Area Creators are encouraged to write areas for Mystic Adventure as this helps the mud grow. However, they are also required to agree to the following set of terms which have been designed to prevent any future conflicts that arise.
Any area that is incorporated into Mystic Adventure's code becomes the property of Mystic Adventure and the administrators of the mud reserve the right to change and modify the area to suit the requirements of the game, be they stylistic, level related, etc.
By submitting an area to Mystic Adventure, the author agrees that Mystic Adventure is entitled to use the area indefinitely for their gaming purposes, and should not expect the area to be removed upon his/her/its request. Should such a request be made, the Implementor will take into consideration all factors and make a reasoned decision.
The area as coded into the Mystic Adventure code is copyright and is not for public distribution unless permission is received from the Implementor of Mystic Adventure. This does not extend to the portion of the area that was contributed by the author, as they still retain copyright over their individual work and are free to do with it as they will.
In general, the Implementor of Mystic Adventure seeks to ensure that the mud's areas are unique, and will not distribute the material to other muds.
However, should a situation arise wherein the Implementor wishes to distribute the area in question, they are obligated to make every effort to notify the author before doing so. However, if after reasonable effort is taken to secure this permission and the author is unreachable, distribution of the collaborative work is permissible under copyright law.
Mystic Adventure respects individual copyright and where possible will supply the author with a dump of their descriptions etc. Ultimately, it is the author's responsibility to ensure that they have a copy of their own work, since areas will/may be modified in the course of time and the original work may not be available.
Excerpt from U.S. copyright law
See Title 17 of the United States Code for all the copyright info.
United States Code, Title 17 – Copyrights, Chapter 2 – Copyright Ownership and Transfer
Sec. 201. Ownership of copyright
(c) Contributions to Collective Works. – Copyright in each separate contribution to a collective work is distinct from copyright in the collective work as a whole, and vests initially in the author of the contribution. In the absence of an express transfer of the copyright or of any rights under it, the owner of copyright in the collective work is presumed to have acquired only the privilege of reproducing and distributing the contribution as part of that particular collective work, any revision of that collective work, and any later collective work in the same series.