My apologies Adam, I thought that getting a lawyer was understood. However...
I think ANYONE commissioning art and text from people needs to be familiar with the content of these laws. The biggest mistake is to just assume everything can be done by the lawyer. Unless you intend to hire one on full time to sit in on production meetings. I guess part of the problem is that I am looking at this from a company aspect. I NEED to be familiar with the stuff and I can only afford to hire one when needed for that specific task. I need to know what import duties are if I decide to print a book in Thailand and how long it takes to ship here and all the worst case scenario type stuff. I agree that in this area of the industry you need a lawyer, but everyone that plans on publishing books, from the owners to the art directors, to the artists themselves NEED to know this stuff. A non-legal example: When I started looking at getting a line of miniatures produced, I never once thought: "I'll just get a company to make them". I spent 4 months researching exactly how they were made, I saw a mold vented by Brian Hitsman, I talked to ex-Ral Partha employees, and got a feel from several companies on the routes to go and what the start-up costs should be. Finally I talked to Sandy and had here introduce me to some of the sculptors incase I ever rant he project myself and so I could get their feedback on stuff. Did I have to? No. Should I have...yeah. I am better armed with this knowledge, just as anyone would be. You can never have too much knowledge. Besides, it is fun to go into a lawyers office and be able to speak to them KNOWING what you and they are talking about. Hell, they might even respect you more and be easier to work with. Never JUST "get a lawyer." The lawyer is but a small part (an important one) of the whole process. For those unfamiliar with the laws (and by seeing a fair amount of questions in regards to IP and PI and copyrights in general there are a lot here that do not) that link is pretty essential for them to be part of the business. Richard Stewart Sanguine Productions Ltd. [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.sanguineproductions.com -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]On Behalf Of Adam Dray Sent: Friday, November 02, 2001 9:03 AM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: [Ogf-l] Copyright Office, Library of Congress On Fri, 2 Nov 2001, Richard Stewart wrote: > Here is where everyone should be going for facts... > http://www.loc.gov/copyright/circs/circ1.html That's a good start, but here's where you should really be going for facts, if it is at all important to you: lawyer The copyright information at the Library of Congress tends to cover the laws as written, in the vaguest terms, but does not cover case law. As knows anyone who is a lawyer, or (in my case) is married to a lawyer specializing in media law, the case law is really what matters. Please, if you're about to invest a substantial amount of time or money creating *and publishing* a D&D product, talk to a copyright lawyer. And in my mind 'publishing' means 'sticking it anywhere in public, be it in print or on the web, where Hasbro/Wizards might be able to see it.' Adam Dray / [EMAIL PROTECTED] _______________________________________________ Ogf-l mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.opengamingfoundation.org/mailman/listinfo/ogf-l _______________________________________________ Ogf-l mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.opengamingfoundation.org/mailman/listinfo/ogf-l
