A History & Analysis of TSR’s Copyright Policies

[JLowder]

I remember corresponding with a TSR lawyer in the mid-90s. At the time I was writing my PhD on copyright, these days I'm a UK senior lecturer (US - Professor) teaching IP law, including copyright. I remember being struck by how this TSR lawyer had only the vaguest idea about what US copyright law actually said. They barely seemed to know the difference between copyright and trademarks.

You're assuming ignorance here when you may have been encountering an employee expressing the corporate marching orders. It's entirely possible the lawyers knew the difference, but the aggressive stance the company management was taking on copyright and trademark required them to avoid clarity in public statements, because that might undermine the aggressive public policy.

Cheers,
James Lowder

 

[Xyxox]

Great read. Brings back a lot of memories from the 90s.

That said, I think WotC is closing things up again with the implementation of 4E. The real beauty, of course, is the fact that the OGL is there and always will be there.

 

[S'mon]

James - that could be the case, but IME lawyers normally hate to make themselves look stupid by appearing ignorant of the law. Of course this guy was an in-house lawyer for a not very large company, not like the big-firm lawyers I'm more familiar with. But my impression was very much that while TSR's lawyers might have been ok for drafting an employment contract, their knowledge of Intellectual Property was limited at best.

Conversely I've never seen anything come out of WotC-Hasbro that indicated ignorance of the law, though of course like everyone they take a rosy view of their own position under it. I thought their creation of the non-IP term 'product identity' in the OGL was particularly clever.

 

[Cadfan]

He might not have been an actual specialist in intellectual property law. There aren't that many of them outside of patent.

 

[merelycompetent]

Joethelawyer: Wow, that brings back a lot of really unpleasant memories. And follows up with a lot of good ones. I wholeheartedly agree: We have come a long ways. Thank you very much for this reminder. I think it helps put a lot of things in perspective.

Certain parts of that road were miserably, heart-breakingly hard. Just reading certain names in that pdf creates a surge of disgust and anger in me... but that's all in the past. It is my sincere hope that our hobby never has to go through anything like that again.

I'm going to drink a glass of mead now, in honor of friends, acquaintances, and enemies - both rolling dice and written on paper - from those times.

Wherever you are now William, Gerald, Chris, Mike, blonde-Mike, Brian, Darnel, Jerry, Thomas, Sean, and many others, I hope you are all doing well.

 

[JLowder]

James - that could be the case, but IME lawyers normally hate to make themselves look stupid by appearing ignorant of the law. Of course this guy was an in-house lawyer for a not very large company, not like the big-firm lawyers I'm more familiar with. But my impression was very much that while TSR's lawyers might have been ok for drafting an employment contract, their knowledge of Intellectual Property was limited at best.

Well, I talked with TSR's lawyers quite a bit throughout the late 80s and 90s about contracts and IP, first as an employee and then as part of a contract dispute I had with the company that dragged on after I resigned, from about 1994 until Wizards bought TSR in 1997. From my experience the TSR lawyers knew what they were talking about but frequently made public statements that were based upon the corporate philosophy. I had similar conversations with some of the WotC attorneys in the era of the Dragon CD ROM fiasco and found a very similar pattern.

Cheers,
Jim Lowder

 

[Xyxox]

Well, I talked with TSR's lawyers quite a bit throughout the late 80s and 90s about contracts and IP, first as an employee and then as part of a contract dispute I had with the company that dragged on after I resigned, from about 1994 until Wizards bought TSR in 1997. From my experience the TSR lawyers knew what they were talking about but frequently made public statements that were based upon the corporate philosophy. I had similar conversations with some of the WotC attorneys in the era of the Dragon CD ROM fiasco and found a very similar pattern.

Cheers,
Jim Lowder

Was that "corporate philosphy" driven mostly by Lorraine Williams?

BTW, I'm looking forward to your book this year.

 

[JLowder]

Was that "corporate philosphy" driven mostly by Lorraine Williams?

I think it's fair to say that TSR was a top down operation on things like the aggressive IP legal policy.

BTW, I'm looking forward to your book this year.

Thanks! The fight for the Ebonacht books was long and pretty brutal at times, and it'll be great to have them finally see the light of day. Still working out the details on the release of The Screaming Tower with Elder Signs, but it should be out this fall.

Cheers,
Jim Lowder

 

[Alzrius]

Thanks! The fight for the Ebonacht books was long and pretty brutal at times, and it'll be great to have them finally see the light of day. Still working out the details on the release of The Screaming Tower with Elder Signs, but it should be out this fall.

Wow, I didn't know those were finally getting released. Congratulations Jim!

By the by, the book's [ame=http://www.amazon.ca/Screaming-Tower-Ebonacht-Trilogy-Book/dp/1934501093]Amazon.ca[/ame] page gives it a release date of July 1st of this year. It also still mentions that it's set in Ravenloft, though that's almost certainly too much to hope for, I imagine.

I look forward to picking it up!

 

[joethelawyer]

Joethelawyer: Wow, that brings back a lot of really unpleasant memories. And follows up with a lot of good ones. I wholeheartedly agree: We have come a long ways. Thank you very much for this reminder. I think it helps put a lot of things in perspective.

Certain parts of that road were miserably, heart-breakingly hard. Just reading certain names in that pdf creates a surge of disgust and anger in me... but that's all in the past. It is my sincere hope that our hobby never has to go through anything like that again.

I'm going to drink a glass of mead now, in honor of friends, acquaintances, and enemies - both rolling dice and written on paper - from those times.

Wherever you are now William, Gerald, Chris, Mike, blonde-Mike, Brian, Darnel, Jerry, Thomas, Sean, and many others, I hope you are all doing well.

I still think that if I ever meet Robb Repp, the original TSR Online Coordinator who strong-armed the shutting down of countless FTP sites, which caused the irretrievable loss of God knows how much player created material (which would be protected under the OGL today), I will punch him in the face. Many Times.

As for Sean K. Reynolds, the second Online Coordinator (Veggie Boy as he was known back then), if I ever meet him I will shake his hand. He calmed things down a lot.