Ownership of Copyright to Accursed Toys Products
Sandra Woodruff
ownership of programs developed by Accursed Toys and released by Happy
Puppy Software.
First of all, Accursed Toys owns and operates the distribution company
known as Happy Puppy Software. All distribution rights for Accursed Toys
products on the Amiga are held by Happy Puppy. All distribution rights
for Accursed Toys products on the IBM PC except BOPPIN' are held by
Happy Puppy. (Apogee holds the IBM PC rights to BOPPIN')
NO PRODUCT OF ACCURSED TOYS HAS EVER BEEN RELEASED TO THE PUBLIC DOMAIN.
Stephen P. Lepisto and Jennifer Diane Reitz created these games and have
never approved their release to the public domain. There is no intention
of releasing these games to the public domain, they are SHAREWARE.
A major problem for the Amiga world has been keeping game developers on
the Amiga format. One big reason is the all too common lack of
distinction between Public Domain and Shareware. Shareware is a
commercial product. Small companies such as Happy Puppy rely on people
actually PAYING MONEY FOR OUR PRODUCTS. Yeah, I know this is blasphemy to
some people, but the sad truth is, our moms and dads aren't supporting us
anymore, so we have to make money to support our food and shelter habits.
Goodwill is nice, but the phone company returned our envelope full of
goodwill with a note asking for money instead.
Our re-releases of Boppin', Dr. Who, Laboratory of Life and Peek-A-Boo
are on a strictly trial basis. We wanted to see if there is any logical
reason for us to try to sell Amiga games as shareware. We've been told by
the experts not to bother with the Amiga anymore. We have a growing IBM
PC line, but we still have a lot of emotional attachment to the Amiga.
Since Boppin' is on the IBM PC market right now as shareware, we wanted
to compare the results for an almost identical product on the Amiga.
Dr. Who, Lab of Life and Peek-A-Boo are freebies to show you (and us)
what we can do. Boppin' is our ONLY paid product. We made a free demo
version of Boppin' to show it off, and anybody who really likes it can
buy the full version. If that makes us money grubbing imperialist running
dogs, well, arf, arf says the Happy Puppy.
We three have a really fond spot for the Amiga and it hurt like hell to
face the fact that we couldn't make a living creating games on it
anymore. And believe me, we did everything we could short of a pact with
Satan (who advised us to go to the IBM before he'd consider such a deal).
There ARE NO LEGAL VERSIONS OF the complete, 150 level BOPPIN' for the
AMIGA in existance, except for about 200 RETAIL copies of the game sold
in 1992. Any copies of Boppin' for the Amiga that contain all 150 levels
and weren't bought retail are as illegal as an arm full of heroin. If
there are thousands of stolen copies of Boppin' already floating around
out there, then this experiment will fail brutally, no matter what we do.
Download our demos and shareware with our blessing. Enjoy them, give them
to your friends. If you like them, maybe you'll decide to get a
registered version of Boppin'. If you don't like them, well, the world is
filled with dissenting opinions...we'll get over it.
All we want to know is...
Is there a viable shareware market for Amiga games, or has the "I DESERVE
IT ALL FOR FREE" mindset become so pervasive that it's not worth the
bother. You're the voters and we're counting the ballots. I'll keep you
informed as the election season progresses.
While I'm here shouting....please download our programs if you like them
and get valuable upload credits by plastering them all over the planet.
If you missed our address, it's:
http://www.power.net/users/HappyPup/amiga/
Thank you for your patience. And to that small number of you who actually
gave us money for our game already...THANK YOU!
--
Sandra Woodruff - Marketing Manager - Happy Puppy Software
***We want to market your hot new game***
Amiga games+ at; http://www.power.net/users/HappyPup/amiga/
PC Games and cheats at; http://www.power.net/users/HappyPup/
John Kelly
# First of all, Accursed Toys owns and operates the distribution company
# known as Happy Puppy Software. All distribution rights for Accursed Toys
# products on the Amiga are held by Happy Puppy. All distribution rights
# for Accursed Toys products on the IBM PC except BOPPIN' are held by
# Happy Puppy. (Apogee holds the IBM PC rights to BOPPIN')
Ok. that's more clear. As long as Steven, and Jennifer are in on this...
# NO PRODUCT OF ACCURSED TOYS HAS EVER BEEN RELEASED TO THE PUBLIC DOMAIN.
# Stephen P. Lepisto and Jennifer Diane Reitz created these games and have
# never approved their release to the public domain. There is no intention
# of releasing these games to the public domain, they are SHAREWARE.
HOLD ON. Let's take a stroll back in time .. FOUR YEARS to their days
on GEnie ... their own Accursed Toys area, the release of PEEK-A-BOO,
Lab of LIFE, and Dr.Who into the PD (FunWare, I think they called it),
... ring a BELL?
