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Lopan

Version: 0.9

Author: David Ashley

Category: Cards

Rate this game yourself! Average of 2 Ratings:

SDL version of classic Shanghai game.

SDL version of the game Shanghai originally created by Activision. This is a clone of the Amiga version with nice looking mah-jong tiles and shadows.

The object is to remove the tiles in pairs and clear the board.

----- From Activision -----

Dear Mr. Ashley,

I am writing on behalf of Activision, Inc., the owner and publisher of
Shanghai. It has come to my attention via your web site at
http://www.xdr.com/dash/sdlshanghai.html and
http://www.xdr.com/dash/linux.html that you have created and/or are making
available for general use an unauthorized derivative work of Shanghai.  I am
writing to notify you of certain facts with respect to this unauthorized
product. 

Activision holds or is a licensee of all intellectual property rights
surrounding Shanghai, including without limitation, international trademark
registration in and to the "Shanghai" trademark.  You can obtain
verification of Activision's registered trademark in "Shanghai" for computer
and videogames from the US Patent office by using this URL:
http://trademarks.uspto.gov/access/search-mark.html. Make sure "Registered"
is checked. Type "shanghai" in the box and hit Search. You will find a list
of Shanghai trademarks.  When I checked last, Activision's was #10 on the
list (Reg. Number 1904528).  On the next page you will see that Activision's
"Shanghai" trademark Serial Number is 74-468336, and the trademark was
registered on 7/11/95.  Activision has been publishing the Shanghai line of
games since 1986.  You can see the authorized Shanghai at
http://www.activision.com/games/shanghai.  Shanghai represents an
extraordinary investment of time and effort by Activision. By advertising,
distributing, publicly displaying and allowing others to play the
unauthorized derivative work of Shanghai (regardless of whether you yourself
were involved in the creation of the unauthorized derivative work of
Shanghai), you are violating international law and infringing upon
Activision's valuable rights.

We therefore demand that you immediately:

        (1) Refrain from or cease advertising, distributing, publicly
displaying and allowing others to play Shanghai or any other unauthorized
derivative work of Shanghai;

        (2) Dispose of all materials related to the advertisement,
distribution, public display and allowance of others to play Shanghai or any
other unauthorized derivative work of Shanghai; and

        (3) Provide us with written assurance that you will refrain from or
immediately discontinue, and will not resume at any time in the future the
advertisement, distribution, public display and allowance of others to play
Shanghai or any other unauthorized derivative work of Shanghai.

In the event you wish to resolve this matter amicably, you can reach me by
email at this address or by phone at (310) 255-2218.  If we do not hear from
you within five business days (one calendar week), we will assume that you
have no desire to resolve this matter amicably and will proceed accordingly.

The foregoing is not intended, nor shall any of it be construed as a
complete recitation of the facts and events concerning the above-mentioned
matter, nor shall it be construed as a waiver of any rights, remedies or
claims, legal or equitable, which Activision may have, all of which are
expressly reserved.

Very truly yours,
Thomas A. Sloper
Executive Producer
tsloper@activision.com
Activision, Inc.
3100 Ocean Park Blvd.
Santa Monica, CA 90405
Fax (310) 255-2141

License: free

Additional System Requirements: SDL library

Sound:	Play in X:	Play in Console:	Multiplayer:	Network Play:	3D Acceleration:	Source Available:
no	yes	no	no	no	no	yes

Lopan home page

If you try this software, don't forget to come back to this page and rate it!

Submitted by Anonymous on 1999-11-02.

[ Submit an update about this game ]

[Post a new comment]
Comments
[Show all 11 comment threads on one page]
[1-10] [11-11]

About the legal details posted by Anonymous @ 128.135.155.34 on Mar 13 2003 3:07 PM

Activision does not own the rules to this game. They have been implemented for a good long time with or without Activision's consent by several thousand people (last I checked, there were 3000 versions of this game for Windows alone). If this is really a clone of the game, and not some sort of port of it, then it doesn't even have any of Activision's code. The only possible grouds they could have for any legal proceedings would be if their tileset was used, but that would actually be quite hard to tell, since most tilesets for this game tend to look more or less the same. Although the letter seems extremely formal and legalistic, it is clear that whoever wrote it has either not looked more closely at the structure of the game, or is just plain ignorant about copywright law.

[Reply]

Lopan posted by Anonymous @ 24.2.10.35 on May 23 2000 2:18 PM

I don't know why companies don't simply allow people to port their older software to other platforms. As long as no profit is made by the person porting the software it should not really be a problem. There are many simple, older games from other platforms that people would enjoy playing but because there is little profitr to be made almost all of the software will not be converted. Wither that or we'll get complete rewrites of old classics that now need top of the line PCs and lots of RAM to play what is essentially an inferior version of old classics (frogger for example!).

[Reply]

Lopan posted by Anonymous @ 195.37.115.17 on May 19 2000 6:43 AM

I think the game should be called "SDL Mahjong" (sp?).

[Reply]

Lopan posted by Anonymous @ 207.168.6.251 on May 19 2000 2:43 AM

There are a couple of issues and behavours in this that I don't find `very smart'.
I'm not much of a board game fan but I do support more games for Linux. However I really don't think it is very much contributive to write another board game (game of puzzle) dirived from an existing one.
The letter from Activision was rude, immature, very unprofesional, and not to mention dumb as a rock. Activision should have just offered to buy the port over. I always prefer `win and happy' situations over `win and boycott rude company' situations.
Not a `smart move' (no pun intended) on Activision's part in my opinion. But I also think the author should write a more original game.

