her streaming video. She got 1 million hits and someone posted that she should have asked everyone to donate 1 dollar to her paypal!

[ArchDuke]

As Meta said, no profit can come of it. It's a slippery slope that's for sure. Maybe Meta can find some loophole or something.

[ManicVelocity]

As long as nobody is profiting financially from the project, there shouldn't be a problem. With MxO having been shut down, there is no longer a EULA and hence no applicable contract between SOE and MxO subscribers.

And since Morpheus is rebuilding a server from scratch, he's not using any of SOE's proprietary tools. He's using a game client that he purchased to connect to a server that he wrote.

[Metalogic]

That's awesome. Thanks for doing the homework, Meta!

Would it be legal if we organized a fundraiser for our dev team? For example, I heard about this girl who broadcasted herself playing the guitar on some website (that you can watch television shows on) and her goal was to get 1million hits on her streaming video. She got 1 million hits and someone posted that she should have asked everyone to donate 1 dollar to her paypal!

The most we can do is have a Paypal donation that'll go towards to keeping the Server up, and to pay the website hosting. the key word here is No Profit!

[Prospero]

That's awesome. Thanks for doing the homework, Meta!

Would it be legal if we organized a fundraiser for our dev team? For example, I heard about this girl who broadcasted herself playing the guitar on some website (that you can watch television shows on) and her goal was to get 1million hits on her streaming video. She got 1 million hits and someone posted that she should have asked everyone to donate 1 dollar to her paypal!

The most we can do is have a Paypal donation that'll go towards to keeping the Server up, and to pay the website hosting. the key word here is No Profit!

Yo! Not to worry! When it comes time to worry about stuff like that, there will be all sorts of expenses to absorb cashflow. Plus, it would be the accounting laws of the country hosting the server which should concern us, not necessarily those of the US.

However, first things first!

[Rxu]

I'm no lawyer but if the folk's of SWGEMU can run a server without SOE or Lucasarts over their ass, I think it's safe to say we are in the clear.

[Neo VII]

As long as nobody is profiting financially from the project, there shouldn't be a problem. With MxO having been shut down, there is no longer a EULA and hence no applicable contract between SOE and MxO subscribers.

And since Morpheus is rebuilding a server from scratch, he's not using any of SOE's proprietary tools. He's using a game client that he purchased to connect to a server that he wrote.

I'm no lawyer but if the folk's of SWGEMU can run a server without SOE or Lucasarts over their ass, I think it's safe to say we are in the clear.

What they said...

[Morpheus]

i would like to know how to get a server for free if no incoming available.

And i mean a dedicated one, where new versions of the server could be deployed.