From: graham shaw
Sent: 29 May 2003 09:58
To: stephen.harrison
Subject: Re: Speccy Request
hi Stephen,
thanks for writing... yeah the whole copyright thing is a grey area, what
with nearly all the old Spectrum lables disappearing. But as the original
author I grant you permission to redistribute the games via your website...
Soccer Star and Striker Manager (both Cult Software)... I don't think the
company exists anymore (it is more than 10 years since i last had contact
with them). But as the program author I give you permission to distribute
them via your website.
I also grant you permission to distribute via your website any of the games
by The Shaw Brothers, Gadtek Games, Redwood Designs and related names that
have already been distributed by the World Of Spectrum Archive.
A few of these games were published by Atlantis Software. Similarly this
company appears not to exist anymore. So I unless you hear otherwise from
Atlantis then I grant you permission to distribute the games via your
website.
I hope this clears the mud somewhat. I think the WoS Archive now has around
40 of our games on (some older, early attempts were only published by
ourselves). "Soccer Supremo" by Redwood Designs (I think we used that label)
was an earlier version of "Soccer Star".
Okay then, let me know if you need anymore information!
Regards
Gra
----Original Message Follows----
From: "Steve Harrison"
To:
Subject: Speccy Request
Date: Thu, 29 May 2003 00:00:32 +0100
Hello Graham,
I am writing to request (the Copyright holders) formal permission to
distribute numerous ZX Spectrum based software games from my non profit
making personal web site http://www.zxspectrum.info , namely (to date):
Soccer Star - Cult
Striker Manager - Cult
My web site contained numerous ZX Spectrum based software for visitors to
download. These programs were uploaded following Copyright laws as I
understood them to be true. I created a Copyright section on my site to
explain my beliefs to visitors, and I purposely did not upload games when my
research discovered the Copyright holders had formally denied the
distribution of their software.
My ISP (Freeola) closed my site temporarily for Copyright Breach. When my
site was off line, I further investigated the issue of ZX Spectrum software
Copyright. In contrary to my genuine belief, I discovered that you must have
PERSONAL permission from the Copyright holder(s) in order to distribute
their games on your personal web site. My belief was if the copyright holder
had already formally granted permission (elsewhere) to distribute their
software (as documented on numerous ZX Spectrum based web sites, whose
owners actively contact Copyright holders), then it was also legal for me to
do so.
My web site is now back on-line (minus all downloadable software files).
Freeola have informed me that they will permit distribution of ZX Spectrum
based software from their servers, on the premise that I gain formal
permission from the Copyright holder ('s) to do so, and that I publish their
formal responses on my web site - hence this e-mail to you.
Many thanks in anticipation,
Steve.
http://www.zxspectrum.info
PS: Many Thanks for including a link to my web site from yours. It is much
appreciated!!
