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Could D&D Rights Be Stripped From WotC?
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<blockquote data-quote="Zardnaar" data-source="post: 7823792" data-attributes="member: 6716779"><p>The Oct 2 issue of the Hollywood reporter has reported that several copyright termination notices have been served on several franchises including Terminator.</p><p></p><p>How do they do this if the rights have been sold? The intent of the law is to mitigate the power disparity between an author and a corporation.</p><p></p><p>[URL unfurl="true"]https://abovethelaw.com/2019/05/termination-of-copyright-transfer-basics/[/URL]</p><p></p><p>Basically authors can argue that they got ripped off by corporations that took advantage of them due to power disparities.</p><p></p><p>This was quite bad in the 50s and 60s with rights to songs signed away.</p><p></p><p>So how does this apply to D&D? As a few people here the rights to D&D have been problematic for decades dating back to the Blumes in the 70s and Gygaxs ouster in 1985.</p><p></p><p>As late as after TSR went under WotC made some sort of deal with Arnesen and Gygax over the D&D Rights.</p><p></p><p>Notice the 35 year requirement of the above law. After 35 years the original authors can apply. This was written in regards to music but it looks like there is going to be cases over movies and idk but perhaps books as well.</p><p></p><p>Now the original authors are dead. However reading that link I provided their estates can invoke it and AFAIK that means Gail Gygax.</p><p></p><p>Now this is purely hypothetical and it's probably not a good idea for D&D but morally and legally there has always been a vibe of Gary got ripped off.</p><p></p><p>WotC isn't a villain here either, they picked up the pieces after TSR collapse but they got bought out by Hasbro.</p><p></p><p> Gary did get screwed in some ways IMHO. Gail would be a terrible custodian and I'm not sure if you could even make an arguement. But if it works for movies you can argue it can be applied to books. The link above seems to imply it can be used.</p><p></p><p>Personally I'm not a fan of corporations being able to exploit copyrights for decades after an inventors death. Disney Corporation didn't invent Mickey Mouse, Walt Disney did.</p><p></p><p>IDK if Arnesen has an estate either.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Zardnaar, post: 7823792, member: 6716779"] The Oct 2 issue of the Hollywood reporter has reported that several copyright termination notices have been served on several franchises including Terminator. How do they do this if the rights have been sold? The intent of the law is to mitigate the power disparity between an author and a corporation. [URL unfurl="true"]https://abovethelaw.com/2019/05/termination-of-copyright-transfer-basics/[/URL] Basically authors can argue that they got ripped off by corporations that took advantage of them due to power disparities. This was quite bad in the 50s and 60s with rights to songs signed away. So how does this apply to D&D? As a few people here the rights to D&D have been problematic for decades dating back to the Blumes in the 70s and Gygaxs ouster in 1985. As late as after TSR went under WotC made some sort of deal with Arnesen and Gygax over the D&D Rights. Notice the 35 year requirement of the above law. After 35 years the original authors can apply. This was written in regards to music but it looks like there is going to be cases over movies and idk but perhaps books as well. Now the original authors are dead. However reading that link I provided their estates can invoke it and AFAIK that means Gail Gygax. Now this is purely hypothetical and it's probably not a good idea for D&D but morally and legally there has always been a vibe of Gary got ripped off. WotC isn't a villain here either, they picked up the pieces after TSR collapse but they got bought out by Hasbro. Gary did get screwed in some ways IMHO. Gail would be a terrible custodian and I'm not sure if you could even make an arguement. But if it works for movies you can argue it can be applied to books. The link above seems to imply it can be used. Personally I'm not a fan of corporations being able to exploit copyrights for decades after an inventors death. Disney Corporation didn't invent Mickey Mouse, Walt Disney did. IDK if Arnesen has an estate either. [/QUOTE]
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