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Chaos Strikes Back license

The actual status of the license is somewhat unclear. The author describes it as "stolenware". The copyright holders are aware of this port and have taken no steps.

According to Paul R. Stevens, author of the port:

> I translated the
> game (stole it!!!) from FTL.  I cannot claim that it
> is mine to give away.  I have always said that as far
> as I am concerned, people can do with it what they
> please until FTL asks that they do otherwise.  If FTL
> complains I will stop distributing it and will attempt
> to notify as many people as possible who might have it.
> For now, it is stolen-ware.

The webmaster of the site this package was downloaded from, Christophe Fontanel, writes:

> Wayne Holder, producer of DM/CSB, is still owning the copyrights (I
> think he is alone in that role).
> He and the other authors are already well aware of my web site, the fact
> that their games are available for download (on many sites, not only
> mine), the various clones that reuse copyrighted data (graphics,
> dungeon, ...), etc...
> As Paul said, they pretty much gave us a "quiet understanding" because
> if Wayne was upset by my web site, he would have already told me to
> remove the games. He just asked once that I put a copyright notice on
> the home page, which I did, and that was all. He just does not want that
> somebody make any money by violating his copyrights. But obviously, this
> is not our goal and they already understood that.

The included COPYING file reads:

  This game is not GPL.
  It's not even Freeware.
  It's a port.


  From: Paul R. Stevens <prsteven@facstaff.wisc.edu>                                                                                                         
  To: Erik Svanberg <svanberg@acc.umu.se>                                                                                                                    
  Subject: CSB: COPYING                                                                                                                                      
                                                                                                                                                             
  This game is really not Freeware.  It is Stolenware.                                                                                                       
  Here is what Wayne Holder wrote about CSBwin:                                                                                                              
                                                                                                                                                             
  >Please be aware that DM and CSB are both copyrighted and trademarked                                                                                      
  >products that belong to Software Heaven, Inc (SHI).  The FTL swoosh is                                                                                    
  >also a trademark of SHI as are the images in the program, the design of                                                                                   
  >the game data structures and numerous other aspects of the original                                                                                       
  >product.  You and your friend have no right to convert this intellectual                                                                                  
  >property to GPL because it belongs to SHI.                                                                                                                
  >                                                                                                                                                          
  >Wayne                                                                                                                                                     
                                                                                                                                                             
  Might he also object to the 'Freeware' label?  I don't                                                                                                     
  know the exact connotations of these words. 


License | by Dr. Radut