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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Frylock" data-source="post: 5900044" data-attributes="member: 38140">You're Asking the Wrong Question, but It's a Good OneYour questions are asking whether or not there's infringement in the first place, but the author is conceding there is as soon as he appeals to the affirmative defense of fair use. However, this post will answer your questions. Unfortunately, the answer is "It depends." *sigh* First, I'm not sure how you can summarize the storylines without infringing upon them. Do they read as vaguely as, "So then, this other guy, cast a spell, causing this kingdom to have something bad happen, and that made this other other guy really mad. He cast a magic spell that does something cool, and that caused . . . ." If you've filled in the blanks with characters, places, and event-specific information, it's going to look a lot like a Greyhawk book, even if it isn't a word-for-word transcription, and that sounds like a derivative work.Second, copyright infringement is essentially a matter of vague line drawing. My favorite example of that is this:If I draw a stick figure, there's no copyright (not creative enough). If I give it a buzzcut, then maybe it's creative enough, but no infringement. If I make it shorter than the other stickfigures, infringement? Mmmmm, probably not. What if I name him Belkar? What if I name one of the other members Roy and shade him so that he looks like he has a dark complexion? As I build the characters, eventually they'll cross some magical line into infringing Rich Berlew's Order of the Stick. When exactly that happens is tough to predict. There are some "smell tests," but ultimately, every case is different and argued on its own merits. While there are "tests" and "factors," it's tough to predict, especially here where I haven't seen it. (Not that I'd give specific legal advice on his case via the internet if I had.) <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":-)" title="Smile    :-)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":-)" /> Have all the references to characters, places, and events in the book crossed the line into infringement of the world of Greyhawk? That's the question, isn't it? (Yes, it is.)I will add two thoughts I deem relevant:1. Storylines are protected by copyright, and the author is summarizing storylines, right?2. The authors of the adventures, not WotC, might actually own the storylines. Literary works aren't subject to the work-made-for-hire doctrine (in America, at least), and WotC (to my knowledge) hasn't secured copyright assignments from any of the authors for its living campaigns.It gets rather convoluted, and there are more twists and turns I could add to #2, but my knee jerk reaction is that I seriously doubt Casey (the author of this work) has a good chance of winning. #2 is just a matter of how many plaintiffs there might be.However, my opinion doesn't matter, as I haven't even seen the product. He, and all of you in his position, need either 1) to back down, or 2) to get an attorney and follow the attorney's advice faithfully. Any other option is trouble, and even option #2 is expensive if you win. Option #1 is always the most attractive option to people, and if Casey is willing to listen to people that can knowledgeably correct his many misstatements of IP law, he might also begin to see #1 as the most attractive for his case.For more information on some of these topics, visit my Protection from Chaos series on Loremaster.org. In light of this case, I'll be writing an article on educational fair use.NOTE: Now I'm really concerned. Someone just posted to the Facebook thread the idea of a Kickstarter project to help fund the defense. My head is about to explode. This is no longer a simple matter of an ignorant author recklessly defending a difficult position. If a kickstarter project starts, don't back it without the specific advice of your own attorney who has access to the specific facts of the case. If you think that sounds silly (i.e., spending money on your own attorney for someone else's case), you're absolutely right, because you have nothing to gain and everything to lose by throwing your money into a losing cause in which you have no real stake. Am I allowed to use profanity on ENWorld? I'd really like to do so right about now.</blockquote>

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