A Question About Rights

[Dukasaur]

Okay, I have a question about rights of priority.

In December I had an idea for a map. In January another player (let's call him Mr. X) and I began discussing that idea and making some preliminary plans for the map. However, we dilly-dallied and got busy with other things, and we didn't actually get anything ready to publish.

In February, I was stunned to see that yet another player (let's call him Mr. Y) had posted a map based on the same idea. I was sorely disappointed, but I didn't complain because I had only myself to blame for procrastinating.

Now, however, it is April. Mr. Y doesn't seem to have done anything with his map. His idea has sat there in the Melting Pot for two months without any apparent progress.

Can I safely now proceed with my idea? I know there is a procedure for asking a mapmaker of an abandoned map to take over his project, but I don't see myself as taking over anybody's project. I see myself as presenting my idea which just had the misfortune of being someone else's idea too.

Are there rights of priority that need to be observed? Do I need to consider Mr. Y's interest in the matter or can I go ahead and publish?

[natty dread]

Of course you can. You can proceed with your idea even if the other guy is still making his map.

Example: when I started on my Nordic Countries map, there was an older project called Scandinavia, which was at the time in the recycling bin. When Nordic Countries was in graphics, the Scandinavia map was continued, and for a time we both worked on our maps at the same time. Well, I kept working on my map and it's now finished a long time ago. Scandinavia is at the bin again, I think... (and it's not even because I finished first, he could still have finished his map too, but I guess rl got in the way.)

The thing is, you can't copyright an idea. Even if some other guy has posted his map idea first, he can't claim any right to that idea, and anyone is free to make a map of the same idea.

Go ahead and publish your idea.