On Thu, 28 Sep 2000, Brad Thompson wrote:
> It isn't legal to build on someone else's copyrighted work in most
> circumstances. Do you think Sony feels any differently about DJs who mix
> various bits of copyrighted tracks in an artistic manner and throw in their
> own sounds for good measure? That doesn't mean Sony is going to file an
> injunction against everyone who does it, but it doesn't make it legal
> either. Do you really think that WotC is in a different world than Sony?
If the DJ is selling this service, I can see it being illegal, but if I
take a bunch of CDs I bought, mix them and cut them up and play them for
people who come over to my house, I don't think they could make a case. I
believe it falls under fair use exemption.
Similarly, you don't need to get permission from WotC to make up house
rules or add new monsters or derive new material for your own games. If
you package it up and try and sell it, I can imagine it being an issue,
but I am almost 100% certain that they couldn't sue me for using such in
my gaming group. So, what's the difference if I relate these changes to
other DMs, who use the rules in their game? I'm still not selling it. It
would seem to still fall under fair use. Extrapolating further, putting it
up on the web is just using a different communication medium that reaches
more people, but without a commercial aspect, I'm hard-pressed to see
the difference, in principle, with making up house rules and telling your
players and other DMs.
Of course, the whole fuzziness of intellectual property is partially to
blame. The amorphous nature of the product, its reproducability, and the
problems of defining derivation make it a sticky issue. Personally, I'm
still up in the air about what rights people should or shouldn't have over
creative products.
--
Eric Christian Berg
System Administrator, Comptek Amherst Systems
(716) 631-0088 ext. 199
-----BEGIN GEEK CODE BLOCK-----
Version: 3.1
GP/S d- s+:+ a- C+++$ ULIOS++++$ P+++$ L+++ E--- W++ N+ o w-- V--
PS+ PE++ Y+ t@ 5+ X- R++ tv+ b++ DI++ D+ G e+*>++++ h- r++ y**
------END GEEK CODE BLOCK------
-------------
For more information, please link to www.opengamingfoundation.org
