BGonline.org Forums

Book Problem Rollouts Project

Posted By: Marty Storer
Date: Friday, 12 September 2008, at 1:58 p.m.

In Response To: Book Problem Rollouts Project (lenny)

However, I am not going to publish a book called, for example, Classic Backgammon Revisited Revisited: Modern Bots Elucidate the Most Egregious Rollout Errors of Previous Bots, that includes all of the CBR positions, and none but those, irrespective of the ordering. If I were Jeremy Bagai I would happily sue anyone who did so, believing that the interpretation of what you cited would be in my favor.

A copyright lawyer, who'd litigated some big cases in the past, talking about a similar example I once posed, did a bit of digging and told me he couldn't find an unequivocal interpretation one way or the other, but to me, something like the above kind of CBR Revisited would be sneaking bad piggybacking on somebody else's efforts. I think there'd be a good chance, not nearly 100%, that a court would see it that way.

I believe the legal issues are complicated. A book like CBR is much more than a "fact-based work." When in doubt, be courteous, ask permission, don't do anything that a reasonable person might look askance at. Such a stance might not maximize expected monetary or other gain, but it's the ethical thing to do.