Ema's RPG Sheet Website down...

[dinelendarkstar]

The most recent:
Suing WoTC?

EDIT I: I also have read somewhere here about some monsters regarding I think Necromancer games (necromancer asked permission to publish some monsters but Wotc later screwed up with OGL)-or something like that. And before Wizards produced D&D 3.0 there was a case about another rpg, do not remember the name though.

EDIT II: And there was another recent instance with their character visualizer user interface.

Well it sure seems to me that isn't the first time it has happened.


As for seeking leagl advice from this forum, that isn't what I asked for. I asked for an opinion.

I know for a fact that their are IP guys on this forum. But I don't expect anyone but my lawyer to act as it. But I do enjoy good discussion and debate.

 

[xechnao]

Finally, the last thing you cite has to do with the game table and not the visualizer. Images that were meant to stay in-house were released to the public. They contained images of dice from Fantasy Grounds. The company sent WotC a C&D. Wizards apologized and the offending material was removed and replaced with the proper images.

Yes, I figured that when dinelendarkstar posted

 

[dinelendarkstar]

Yes, I figured that when dinelendarkstar posted

What does your quote have anything to do with me? I didn't make that post that you quoted.

 

[alleynbard]

As for seeking leagl advice from this forum, that isn't what I asked for. I asked for an opinion.

I know for a fact that their are IP guys on this forum. But I don't expect anyone but my lawyer to act as it. But I do enjoy good discussion and debate.

That's cool. Don't let me stop a good debate.

My only thought is this, if you think you might have a legitimate case, I wouldn't discuss it too deeply here. It would seem prudent to talk to a lawyer as soon as possible and try to play things close to your chest.

Otherwise, I not sure what a discussion of this caliber would achieve. That isn't meant to be condemnation, just honest confusion. But like I said, if you want to chat about it, that sounds fine to me.

 

[catsclaw227]

In the first instance, I find it strange nothing else was heard from the original poster. Either his lawyer told him to shut his mouth about the case or nothing came from it.

Also, I noticed that in this thread on Penny Arcade, a poster is talking about using a Lovecraftian font for a personal gift. He says he opened up a font file (or something like that) and there were three different fonts.

Glyphis 1 had 260+ symbols, and Glyphis 2 and 3 had 60 symbols each.

The glyphis font that the poster on The Forge forums mentioned is stored on Miskatonic website.

Interestingly, the same font is also found on MetaMythos but it only has Glyphis 2 and Glyphis 3 in it. I wonder if they pulled Glyphis 1 for some reason.

 

[xechnao]

What does your quote have anything to do with me? I didn't make that post that you quoted.

No, you are right. I got confused. I wasn't sure if it was about the visualizer or something else of their software (I do not follow their software really and I suspected I could be in error) and when I glanced at your post and saw "character builder" I guess you were talking about this.
Anyway visualizer, builder or gametable what's the difference here? No big deal.

 

[Hussar]

Hey, I've got no problems with being being proven wrong. It happens all the time. So EN world does take action when they find anyone has posted anything verbatim. Got it.

But I still see very little difference between 2 sites that both attract users using WotC IP, provide content and support for that IP and collect money to gain full access to tools and services on their respective sites. If the only difference between the 2 sites is the use of a logo or the copying of a few power cards, then I really don't understand why a C&D was required.

Having lived through those heady days of TSR using similar tactics to protect the very same IP, I can't help but see this as a sad situation.

The difference is simple. En World is a site devoted to discussing the game. Nearly all of that discussion falls under fair use laws. You can certainly quote parts of a work when discussing it. If you couldn't every university student in the world would have a problem.

Ema's site was a site devoted to providing a service for gamers. Fair use certainly does not cover this sort of thing. In addition, Ema was clearly violating copywrite and trademark left, right and center.

That's the difference.

Now, if En World started putting up complete texts of 4e powers on the En WIki, you'd certainly have a point. Same as if they started putting up complete texts from Complete Mage on the wiki as well. That is most certainly not covered under fair use.

 

[alleynbard]

Also, I noticed that in this thread on Penny Arcade, a poster is talking about using a Lovecraftian font for a personal gift. He says he opened up a font file (or something like that) and there were three different fonts.

Glyphis 1 had 260+ symbols, and Glyphis 2 and 3 had 60 symbols each.

The glyphis font that the poster on The Forge forums mentioned is stored on Miskatonic website.

Interestingly, the same font is also found on MetaMythos but it only has Glyphis 2 and Glyphis 3 in it. I wonder if they pulled Glyphis 1 for some reason.

That is interesting. It might be Glyphis 1 was the designer's font? In the end, Wizards could have started using that font for a number of reasons and may not have been aware of what they were doing. I also wonder if they weren't using a free version of the font and the designer simply thought his font was the one being used.

Of course, if they were using an illegally obtained font, they should have been held accountable. But, the way fonts float around I can't imagine there aren't tons of mistakes like this everyday.

 

[dinelendarkstar]

That's cool. Don't let me stop a good debate.

My only thought is this, if you think you might have a legitimate case, I wouldn't discuss it too deeply here. It would seem prudent to talk to a lawyer as soon as possible and try to play things close to your chest.

Otherwise, I not sure what a discussion of this caliber would achieve. That isn't meant to be condemnation, just honest confusion. But like I said, if you want to chat about it, that sounds fine to me.

That is why I refuse to go into any more detail about the subject of the aledged violation, but it is a good question none the less. If it were you and it was your work, what would you do? How would you feel?

It is us the fans that should be driving this machine in a sense. We are the ones that buy it and play it and you would think that a company in this day and age would do everything possible to retain, not alienate customers. And Bad PR like this is definatly not a good thing.

All I am saying is that IP and Copyright aside. This is a huge red flag for any business that wants to be a part of the 4E game.

But if there are any game designers out there that want to have a cool "Forge" designed for their systems feel free to drop us a line. We'd love to help all the littler guys or even bigger guys have cool tools for their systems too.

 

[dinelendarkstar]

The difference is simple. En World is a site devoted to discussing the game. Nearly all of that discussion falls under fair use laws. You can certainly quote parts of a work when discussing it. If you couldn't every university student in the world would have a problem.

Ema's site was a site devoted to providing a service for gamers. Fair use certainly does not cover this sort of thing. In addition, Ema was clearly violating copywrite and trademark left, right and center.

That's the difference.

Now, if En World started putting up complete texts of 4e powers on the En WIki, you'd certainly have a point. Same as if they started putting up complete texts from Complete Mage on the wiki as well. That is most certainly not covered under fair use.

Ok what about this neat Avatar I have. Last I checked that wasn't created by ENWorld but is a part of someone elses IP. Not that I am saying that I feel that is any violation but wouldn't this be an example of a Fan Site using something without permission? Unless of course they do have the right to use this art in some agreement somewhere. I mean there are alot of Avatar choices that look alot like WotC IP.