The ONLY Program that was Shareware was Boppin'.
# commercial product. Small companies such as Happy Puppy rely on people
# actually PAYING MONEY FOR OUR PRODUCTS. Yeah, I know this is blasphemy to
# some people, but the sad truth is, our moms and dads aren't supporting us
# anymore, so we have to make money to support our food and shelter habits.
Absolutely Fuck You [tm]
# Dr. Who, Lab of Life and Peek-A-Boo are freebies to show you (and us)
# what we can do. Boppin' is our ONLY paid product. We made a free demo
# version of Boppin' to show it off, and anybody who really likes it can
# buy the full version. If that makes us money grubbing imperialist running
# dogs, well, arf, arf says the Happy Puppy.
Wait a minnit ... THIS IS WHAT I SAID IN THE FIRST POST ... what the
hell are you doing posting this sarcastic reply, when I was CORRECT?
# We three have a really fond spot for the Amiga and it hurt like hell to
# face the fact that we couldn't make a living creating games on it
# anymore. And believe me, we did everything we could short of a pact with
# Satan (who advised us to go to the IBM before he'd consider such a deal).
"Anymore"? They had ONE commercial effort, "Boppin'" (which is very good, as
are ALL the Accursed Toys releases) which they sold in whatever store would
give them shelf space, and direct-marketting ... not exactly a herculean
effort on their part to succede, then they FELL OFF THE FACE OF THE PLANET,
citing "No time to work anymore" "Steven got a real job", and "Red Dwarf Burn-
out" ...
The Net has a long memory, Ma'm.
Speak the truth, and no one gets hurt.
--
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
jk...@ragtime.com | ... heard a singer on the radio, late | Protect
SysOp, Ragtime East | last night; said he's gonna kick the | the
1:3654/7.0@Fidonet | darkness, 'till it bleeds daylight ... | Net!
John Kelly
# NO PRODUCT OF ACCURSED TOYS HAS EVER BEEN RELEASED TO THE PUBLIC DOMAIN.
# Stephen P. Lepisto and Jennifer Diane Reitz created these games and have
# never approved their release to the public domain. There is no intention
# of releasing these games to the public domain, they are SHAREWARE.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Now I see where you are confused; You don't know what SHAREWARE means.
Dr.Who, Peek-a-boo, and Lab o' Life are FREEWARE.
# Dr. Who, Lab of Life and Peek-A-Boo are freebies
Ah, I see you agree ... and contradict yourself.
Sandra Woodruff
># NO PRODUCT OF ACCURSED TOYS HAS EVER BEEN RELEASED TO THE PUBLIC
DOMAIN.
...>
> HOLD ON. Let's take a stroll back in time .. FOUR YEARS to their days
>on GEnie ... their own Accursed Toys area, the release of PEEK-A-BOO,
>Lab of LIFE, and Dr.Who into the PD (FunWare, I think they called it),
> ... ring a BELL?
Yep. And NONE OF THOSE PROGRAMS HAVE EVER BEEN RELEASED INTO THE PUBLIC
DOMAIN. I'D YELL IT LOUDER, BUT THERE'S NO BOLDFACE TYPE. Don't argue
copyright law with me if you don't know the law. These are our programs
and shall remain such.
>Small companies such as Happy Puppy rely on people
># actually PAYING MONEY FOR OUR PRODUCTS. Yeah, I know this is blasphemy
to
># some people, but the sad truth is, our moms and dads aren't supporting
us
># anymore, so we have to make money to support our food and shelter
habits.
>
> Absolutely Fuck You [tm]
Hit a nerve here, did we. Call it a good guess on my part.
>
># Dr. Who, Lab of Life and Peek-A-Boo are freebies to show you (and us)
># what we can do. Boppin' is our ONLY paid product. We made a free demo
># version of Boppin' to show it off, and anybody who really likes it can
># buy the full version. If that makes us money grubbing imperialist
running
># dogs, well, arf, arf says the Happy Puppy.
>
> Wait a minnit ... THIS IS WHAT I SAID IN THE FIRST POST ... what the
>hell are you doing posting this sarcastic reply, when I was CORRECT?
I believe somebody called us Thieves...we try to make it a rule to never
steal our own products.
>
># We three have a really fond spot for the Amiga and it hurt like hell
to
># face the fact that we couldn't make a living creating games on it
># anymore. And believe me, we did everything we could short of a pact
with
># Satan (who advised us to go to the IBM before he'd consider such a
deal).
>
> "Anymore"? They had ONE commercial effort, "Boppin'"
Stephen and Jennifer have created or been part of probably two dozen
products released by half a dozen companies, such as Electronic Arts,
Activision, Interplay, Sculptured Software, LucasArts and Edmark.
