Bruce wrote:
On Aug 21, 8:49 am, guenter wrote:
and does it matter whether those positions or games or endgames
were created by hand or by computer ?

and what about chess-problems : mate in 2 , selfmate,...
are they copyrightable ?

What can be copyrighted are written works specifically created by
someone. If I ran off copies of pages from a book of chess problems
and sold them that someone had composed that would be a copyright
violation because the book contained the collection of created chess
problems.

However it would be very difficult to prove that I was violating
copyright laws by creating my own book of problems, unless there was
nearly identical similarity to the problems in my book and the
problems in someone else's previously created work. There is also
what is called "fair use". That means that you can use small amounts
of copyrighted materials under fair use without violating the law.
For example using a single problem from a collection would probably
qualify as fair use, but including several pages of problems composed
in a copyrighted book by another author in my own book would be a
copyright violation.

You demonstrate a lack of understanding of key elements of "fair use".
No need to read further.


--
Kenneth Sloan
Computer and Information Sciences +1-205-932-2213
University of Alabama at Birmingham FAX +1-205-934-5473
Birmingham, AL 35294-1170 http://www.cis.uab.edu/sloan/