rec.autos.simulators

If someone were to come out with a fantasy track for
N2, say that 4 mile superspeedway in Des Moines, what
are the legal issues involved?

I believe I've already read that such a track would be
a derivative work and would be subject to Papyrus'
copyright.  What does that mean?  Would the creator
need to get Papyrus' authorization to legally make
the track available to others ?

What if no original Papyrus art were used in the track ?

Does anyone know if Papyrus was/is considering making
their tools available to create tracks?  I'd be willing
to buy such a thing if they offered it.  Is there a
reason that they are not offering it now?

Thanks.

It has been stated in the past that Papyrus has no problems with a
completely original track being created and distributed, however this has
yet to occur.  Every track so far is just a slight modification of one of
the originals, thus still uses copyrighted material.  They aren't releasing
the track creation tools basically because it just wouldn't be feasable.
The stuff they are using isn't some glossy ready to ship editor.  Instead
it's more of a thrown together program that is by no means pretty, but
serves it's purpose.

--

A derivative work is a work based on someone else's copyrighted work. If
all the data and the artwork were original, then it would not be a
derivative work, and Papyrus would have no claim on the new track. To date,
no one has managed to do this. Or if they have, they aren't talking about
it on the net.

Papyrus apparently uses a combination of commercial and proprietary tools
to create the tracks. According to Papyrus personnel, the tools are not
polished enough for public use, which I take to mean that they think the
support issues would far outweigh the benefits of making the tools
available.

Dave Sparks
IWCCCARS Project: http://www.theuspits.com/iwcccars
Late Night League: http://www.sequoia-dev.com/Hawaii/latenite.html
Hawaii Handle: davids