We think it’s about time we said something about the Bukkit Project and our connection with it. Hopefully this will help to clear up some misunderstandings, reassure some of you and answer some of the questions (or claims) that have been raised – especially by Wesley (Wolvereness).

We would have loved to have done this sooner but we’ve been insanely busy… what with the 1.8 Update, Next Gen versions and all… and contrary to what a lot of people think we’re still a small team.

First, regarding Wesley, it’s sad and disappointing that he’s acted the way he has. No one here likes having to respond to these things in public – but what choice do we have? If we don’t then speculation grows, and quickly the truth is far from what people are talking about, and many only hear rumors and take them as facts. So, here goes.

Wesley Wolfe has mischaracterized and misrepresented the position with regard to the Bukkit Project & Mojang. It has been unfairly suggested that Mojang is in some way behind his request that CraftBukkit is taken down (the fact that he quoted a small part of an email I sent him in his DMCA takedown has been taken as some sort of endorsement of his claim). We want to make it clear that Mojang is not responsible and has no liability whatsoever in regard to these claims.

The official Minecraft Server software that we have made available is not included in CraftBukkit. Therefore there is no obligation for us to provide the original code or any source code to the Minecraft Server, nor any obligation to authorize its use. Our refusal to make available or authorize the use of the original / source code of the Minecraft Server software cannot therefore be considered to give rise to an infringement of any copyright of Wesley, nor any other person.

Wesley’s allegations are therefore wholly unfounded.

Additionally, we believe that Wesley has no right to prevent the continued use of his contributions to the project – which he gave freely, knowing them to be subject to applicable open source licenses. We believe these licenses continue to bind all those who contributed to the Bukkit Project.

Mojang hasn’t contributed to the Bukkit Project and, therefore, the official Minecraft Server software we make available is not subject to the applicable open source licenses.

As Jeb announced on twitter, Mojang obtained rights in the project over 2 years ago. However they were effectively given to us when we hired the original team to work on Minecraft, and we haven’t touched it since – as everyone in the community that has been frustrated by our lack of involvement knows. For one thing, we don’t have the time or people available. For another, it has always been a community driven project that we didn’t (and still don’t) want to be unduly interfering with. It was only when the community was threatened that we felt the need to speak up. Since then we’ve been trying to decide the best approach for us to take with it.

Here is the dilemma - we want to be able to support the community and the project BUT:

- we want the community and the project to maintain its independence;

- we won’t compromise our ownership of Minecraft and because there is open source code associated with it, we won’t authorize (and haven’t ever authorized) the inclusion of any of the Minecraft software we publish, unless we can be certain that our doing so won’t lead to people claiming rights over our Minecraft code.

That’s why what Wesley did was so disappointing but that’s also why we were effectively given the rights we got two years ago - to stop someone being able to misuse or sabotage the Bukkit project, and to have the choice to support the Project if others wouldn’t.

Deciding how we can best help Bukkit and the community is going to take time, patience and some further investigation into the Bukkit project as a whole. We are only just starting to get our heads around all of this but we are committed to doing so and ultimately we anticipate that the result will benefit all those involved.

In the meantime we’d ask for your understanding, welcome your suggestions and ask that people don’t attempt to assert rights that they do not have, against us or anyone else.

Thanks for reading.

Vu

COO of Mojang