Mame Sends Legal Threat To Me To Cease And Desist Mame4Iphone


zodttd

Solving your premature emulation since the Tapwave
Joined
Dec 2, 2005
Messages
1,167
Website
www.zodttd.com
Just a heads up to developers and people interested in the workings of the MAME Team. I just recently confirmed the cease and desist I received from the MAME Team to be authentic. The issue was not with the GPL's distribution of source, of which I complied with. It was with my donation link. Why I was chosen to be targeted by this legal threat is beyond me. Especially since I haven't seen donations come in from mame4iphone, as it isn't in high demand for the Apple iPod Touch / iPhone crowd. Full disclosure of the email contacts with them posted here: http://www.zodttd.com/blog.php?b=28

I always saw the donation link as a way for fans to show they appreciate my work. MAME seems to see my porting work as theirs, and a way of me taking away from their moneys worth.

Heads up. :(
ZodTTD
 
A donation is the definition of non-profit, I think they are being a bit pedantic.

I wonder if Franxis will receive the same email? (quick Franxis, remove the list of people who have donated!)
 
(naw)mcx said:
Ouch, that's a bit harsh seeing you are making no money from it directly.

Shame they chose to become Apple-lites. I hope you can get their approval somehow!

The point is that he shouldn't have to. The code is released by them under the GPL.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Peter R said:
(naw)mcx said:
Ouch, that's a bit harsh seeing you are making no money from it directly.

Shame they chose to become Apple-lites. I hope you can get their approval somehow!

The point is that he shouldn't have to. The code is released by them under the GPL.

Well then. That's even worse.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Peter R said:
(naw)mcx said:
Ouch, that's a bit harsh seeing you are making no money from it directly.

Shame they chose to become Apple-lites. I hope you can get their approval somehow!

The point is that he shouldn't have to. The code is released by them under the GPL.

MAME isn't GPL-ed. The license they use can be found here. It specifically prohibits profiting from distributing MAME or anything derived from it. So yes, they have a leg to stand on, though it's a shaky one. But it's still a dick move by them, as it's not like Zod is selling MAME to people. He can receive those donations from people who've never used his MAME port, and his distribution of his MAME port also is not contingent on donating. I'm not a lawyer, but I'm guessing it would be a bit of a tough call from a legal standpoint, but that Zod is probably in the clear. Whether it's even something worth fighting is something else entirely.

But yes, dick move from the MAME team.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Zod you should stand up to them over this as they could push that vague clause as far as they like, they could say the MAME Pandora port is causing us to profit from it via the Pandora sales.

It's a crazy term and it needs to be given much more detail by them and fleshed out.
 
zodttd said:
I always saw the donation link as a way for fans to show they appreciate my work. MAME seems to see my porting work as theirs, and a way of me taking away from their moneys worth.
Well your "donate to get access to latest betas" thing can be considered as selling them. Also after reading Cydia guide on your wiki I got a feeling you are actively trying to get people to donate to you, "Donate and Download" kind of implies someone has to donate to download, even though there is "free" option at the bottom of the list. I don't see anything strange about them targeting you.

Edit:
zodttd said:
GPL's distribution of source
GPL? This (you stating it's GPL) kind of implies you don't care much about the software you port.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Ah not GPL, now that's an entirely different kettle of fish, it's their intellectual property and they have the right to license it as they see fit so it's either quit begging or write your own code. I don't think it's such crazy terms, I think most of us would demand/expect them to respect our wishes should the positions be reversed. Whether we would ever impose such is another story. I say comply and hope they don't refine the terms further, sucks to be Lando Calrissian but I say do what's best for the whole colony.
 
Kicker, would be good to find a way around this issue.
unsure.gif
 
Last edited by a moderator:
notaz said:
zodttd said:
I always saw the donation link as a way for fans to show they appreciate my work. MAME seems to see my porting work as theirs, and a way of me taking away from their moneys worth.
Well your "donate to get access to latest betas" thing can be considered as selling them. Also after reading Cydia guide on your wiki I got a feeling you are actively trying to get people to donate to you, "Donate and Download" kind of implies someone has to donate to download, even though there is "free" option at the bottom of the list. I don't see anything strange about them targeting you.

Edit:
zodttd said:
GPL's distribution of source
GPL? This (you stating it's GPL) kind of implies you don't care much about the software you port.

Notaz. You're getting on my nerves.

MAME was in fact GPL'd at one point (until 1997). It was a logical error I made while being very upset over being singled out by the MAME Team. I based my work off of Franxis' port, and there are valid concerns here.

Though you overstep when you say I don't care about my software development. Want me to start picking on your software development history?
 
Last edited by a moderator:
zodttd said:
MAME was in fact GPL'd at one point (until 1997).
Irrelevant. The version your/Franxis' port was based on is from 2000, long after the license switch.

zodttd said:
It was a logical error I made while being very upset over being singled out by the MAME Team.
ok, then you should be more careful with things you state. MAME team got some bashing they didn't deserve in this thread because people thought it was GPL.

I'm not saying their C&D message you received was 100% appropriate, I'm just saying it isn't based on nothing with "Donate and Download" things that you seem to be doing (or is that history now?).

zodttd said:
Though you overstep when you say I don't care about my software development.
Not yours, the project's that is being ported. You should know why I'm bringing that up again, but ok, let's just say it's history now.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Back
Top