Another Cease and Desist Letter: 4E Powercards

[ExploderWizard]

Its not suprising. WOTC has every right to demand that its copyrighted materials not be distributed free of charge.

The genius part was letting the site operate for as long as it did. Why pay for market research when fans will do it for nothing? The site proved that there is a demand for such cards now WOTC can sell them.

 

[Admiral Caine]

Could you report any posts where anyone's distributing chunks of WotC's IP on EN World? I know it's talked about a lot here, but I haven't personally seen any copyrighted material actually hosted here, although 'm the first to admit it could have skipped me by; but if it's here, it'd help us immensely if you'd point it out.

My apologies Morrus, I think I misspoke. Or rather.. I didn't think my words out carefully.

I have seen *links* to 4E power cards that people have posted. The actual hosting happened elsewhere. The poster merely offered a link to the hosted site.

That is a big distinction.

On the other hand, if you browse through the 4E creation forum looking for power cards and other materials, it almost starts to feel like that EnWorld is where these things come from, when that is not actually the case.

In any case, my apologies. In this Brand New World one must choose your words carefully.

EDIT: And for all I know.. those could have been templates. I'm a DDI subscriber, and mostly a GM, so my own use for Power Cards is/was limited.

 

[hafrogman]

So, by extension of this position, you would agree that all Power Cards not made by WOTC (or made 100% entirely by the individual for their own sole personal use) is a violation WOTC's rights?

The creation of a copy by an individual, for personal use (probably) falls under fair use. I say probably because fair use is not very clearly defined.

However, what is clearly defined is the exclusive right of the copyright holder to distribute the information. As soon as those "for personal use" cards are posted on a public website, you are distributing that copywritten information. That is a violation of the copyright. And since 1997's NET act, such distribution can even be a criminal act if in sufficient quantities.

edit: This is, of course, assuming that the powers which the cards represent are from WotC's published and copywritten books, and not new powers written by the card creator.

 

[Thasmodious]

Power cards that copy wholesale the text from the PHB are indeed a violation of WOTCs rights, as things currently stand. Whether or not I agree with the laws themselves is a different topic, but yes, copying another's text and supplying it to end users without being licensed to do so is a violation of their rights.

I don't think Wizards has a leg to stand on if they went after templates and creators (like Magic Set Editor) that merely provide proper format and the end user can enter the text themselves. I use MSE and some templates to do any power cards I need outside of the Character Builder.

 

[Xyxox]

Interesting, though I must say not surprising, development.

I wonder if a fan site policy is ever coming.

 

[Admiral Caine]

What did the site do?

Did it simply have powercard templates? Or did it generate powercards based on the powers in the PHB? Or did it generate powercards with whatever you put on them?

Or something else?

They were complete powercards based upon the PHB. It had a rather neat functionality: You could "build" a deck of power cards by selecting just the ones you needed. The site would then generate a document that would allow you to print out the power cards you had specifically selected.

I am neither approving or condemning, but as far as design, layout, and function, it was a pretty neat site.

 

[malraux]

Interesting, though I must say not surprising, development.

I wonder if a fan site policy is ever coming.

This. An official fan site policy would certainly reduce the surprise of this happening.

 

[davethegame]

Because there are a lot of Power Cards posted right here at EnWorld.

I'm not worried about ENWorld, for a couple reasons.

I am wondering about two other sites (that I know of) that have printable power cards with the rules text in them... and don't have any ads or ways to make money whatsoever. I wonder if they'll be next.

It also starts to blur the line at that point on character sheets, a traditionally safe thing to make, despite the fact that WotC made their own.

 

[Zaukrie]

This is not an attack on you Zaukrie, I merely want to draw this out for the purposes of discussion and to understand where you're coming from.

So, by extension of this position, you would agree that all Power Cards not made by WOTC (or made 100% entirely by the individual for their own sole personal use) is a violation WOTC's rights?

No offense taken, great question.

Yes, if someone distributes someone else's stuff, they are violating WotC's rights. Now, there are degrees to that. I think if I buy a book and let someone in my group use it to build an character, that WotC would be ok with that. However, if I start posting that content for anyone on the intertubes to use, then I think I've stepped over the line.

Power cards containing material that is not owned by WotC are likely not a violation of their rights, but even that is a slippery slope.

 

[frankthedm]

Never mind