PC Zone [http://www.pczone.co.uk/news/33325.html]

David Braben / Ian Bell Legal Action Story Innacurate

16 September - PC Zone --
It turns out that a press release issued
on Tuesday from Elite co-author Ian Bell, regarding potential legal
action against him from his former partner, David Braben, was a
deliberate piece of misinformation. 

We reported that David Braben had forced the closure of Ian's Elite site
after threatening legal action against not just Bell, but hosting company
CIX. Braben had apparently been angered at the free distribution of
'ROM' images of their game, Elite, which could be used in conjunction
with an emulator to play the entire game for free.

"This is completely untrue," said Braben when we spoke to him this
morning. It transpires that the press release is almost entirely factually
inaccurate, based on half-truths and with key points 'conveniently'
missed out.

Over the last three months, Braben has been attempting to contact Ian
Bell with regard to his website, but to no avail. Ian Bell did, however, put
misleading excerpts from email correspondence between himself and
CIX staff on the site. It was this, says Braben, that caused CIX to pull
the plug

Braben did, in fact, seek legal action over the inclusion of Elite and an
emulator on one of EMAP Images cover CDs, as the press release
states. But what it doesn't state is that this was because the PC version
was still on sale at the time, with an advert running in that very issue!

Far from wanting to keep this 15 year old title from the general public,
Braben, too, wishes to give the title away for free on the web. "We want
to start an 'Elite Club'", he explains. Via his Frontier site at
www.frontier.co.uk, fans will be able to download Elite and Frontier for
free, and if they join the club (by entering into a banner exchange
agreement) they'll be able to download the source code for the games
and develop these classic titles to their hearts content.

Braben is not sure whether the press release really came from his
ex-partner, Ian Bell, or whether it is the work of an Internet 'hoaxer'. "It's
in the nature of the Internet that these things happen," he said
philosophically.