Hi Guys,

No bad news. Just check the main site to see what's going on. Hopefully I will leave for Ireland in mid-september but it may be longer.

I mentioned there about the possibility of a "plastic puzzle variation makers directory". That's a mouthful but I'll come up with a better name. If you want to be listed in this directory, there are some rules. Some of these are:

1) You must make twisty-type puzzles.
2) You need to supply pics of a puzzle or puzzles that you make.
3) You must not list puzzles that are currently in development by commercial vendors, ie: Rubik's magics, regular cubes, Masterballs unless you are simply using parts from the existing puzzle to make another.
4) You cannot list a puzzle that has been molded with plastic from another and create a duplicate copyright puzzle.
5) If you only make sticker variations of other puzzles, you do not quailify for the list (another category might be created for this in the future).

This is very much in beta thought.

Anyway, check the site for all the other info I mentioned, and let me know your thoughts.

Wayne
Twisty megasite
http://www.zeta.org.au/~sausage/twistymegasite

Nice idea! The rules are a good idea, too. My interpretation of your rules includes:

1) people who create new puzzles by taking others apart and reassembling, perhaps with glue, a shape that is not already copyrighted.

2) people who create new shapes by molding new parts to make a puzzle that is not already copyrighted.

Because the copyright issue is big, people will be looking for that information. Is that something that could be added to your puzzle collection information? Is that information even available?

Yes, thats a better way of putting it.

I don't actually have copyright information in the puzzle collection pages but I do list where a puzzle is available.

I guess for these kinds of things, common sense will have to be the decider. Things like the common 3x3x3, the magic, the megaminx, etc are all known to be in production by commerical venders.

Stuff like the siamese cube... well, yes it is produced but by a vendor, but one who definately isn't the inventor, so this, in my mind, is ok.

The magic octahedron, that I'm producing for example, to me is ok, because there is absolutely no source by a vendor. However, if the vendor started producing their product again, I would have to stop.

Basically everything will get filtered by me anyway, and I'll be making the call as I go. We'll play it by ear and see what happens. But the benefit is, we'll have a steady source of puzzle makers to contact about making a particular puzzle that we want in our collections.

You know, we may need to re-think this copyright thing. Copyrights apply to the names of things, right? So if I make something and call it a "Rubik's Cube", the owner of the copyright could require me to stop using the name. I could keep making the puzzle and change the name to "Carter's Cube". (I could register the copyright to that name, if nobody else already has it.)

On the other hand, the owner of a patent could prevent me from making and selling a puzzle if I am making them in violation of his patent. That is what happened when Polaroid sued Kodak to make Kodak quit making and selling instant film.

Patents are interesting because they are granted by governments. So if I want to patent a new puzzle I invented, and I want exclusive rights to produce it in Australia and the United States, I have to apply for, (and receive) patents in both countries. And those patents do not provide me exclusive rights in Ireland.

The best source I have seen for patent information related to twisty puzzles is at: http://www.calormen.com/TwistyPuzzles/twisty.htm

Now, I am not a patent lawyer, and I am no expert. This is my best understanding of the law based on conversations I have had with our patent attorney at work. Perhaps we have some attorneys who are Twisty fans who could explain it a little better.

At the end of the day, someone can make anything they want from any materials they want. But when it comes to a directory and a puzzle listing on twisty, I'll be judging what gets on and what doesn't purely by basing it on what is fair and what isn't. Someone using a "Rubik" name, definately won't make it.

Someone copying a megaminx or a magic won't make it. That's not to say their other original creations won't make it on the list.

I'll just be filtering things that may cause problems or upset commercial vendors.

Sounds great.