*HELP* Can you copyright minecraft files?

[Blossom]

Hey guys,

I'm wondering if you can copyright minecraft files such as plugins?

A user is threatening to sue me if I use any plugins that look similar to his and he has informed me that he is planning on having them copyrighted.

My question is, Can you copyright the config setup of plugins?

 

[Justis]

Bukkit is licensed under the GNU GPL, and Spigot is a fork of bukkit, requiring that it also be GPL licensed; whether the plugins are bukkit plugins or spigot plugins, they will legally also be required to be licensed the same way, because you can't make a plugin without referencing their libraries.

If the configuration he's using is to someone else's plugin and uses someone else's keys for his values, he's going to have a heck of a time convincing any judge that he has copyright over it. If the file is all his content though, and there is a significant amount of content, then yeah, rights to it are all his.

However, MC-Market is not qualified to give legal advice, so if you're really worried, (and you almost certainly should not be) you should be contacting a legal consultant.

Also, this is the wrong section. Moved.

 

[Blossom]

Thank you.[DOUBLEPOST=1515297900][/DOUBLEPOST]

Bukkit is licensed under the GPL GNU, and Spigot is a fork of bukkit, requiring that it also be GNU licensed; whether the plugins are bukkit plugins or spigot plugins, they will legally also be required to be licensed the same way, because you can't make a plugin without referencing their libraries.

If the configuration he's using is to someone else's plugin and uses someone else's keys for his values, he's going to have a heck of a time convincing any judge that he has copyright over it. If the file is all his content though, and there is a significant amount of content, then yeah, rights to it are all his.

However, MC-Market is not qualified to give legal advice, so if you're really worried, (and you almost certainly should not be) you should be contacting a legal consultant.

Also, this is the wrong section. Moved.

Thank you, Justis.

 

[Rouing]

He has consulted legal counsel and everything is resolved.

For further notice to anyone here who is curious:

Everything Justis has said is 100% correct. The software is owned by its respective license owners (Mojang, Bukkit, etc) and it is licensed under non-copyrightable licenses. You CANNOT copyright any part of the servers unless it is logo or custom software not related to minecraft and its respective components.

 

[HatefulMoron]

The software is owned by its respective license owners (Mojang, Bukkit, etc) and it is licensed under non-copyrightable licenses.

This isn't true. The GPL license doesn't proclude copyright, which is automatically owned by whoever made the work, it defines how the copyright is exerted. If you create a project and license it as a GPL project, you assert your GPL requirements using your copyright.

Just to drive home a point you seem to misunderstand, you don't 'copyright' something. 'Copyright' is a status that's automatically earned when creating a novel, substantial work.