(which is very good, as are ALL the Accursed Toys releases) which they
sold in whatever store would
>give them shelf space, and direct-marketting ... not exactly a herculean
>effort on their part to succede
Actually, they placed the game with a distributor called KarmaSoft. If
you understood the process of game development and marketing, you'd know
that they weren't the ones in charge of putting their games on the store
shelves...that's the job for people with a different kind of skill
altogether.
>then they FELL OFF THE FACE OF THE PLANET,
>citing "No time to work anymore" "Steven got a real job", and "Red Dwarf
Burn-out" ...
Actually, they kept making programs. After Boppin came out, they produced
Laboratory of Life and Peek-A-Boo for the Amiga. Get your facts straight
if you're going to be a publicly renowned asshole. After that, they
rewrote Boppin' for the IBM PC.
>
> The Net has a long memory, Ma'm.
Apparently longer and better than yours.
>
> Speak the truth, and no one gets hurt.
Know the truth and you shall be set free. Learn to recognize it when it
bites you on the ass.
To reinterate...
SHAREWARE IS NOT PUBLIC DOMAIN SOFTWARE. Public Domain software has been
officially released to the public domain with an official statement to
that effect by the copyright owner, usually the creator of the program.
Just because you got it free, or even if you STOLE it, doesn't
place a copyrighted work in the PUBLIC DOMAIN. Hear me now and believe
me later...ACCURSED TOYS/HAPPY PUPPY SOFTWARE owns all rights to their
creations.
Sandra Woodruff
John Kelly
# > Absolutely Fuck You [tm]
#
# Hit a nerve here, did we. Call it a good guess on my part.
Yes, you did. No one likes to be accused of piracy; especially when
the accuser is a clueless, but highly vocal idiot, such as yourself.
# To reinterate...
# SHAREWARE IS NOT PUBLIC DOMAIN SOFTWARE. Public Domain software has been
# officially released to the public domain with an official statement to
# that effect by the copyright owner, usually the creator of the program.
<Sigh> Again, you have no idea what you are talking about. Let me say it
more slowly this time, and maybe you'll get it.
Shareware:
A programmer releases, through public channels, their work, and in
return for its use, they require some recompense.
The Boppin' demo was not shareware; it was REGISTERWARE ... if you
registered it, you got the full version. Which brings us to ...
(Boppin' was also released comercially, but that is a different story)
Registerware:
A programmer releases, through public channels, their work in a somehow
"crippled" form ... if you pays the bucks, you get a "key" to unlock the
higher functions, OR a full, un-crippled version in the mail.
This is how Boppin' was released.
Giftware:
A programmer releases, through public channels, their work, USUALLY in
full working order, and requests that, in return for its use, you sent
them some small token of appreciation, like a cake, or more often your
sister.
Cardware:
A programmer ... blah blah blah ... in return for its use, they request
the small gift of a postcard, from wherever you may live.
Freeware:
A programmer ... blah blah ... in return for its use, requests absolutely
nothing ... it's yours to use for free.
This is how DrWho, Peek-a-boo, and Lab o' life were released.
IN ALL THE ABOVE CASES, THE AUTHOR RETAINS ALL RIGHTS to the program.
Public Domain:
The author releases his work publicly, and relinquishes all rights to it.
you are allowed to do with it as you will, including using all, or part of
it as a basis for YOUR work.
Now. Are you clear on this?
Maxwell Daymon
: Shareware:
: A programmer releases, through public channels, their work, and in
: return for its use, they require some recompense.
: Registerware:
A "cute" term for crippled Shareware. Shareware is a term for software
distributed to the end-user before purchase through non-commercial means.
You can call it crippled shareware or demo-version shareware. It's still
shareware, which is likely what it will be called in a court.
: Giftware:
: Cardware:
Both still shareware with more "cute" terms to describe what is accepted
as payment. Copyright legalities are all still identical. If this were
taken to court, none of these cute terms would mean a thing. It's either
copyrighted or it isn't, and the terms are discussed explicitly, not
using such 'net coined phrases. Further, Shareware and Freeware are the only
terms that are widely used across platforms to mean anything. The other
terms are only for convinience of discussion among others who agree of
the terms and obviously are deviant in meaning. (I've seen quite a few
giftware programs that are "gifts" to the community and "gifts" as in
"This software is giftware, and released into the PD."
: Freeware:
: A programmer ... blah blah ... in return for its use, requests absolutely
: nothing ... it's yours to use for free.
:
: This is how DrWho, Peek-a-boo, and Lab o' life were released.
: IN ALL THE ABOVE CASES, THE AUTHOR RETAINS ALL RIGHTS to the program.
Or rather, whatever rights they choose to keep or distribute. As such, a
"freeware" program can be re-released as shareware (in any incarnation)
or commericial.
