Hey Publishers, fair use?

[Treebore]

Well, someone I know who has been to seminars and even a week long conference about "fair use" and "copyright law" told me something interesting.

Fair use of a PDF would be if I we to transmit a PDF to someone to be legal I would have to delete all copies of it from my possession, until it is returned to me.

Basically you have to share it just like a book. Do you have your book when you loan it to a friend? No. So you must not have a copy of the PDF if you share it with someone until they return it.

Makes sense.

 

[Mark]

http://www.copyright.gov/fls/fl102.html

 

[Treebore]

http://www.copyright.gov/fls/fl102.html

I know, I have read all of that stuff, many times. It still doesn't give specific enough examples and guidelines, which is why I talked to who I talked to about it.

So now I know how I will handle sharing of PDF's, and I have done my best to delete all questionable PDF's from my comp. Now I just need to see if anything is on my back up discs and I should be guilt free.

 

[guildofblades]

>>So I would like to know what would be fair use with PDF's in games run on line. <<

Fair use for PDFs.

Off line. You could have the PDF open on your laptop and give the whole lap top to the guy across the table to read and reference. You could also have the printed copy of the PDf you are most typically allowed and share that just like any other physical book.

Online. Transferring from computer to computer tends to be a no-no unless the particular license for a particular publication specifically allows for it. I'm not even really sure of the send it to them and then delete your copy is actually legal, as that still might constitute distribution. What you likely "might" be able to do is have your printed copy, then take a snap shop - web cam pic of a particular chart or paragraph, etc, then transmit that. That would still be somewhat of a gray area, but be akin to sharing an except from the publication for commentary or review rather than the whole of the document.

Ryan S. Johnson
Guild of Blades Retail Group - http://www.guildofblades.com/retailgroup.php
Guild of Blades Publishing Group - http://www.guildofblades.com
1483 Online - http://www.1483online.com

 

[Treebore]

Actually, unless the publication has specific "Use agreements" in it, and I have yet to see one in a RPG PDF, "fair use" and copyright laws are the default guidelines for such things.

So your right, if such a "license" is involved with the PDF document, but most RPG PDF's, at least that I have, offer no "fair use" guide lines.

I'll definitely keep my eyes open now, just in case I never noticed them before.

 

[Mark]

I know, I have read all of that stuff, many times.

I do not believe that you fully understand because "fair use" does not apply. The "four factors to be considered in determining whether or not a particular use is fair" apply to "a list of the various purposes for which the reproduction of a particular work may be considered 'fair,' such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research" and I do not believe that gaming books are covered under that protection.

 

[Treebore]

I do not believe that you fully understand because "fair use" does not apply. The "four factors to be considered in determining whether or not a particular use is fair" apply to "a list of the various purposes for which the reproduction of a particular work may be considered 'fair,' such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research" and I do not believe that gaming books are covered under that protection.

Then what protection do game books have? Plus that list is not meant to be all inclusive, but suggests what is covered since some of the biggest, and earliest, law suits were against educational institutions. Copyright and fair use apply to any kind of publication from how I understood it.

 

[Mark]

Then what protection do game books have?

Copyright and trademark law.

Plus that list is not meant to be all inclusive, (. . .)

I believe that it is. You can check into the actual law books to see if more categories are included but I do not think you will find any unless they are quite recent.

Copyright and fair use apply to any kind of publication from how I understood it.

I believe that to be incorrect. Copyright does but fair use does not except in regard to the exceptions noted.

 

[Treebore]

I'm not seeing it, where does it exclude anything covered by copyright law?

Edit:

Are you saying RPG books do not qualify as literary works?

102. Subject matter of copyright: In general28

(a) Copyright protection subsists, in accordance with this title, in original works of authorship fixed in any tangible medium of expression, now known or later developed, from which they can be perceived, reproduced, or otherwise communicated, either directly or with the aid of a machine or device. Works of authorship include the following categories:

(1) literary works;

(2) musical works, including any accompanying words;

(3) dramatic works, including any accompanying music;

(4) pantomimes and choreographic works;

(5) pictorial, graphic, and sculptural works;

(6) motion pictures and other audiovisual works;

(7) sound recordings; and

(8) architectural works.

(b) In no case does copyright protection for an original work of authorship extend to any idea, procedure, process, system, method of operation, concept, principle, or discovery, regardless of the form in which it is described, explained, illustrated, or embodied in such work.



Now I do find the implications of section "b" extremely interesting with regards to the RPG world.

I wonder if an RPG "system" can be patented? Well, now I have another thing to research.

 

[Mark]

I'm not seeing it, where does it exclude anything covered by copyright law?

It's not that "fair use" excludes anything but rather that it does not include everything.