Copyright and Intellectual Property Policy
In accordance with the laws of the United States of America as well as applicable international laws, Le Jardin Mystique has the following policies in regard to all coding done on the MUCK:

Definition of non-exclusive copyright:

[For information on what is a copyrighted work, please refer to Article 2 of the Berne Convention.]
Non-exclusive copyright means the original author who created the work grants the MUCK and its agents the right to use and display this work in return for the ability to create and save such work on resources utilized by the MUCK. The author of that work retains primary copyright and can copy, modify or use that work in any way they see fit outside the MUCK. Furthermore, authors' works are considered works-in-progress at all times on the MUCK until such time as the author leaves or the MUCK is removed. The MUCK, having non-exclusive copyrights to the author's work may modify, change or otherwise use the work as they see fit after the author has left or, in certain cases, when the author is still considered to be active on the MUCK if it is the best interest of the MUCK and the author.

Protection:

MUCK code not specifically installed within the scope of other licenses (i.e. the server software and base programs) is copyrighted. So while the original author of a work may do with that work what they see fit outside the MUCK, others cannot. (This prevents works from being copied from one MUCK to another without the permission of the original author.)

Program Licensing:

In the case of programs, authors have the right to add any type of license they see fit. Although it is preferred that all programs written for this MUCK have BSD style licensing agreements (or GPL, if you really like that sort of thing), this is certainly not mandatory. All programs should have some sort of licensing agreement in the header of the program files. Any program without a license will be considered intellectual property under general copyright protections.

Definitions of the Types of Building

• Public Buildings
  A public building is defined as accessible to any individual or group of individuals, whether a character property must be set or not, and/or designed for use by the general population or a specific group of non-related individuals (i.e. a business, main thoroughfares, etc.).
• Private Buildings
  One definition of a private building is a building or area accessible for only a select group of individuals and/or is not available for general population use and is clearly marked as private property. In those instances where private property is open for the general population, a sign must be placed at the entrance of the property stating the area is private (said sign can contain conditions of acceptable use for that area as decided upon by the areas owner(s), etc.). One important exception to the above: anything marked as a house, mansion, castle or other abode absent a sign that clearly states the property is public is considered to be a private building by default.

Rights:

Under no circumstance are the administrators of this MUCK legally or ethically bound in any way to remove any building, public or private, from the MUCK at any time. Building on this MUCK means you give tacit and implicit non-exclusive copyright of your material to the MUCK for as long as the MUCK exists (even if your character does not). @recycled building may be reinstalled from archives at any point and at the discretionary fiat of the administrators of this MUCK.

While you are a character on this MUCK, you have the right to modify or delete any building or associated object you own as you see fit since you hold the copyright to its use. The only instance where this will not be honored is if such modification or removal represents a hardship to the MUCK player base. An equitable solution will then be worked out between both parties.

If you leave this MUCK and have purged all building under your ownership, the administrators will usually consider that as your final wish and not reinstall the building (there is no guarantee of this, however, and none is implied). If, however, removal of a building or buildings creates hardships on the player base (i.e. core buildings or frequently used areas), the buildings will be reinstated in their last known form. In all cases, private buildings, non-linked buildings, and other no-use areas will not be reinstalled.

Rights:

Under no circumstance are the administrators of this MUCK legally or ethically bound in any way to remove any program from the MUCK at any time. Programming on this MUCK means you give tacit and implicit non-exclusive copyright of your material to the MUCK for as long as the MUCK exists (even if your character does not). Programs that have been removed by the author may at any time be reinstalled from archived backups of the MUCK at the discretionary fiat of the administrators of this MUCK.

While you are a character on this MUCK, you have the right to modify or delete any program you own as you see fit since you hold the copyright to its use so long as such modification or removal has no impact on the usability of the MUCK in whole or in part.
If you leave this MUCK and request your programs be removed, we will usually do so (though there is no guarantee and none is implied). If removal of the program would have an adverse impact on the operation of the MUCK, the administrators will do their best to find a replacement program. If none can be found, your program will, if previously removed, be reinstalled or, if still installed, be used as is until such time as a suitable replacement can be found.