: Public Domain:
:
: The author releases his work publicly, and relinquishes all rights to it.
: you are allowed to do with it as you will, including using all, or part of
: it as a basis for YOUR work.
I am always amused by such notices:
Copyright (C) 19xx U. N. Formed. All Rights Reserved.
I hereby release this program is in the public domain.
You may do <xxx> You may do <xxx> You can use this in
<xxx>....
;-)
Little do they know that the second line may just kill their case if it
ever went to court.
------------------
Maxwell Daymon
mda...@rmii.com
------------------
John Kelly
# : IN ALL THE ABOVE CASES, THE AUTHOR RETAINS ALL RIGHTS to the program.
#
# Or rather, whatever rights they choose to keep or distribute. As such, a
# "freeware" program can be re-released as shareware (in any incarnation)
# or commericial.
An interesting quandry, Max ... how does this scenario affect the copies
that were released as freeware?
Are these freeware copies now illegal to distribute?
This doesn't pertain specifically to the excellent Accursed Toys releases,
but it is an interesting notion.
Maxwell Daymon
: mda...@rainbow.rmii.com (Maxwell Daymon) writes:
: # : IN ALL THE ABOVE CASES, THE AUTHOR RETAINS ALL RIGHTS to the program.
: #
: # Or rather, whatever rights they choose to keep or distribute. As such, a
: # "freeware" program can be re-released as shareware (in any incarnation)
: # or commericial.
:
: An interesting quandry, Max ... how does this scenario affect the copies
: that were released as freeware?
In such a situation, I think the best the copyright holder could hope for
is to disallow distribution, but would not be able to require you to
delete the software.
: Are these freeware copies now illegal to distribute?
It's quite possible, yes.
: This doesn't pertain specifically to the excellent Accursed Toys releases,
: but it is an interesting notion.
Copyright literally is the "right to copy" and if the copyright holder
decides to change the copy rights, that is the copyright holders decision.
John Kelly
# Relax folks...we're not out to make anybody delete anything, we're just
# reminding the world that we made Boppin', Dr. Who, Laboratory of Life and
# Peek-A-Boo. We did them, we're proud of them and they're ours. Whatever
# you want to call them is your business. But whether you call them
# shareware, freeware, promoware or underwear,
^^^^^^^^^
Heheheee... <whew>
# We also remind the world that the full 150 level version of Boppin' was
# never shareware or freeware or anything else but a retail game.
We never said it was, Sandra. If that's what you thought I was saying, then
we had a little mis-understanding.
Peek-a-boo!
(I love that damned thing)
Sandra Woodruff
Daymon) writes:
>
>: mda...@rainbow.rmii.com (Maxwell Daymon) writes:
>: # : IN ALL THE ABOVE CASES, THE AUTHOR RETAINS ALL RIGHTS to the
program.
>: #
>: # Or rather, whatever rights they choose to keep or distribute. As
such, a
>: # "freeware" program can be re-released as shareware (in any
incarnation)
>: # or commericial.
>:
>: An interesting quandry, Max ... how does this scenario affect the
copies
>: that were released as freeware?
>
>In such a situation, I think the best the copyright holder could hope
for
>is to disallow distribution, but would not be able to require you to
>delete the software.
>
>: Are these freeware copies now illegal to distribute?
>
>It's quite possible, yes.
Relax folks...we're not out to make anybody delete anything, we're just
reminding the world that we made Boppin', Dr. Who, Laboratory of Life and
Peek-A-Boo. We did them, we're proud of them and they're ours. Whatever
you want to call them is your business. But whether you call them
shareware, freeware, promoware or underwear, they're ours because we made
them. That's all. If you got our freely distributed games free, great,
enjoy them.
We DO ask that if anybody out there is distributing our shareware, please
use the current version. It has our current address and information
included in the game art. We have made updated versions of all four games
available on our WWW page, and they are also at
"ftp.cdrom.com/pub/aminet/games/incoming" awaiting transfer (one way or
another) to AmiNet.
We also remind the world that the full 150 level version of Boppin' was
never shareware or freeware or anything else but a retail game. Copies of
THAT game do NOT have our approval for redistribution. This it the ONE
product that we have on the market that is actually designed to directly
bring an income to our programming efforts.
Hopefully, this is a fairly straightforward and painless explanation of
our feelings on the entire matter of ownership of copyright.
>
>: This doesn't pertain specifically to the excellent Accursed Toys
releases,
>: but it is an interesting notion.
>
>Copyright literally is the "right to copy" and if the copyright holder
>decides to change the copy rights, that is the copyright holders
>decision.
There are no changes on our part. Keep passing the shareware around.
Maybe eventually somebody, somewhere, in some remote corner of the
planet, will actually send us some money for our efforts. Hey, it COULD
happen.