I'm pretty sure that maps can be copyrighted. I think that would also include derivative works. Maybe that would fall under plagiarism.

are you kidding?

and were two seperate threads necessary to deal with this?

Lartokul did you make an account simply to complain about copyright issues?

I don't mean to be offensive but I'd really like to know.

(I don't feel like posting this twice either).

Geez I wish there was an edit feature...

You say that you really enjoy the Large USA Map, however you've only played 3 games and they've all been real-time. Are you to tell me that You've played 3 real time USA big maps? How in jesus' name can you sit at the computer for that long?

(Assuming You don't play much single player.)

X pretty much sums up this entire thread.

This is a joke -.-

My girlfriend is a cartographer, and according to her public data like state, county and city lines can be recreated in mapping software. In other words, you can create a brand new map using existing data without stealing from anyone else. So it's not a given that the Large USA map was copied from an existing map. Also, county and state lines are public knowledge, and considering that the creator or the map had to redraw all of the lines by hand and didn't just copy/paste from an original source, I wouldn't be worried about copyright infringement. As others have said, the maps from works of fiction might be on more shaky legal ground. In the end, it's currently up to the owner of the website hosting the material to make a judgement call since they are the ones potentially profiting from the copyrighted material.

And as far as being worried about being prosecuted because you played the map: I have yet to hear about someone getting sued because they watched a youtube video that had unauthorized copyrighted material in it.

All this talk of copyrighted maps and possible trolls made me think of this prank call.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aue_Zzf-ZtA

I hope someone finds it at least amusing. I find it brilliant.

No, I'm not a troll. I seriously have an issue with violating copyright - punished or not. I've just recently become re-interested in this game (I had another account - forgot the information for it, so I created this new one). Haven't played many games and some maight've been as guest. I'm mid-way in a Big U.S. game, and haven't played since this question hit me.

Very useful information, Phanatic. Is your girlfriend sure about that?

The OP is either a very original (and not particularly annoying) troll, or the kind of person I would never ever EVER want to have a beer with. What a pointless and inane thread. Oh, sorry. TWO pointless and inane threads.

why do you have an issue with it? do you think the people who made these maps would care about them being used on this game? wouldnt they be more likely to be pleased with it?

you are a whole new kind of idiot. i cant imagine you actually existing in real life.

Lartokul, if you are so bloody worried about copyright infringement I recommend you either:

A - Don't play the bloody game!
B - Create your own original map and only ever play on that map.

In scientific publishing it is common to redrawn an image or figure from another paper for purposes of illustration or argument. Usually you redraw to exclude information that is not germaine to the topic at hand. Then you just include a simple statement of "Redrawn from John Doe (c)1995" and you are covered. Probably would suffice for purposes here. Slightly pedantic, yes, but good practice.

You can ignore my threads (yes, multiple threads probably wasn't the way to go - I'll stop posting in the other one), if you'd like. Those who wish to participate in this discussion may continue if they'd like.

This thread is probably going nowhere, anyway. This may be a question for the experts, as some have noted. I believe the discussion of copyright is important, and I don't want to infringe on copyright in any way, even while realizing that this may seem to be a rather bizarre question.

Since the source of many of these maps is likely forgotten and/or their creators are no longer active on Warlight, I would wager that the only way to play without fearing copyright concerns would be to create your own original map to play on. Or rely on the novelty maps which even then aren't guaranteed to be safe.

there must be some kind of cartography coypright forum out there on the internet for you somewhere, if thats what youre interested in. this is a strategy game.

Yeah, I think I will just try to create my own maps. No painful chore for someone who already loves drawing maps for and creating fictional worlds. :D

I did post a question about this on a (pretty inactive) copyright forum. I thought I'd try this forum, and it turned out to be much more active. I'll persist with the copyright forum - I never did think of trying a cartography forum: certainly worth a shot!

Thanks for the replies

You said in post 19 that you had a previous account. However in your other forum you said

|>I joined a couple days ago and am still confused about a lot of things (copyright included). I'm not even sure I knew I signed up for that game, much less remembered it. Sorry.

Yes, I signed up my new account a couple days ago. I hadn't played in a while and can't remember my old account's information.

A reaonably accurate answer from a reasonably knowledgeable person (cos it's sort of my job)

1) You aren't breaking any laws by playing on a map which comes from a copyrighted source.
2) Maps can be copyrighted, and there can be legal disputes about it which can become quite arcane. However the real money is in patents for location-based technologies, not in the maps themselves- it's **highly** unlikely that anyone on Warlight, or Warlight itself, would be sued. Ordnance Survey in the UK might send out a stern letter, say, but it wouldn't be worth their while to do more than that.
3) There are several good sources of public domain svg and other mapping, so it doesn't follow that anything/everything on Warlight is illegal.
-Wikipedia has several SVG maps under Creative Commons licences, worth a look. I did begin converting one of these for Warlight, so I know that's a viable route.
-Open Street Maps is a good source of open source mapping (non-svg) which you can do whatever you want with. It covers the whole world, and for Warlight purposes is accurate enough.
-In the UK Ordnance Survey have made many of their large scale datasets available as Open Data
-data.gov in the US might work in a similar way, but haven't looked. I think some states have released map data as open data, to stimulate the market.
4) It's a little too simple to say that copying a map makes it ok to use. It might be true if you copy by hand, but is not likely to be true if you are say using detailed snapping tools.

Hope that helps a bit.