From: "Fred Ford" <fred@NOSPAMtoysforbob.com>
To: <PaulForest@NOSPAMrogers.com>
Cc: "Paul Reiche" <paul@NOSPAMtoysforbob.com>
Subject: Permission
Date: Thu, 17 Jun 2004 10:00:36 -0700
X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook IMO, Build 9.0.2416 (9.0.2911.0)


Hello Paul,

Thanks for the props.  After discussion with Paul we have 
decided that so long as you do not use the 
name Star Control (we don't own this), do not use material 
from Star Control III, abide by and display 
prominently your adherance to the Ur-Quan Masters GPL, 
include that you have additional special 
permission from myself and Paul, and accommodate the extra 
pepperoni Paul requires on his pizza you 
may use content from Star Control I and II.

End transmission,
Fred

P.S.  Good luck.

Date: Wed, 16 Jun 2004 11:36:56 -0400
To: IANA@TOYSFORBOB.COM
From: Paul Forest <PaulForest@NOSPAMrogers.com>
Subject: Star Control: Timewarp
Cc: Paul Forest <PaulForest@NOSPAMrogers.com>
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Hello, Toys For Bob!


Hi, my name's Paul Forest, I'm a huge fan of Star Control and TFB. My computer has never been happier 
to send an email to the blessed creators of SC. I'm working with a bunch of guys on a fan-based project, 
called Star Control: Timewarp. This project has been worked on for about 6 years now, and I'm curious 
to know about licensing issues. Rumour has it that TFB has given permission to use art, characters, 
ships, species, plots, concepts, etc from the Star Control universe in Timewarp. But it's been so long 
since anyone asked about it, and so many people have come and gone on the project, that none of us has 
a record of how things stand. We *really* don't want to step on anyone's toes here, especially not 
people whose work we respect and value so highly.

The question has come up because we're considering entering the project into an independent game 
developers' contest, and they want all the legal stuff handled before sending in any entries. 
The Timewarp project is open source, and they've never had an open-source entry before. Most entries are 
made by independent companies that have an unpublished game, and little funding. 

Now our intentions are to remain non-commercial, but in this contest, there are prizes of cash and 
hardware ($20,000US spread over 12 categories). This is a tricky issue, but if handled carefully, I 
think it can be done so that no one gets too mad or starts suing people. Many open-source projects, 
especially on Sourceforge.net, have opted-in to accept donations. The sole purpose of these donations 
is to compensate developers for expenses, things like servers costs and getting obscure hardware to 
test on. Any prize money that Timewarp might get could be donated in a similar way. There's a number 
of options for carefully handling this kind of thing, and we can go through them if you like, but the 
bottom line is that we really don't want to step on anyone's toes here.

Ok... so the tough questions:

Does Timewarp have permission to use content from Star Control 1 and Star Control 2?
Are there any scenarios in which that will not be the case?

Can we enter Timewarp into this contest?

Can you tell Mr. Rieche and Mr. Ford that we worship the ground they walk on / float above? 
Pretty please?

Notes:

* Timewarp's license is currently Public Domain. We'll change it to GPL to protect everyone involved.
Public Domain apparently means, legally, that there is no copyright holder.
* At some point, we'll have to remove the terms Star Control from the title, or get permission to use 
such a thing.  We'll have to remove the SC3 ships, or get permission to use them.
* URLs: Timewarp homepage: http://timewarp.sourceforge.net/
Timewarp forums: http://timewarp.sourceforge.net/forum/
The Independent Games Festival (the contest): http://www.igf.com/
The contest's rules: http://www.igf.com/rules.htm
Debate on whether or not Timewarp, or any open-source project, can be entered into the IGF: http://www.igda.org/Forums/showthread.php?s=903a6d1d2fcf93b32984ad8d94b6e381&amp;threadid=10437

Thanks very much for reading this, good luck and take care!

Paul

Thanks,
Paul Forest



