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Message: <blockquote data-quote="GreyLord" data-source="post: 6229971" data-attributes="member: 4348">Actually, if someone sells the rights, they DO NOT LOSE THE RIGHTS.  Basically with rights, the copyright stays with the author as long as they live.  They do NOT relinquish those rights.They can sell the right to sell or publish.  Depending on the contract, that is normally limited either by time or area (for example, I might get the rights to sell in the Americas and Europe, but I don't have it in Africa...so the rights are sold to someone else there or are not owned by anyone but the author).  In some nations, even then, I cannot make changes without the author's consent.D&D is an oddity.  Most games these days still can accredite the author, just like books.  D&D is a little of both.Let's put it in an easier to understand situation.  JRR Tolkien wrote Lord of the Rings.  Due to his copyright it always had to be attributed to him while he was alive.  Now if he sold the right to it, they COULD HAVE taken his name off the books...and done all sorts of things.  However, the copyright STILL is owned by JRR Tolkien, regardless of what they want to do with that.  In the end, JRR Tolkien's Lord of the Rings is WHAT HE WROTE.  There HAVE been other books called Lord of the Rings because he sold the rights, and under those rights they made games such as the Lord of the Rings Roleplaying game.Does that mean that the RPG or other items are now the official Lord of the Rings and his is not?  Or does it mean that they are something else created by others...and the original is STILL the REAL Lord of the Rings?  Or does it mean that they both are Lord of the Rings?Before you simply state that Tolkien's is the one and only Lord of the Rings...What about Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings?  That's a pretty historic movie trilogy these days.  Many would say that the official and core is Tolkien's Lord of the Rings.  That's what it's all about and what created the entire thing.  Hence he should be accredited, but it does not necessarily mean that Jackson's movies don't have an equal right to be called and considered under the same banner these days.So, I would argue, it's not definitely black and white.Take what happened with Gygax and Arneson.  Gygax tried to continue the original game they made under two different lines.  AD&D probably truly IS Gygax's creation, but based on a joint creation that he and Arneson did called Dungeons and Dragons.  Gygax hence continued the Dungeons and Dragons line along a different path...and that was attributed for certain monetary items to Arneson.  However, despite the attempts by multiple groups to extinguish Arneson's contribution, and eventually Gygax's contributions, they are still recognized as the creator's of D&D, and it will always be so.So with Tolkien, his books are always considered the LotR, and basically above all other items in what is considered essentially, LotR.  If everything else is not considered LotR, his books still will be.  The umbrella can spread from there on what is considered as part of that legacy...but his books definitely are LotR despite what those who currently hold the rights to sell the books may or may not proclaim.Things are not as clear cut as many may want it to be...and that applies to Dungeons and Dragons as well.</blockquote>

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