GNU DopeFish
 

about (2 || 3) month ago i downloaded Novell SuSE Linux 10.1, it had a mario cloned game where TUX must save his girlfriend. anyway, in one of it's User Levels i saw dopefish in the texture of walls.:o
you guys please go and check it out and tell me if that was really dopefish:D:dopefish: :dopefish: because i uninstalled SuSE and installed MSWINVista and dont have hard disk space for reinstalling it:doh:

// DopeFish Rocks!

Re: GNU DopeFish
 

Re: GNU DopeFish
 

Yes. That was Dopefish. :)

He's not GNU/Open source, though. He belongs to ID software. He can appear in cameos but he can't be used as an actual game character without ID's permission.

Re: GNU DopeFish
 

yes i know it isnt open source, i just wanted to be sure that is dopefish:D!

Re: GNU DopeFish
 

You're talking about SuperTux, and it was indeed a dopefish tile.

Re: GNU DopeFish
 

Re: GNU DopeFish
 

Just to clarify, we have written legal permission to use Dopefish as a cameo. Nobody else does, although I can't imagine they'd go after Tom Hall and John Romero over it.

Legally nobody else besides Apogee/3DR & id have permission to use the character, though.

Re: GNU DopeFish
 

Um... Doomed Space Marine lawsuit?

Re: GNU DopeFish
 

Ehh, what are you talking about ?

Re: GNU DopeFish
 

http://forums.3drealms.com/vb/showthread.php?t=22185

Just wondering where the whole parody laws thing fits in here. How much weight does written legal permission really hold?

Re: GNU DopeFish
 

Well lets put it this way:

1)If you HAVE got a written permission then you CAN use the character within the terms of that agreement.
2)If you don't have such a permission you may or may not be able to use the character depending on the individual circumstances.

In the US system there is a thing called fair use some uses of the Dopefish may fall under that. But there is an other area of law that is interesting in the case of the Dopefish that is the matter of parodies and the like.

Such things are a matter of how the court system ways copyright law versus the 1st amendment right of free expression. I think it is likely that the many appearances of the Dopefish in many games mostly fall under that category.

Edit:

It is also important to note that the copyright of the actual dopefish art and the issue of the trademark on the character are two very different things, since trademark law and copyright are two very different bodies of law.

Re: GNU DopeFish
 

It's the age-old question of "who gives a shit?"

It's not saying "hey we made this dopefish character we're so awesome", it's saying "hey look a dopefish". This issue would either, in the case of Doomed Space Marine, be thrown out of court, or in the case of the APOGEE cheat code in Jazz Jackrabbit, be totally taken out of context and the author would be curb stomped. It'll probably be the former because they're not charging for this game and really, who gives a shit?