[Reply]

Lopan posted by Anonymous @ 204.131.12.149 on May 18 2000 5:20 PM

The ritualistic spouting about 'derivative works' might be a problem, though you may be able to get around that by declaring it to be a 'derivative work of the 3000 year old Mahjong [I don't know how to spell it, either] game' rather than mentioning 'Shanghai'. Personally, I REALLY think companies need to put a leash on their rather belligerent legal departments...

[Reply]

Lopan posted by Anonymous @ 206.71.103.214 on May 18 2000 8:10 AM

Just pointing out the fact: The author didn't just use "shangai" which would violaite the copyright. So by labeling his game "SDL Shanghai", it doesn't violaite the copyright, right?

[Reply]

Lopan posted by leonbrooks @ 202.181.72.54 on May 18 2000 3:43 AM

They missed out on "prior art" by about 3000 years. Feed the text in it to the jive or redneck scrambler and call it "Slanghai"?

[Reply]

Lopan posted by alriddoch @ 152.78.69.136 on May 18 2000 3:33 AM

I agree with the poster below. Activision do not appear to be claiming that the author has infringed any of their intellectual property other than their trademark. They are obliged by trademark law to defent their trademark in this way. If you remove any reference to their trademark, then I think they will have very little to go on, though they may not be happy.

[Reply]

Lopan posted by Anonymous @ 216.100.84.49 on May 17 2000 9:22 PM

Activision does have the right to protect their investment in "shanghai". It may be as simple as the author removing any reference to the word "shanghai" and instead call his game majhong (or however you spell it).

[Reply]

Lopan posted by Anonymous @ 161.142.78.82 on Nov 3 1999 1:07 AM

ok

[Reply]

	About the legal details posted by Anonymous @ 128.135.155.34 on Mar 13 2003 3:07 PM
Activision does not own the rules to this game. They have been implemented for a good long time with or without Activision's consent by several thousand people (last I checked, there were 3000 versions of this game for Windows alone). If this is really a clone of the game, and not some sort of port of it, then it doesn't even have any of Activision's code. The only possible grouds they could have for any legal proceedings would be if their tileset was used, but that would actually be quite hard to tell, since most tilesets for this game tend to look more or less the same. Although the letter seems extremely formal and legalistic, it is clear that whoever wrote it has either not looked more closely at the structure of the game, or is just plain ignorant about copywright law.

[Reply]

	Lopan posted by Anonymous @ 24.2.10.35 on May 23 2000 2:18 PM
I don't know why companies don't simply allow people to port their older software to other platforms. As long as no profit is made by the person porting the software it should not really be a problem. There are many simple, older games from other platforms that people would enjoy playing but because there is little profitr to be made almost all of the software will not be converted. Wither that or we'll get complete rewrites of old classics that now need top of the line PCs and lots of RAM to play what is essentially an inferior version of old classics (frogger for example!).

[Reply]

	Lopan posted by Anonymous @ 195.37.115.17 on May 19 2000 6:43 AM
I think the game should be called "SDL Mahjong" (sp?).

[Reply]

	Lopan posted by Anonymous @ 207.168.6.251 on May 19 2000 2:43 AM
There are a couple of issues and behavours in this that I don't find `very smart'. I'm not much of a board game fan but I do support more games for Linux. However I really don't think it is very much contributive to write another board game (game of puzzle) dirived from an existing one. The letter from Activision was rude, immature, very unprofesional, and not to mention dumb as a rock. Activision should have just offered to buy the port over. I always prefer `win and happy' situations over `win and boycott rude company' situations. Not a `smart move' (no pun intended) on Activision's part in my opinion. But I also think the author should write a more original game.

[Reply]

	Lopan posted by Anonymous @ 204.131.12.149 on May 18 2000 5:20 PM
The ritualistic spouting about 'derivative works' might be a problem, though you may be able to get around that by declaring it to be a 'derivative work of the 3000 year old Mahjong [I don't know how to spell it, either] game' rather than mentioning 'Shanghai'. Personally, I REALLY think companies need to put a leash on their rather belligerent legal departments...

[Reply]

	Lopan posted by Anonymous @ 206.71.103.214 on May 18 2000 8:10 AM
Just pointing out the fact: The author didn't just use "shangai" which would violaite the copyright. So by labeling his game "SDL Shanghai", it doesn't violaite the copyright, right?

[Reply]

	Lopan posted by leonbrooks @ 202.181.72.54 on May 18 2000 3:43 AM
They missed out on "prior art" by about 3000 years. Feed the text in it to the jive or redneck scrambler and call it "Slanghai"?

[Reply]

	Lopan posted by alriddoch @ 152.78.69.136 on May 18 2000 3:33 AM
I agree with the poster below. Activision do not appear to be claiming that the author has infringed any of their intellectual property other than their trademark. They are obliged by trademark law to defent their trademark in this way. If you remove any reference to their trademark, then I think they will have very little to go on, though they may not be happy.

[Reply]

	Lopan posted by Anonymous @ 216.100.84.49 on May 17 2000 9:22 PM
Activision does have the right to protect their investment in "shanghai". It may be as simple as the author removing any reference to the word "shanghai" and instead call his game majhong (or however you spell it).

[Reply]