Electronic copies of Dragon and Polyhedron now available from Archive.org

[Keefe the Thief]

I highly doubt they can, given how, ahem, skillful TSR handled things like getting the rights to artwork or articles during it's early days.

 

[delericho]

I highly doubt they can, given how, ahem, skillful TSR handled things like getting the rights to artwork or articles during it's early days.

In fairness, I don't see how they could have foreseen that forty years on there would be this demand for them.

 

[Nagol]

I highly doubt they can, given how, ahem, skillful TSR handled things like getting the rights to artwork or articles during it's early days.

I know they had a similar problem when they went to release the magazines on CD. A lot of the artists had only assigned 'first-run' or 'single-run' rights and were ticked at the compilation. They ended up being able to release the articles, but only in the original magazine format reproduced cover-to-cover as an archive/collection.

 

[delericho]

I know they had a similar problem when they went to release the magazines on CD. A lot of the artists had only assigned 'first-run' or 'single-run' rights and were ticked at the compilation. They ended up being able to release the articles, but only in the original magazine format reproduced cover-to-cover as an archive/collection.

Actually, while they thought they were okay to release the issues like that, they then found themselves being sued. That's how Kenzer came by the license to put the D&D logos on their Kalamar books.

That said, they settled that case, rather than fighting it out in court. The last-but-a-few time this dicussion popped up, I'm sure I recall one of our resident laywers mentioning another, similar case that did go to court, and which established that this was actually okay.

(In any case, for more recent magazines, and certainly everything since WotC bought D&D, the rights position most definitely is clear. So it should be possible for them to put up the magazines from the recent years, if they were so inclined.)

 

[Nagol]

Actually, while they thought they were okay to release the issues like that, they then found themselves being sued. That's how Kenzer came by the license to put the D&D logos on their Kalamar books.

That said, they settled that case, rather than fighting it out in court. The last-but-a-few time this dicussion popped up, I'm sure I recall one of our resident laywers mentioning another, similar case that did go to court, and which established that this was actually okay.

(In any case, for more recent magazines, and certainly everything since WotC bought D&D, the rights position most definitely is clear. So it should be possible for them to put up the magazines from the recent years, if they were so inclined.)

National Geographic, 2005 IIRC.

 

[delericho]

National Geographic, 2005 IIRC.

Thank you. Alas, I must spread some XP around...

 

[darjr]

wait? Does that mean WotC cold republish the magazines in digital format? Can they do it because they settled with the folks who sued? Or because precedent says that they can?

 

[delericho]

wait? Does that mean WotC cold republish the magazines in digital format? Can they do it because they settled with the folks who sued? Or because precedent says that they can?

It does look like they can, due to precedent. But then, IANAL, and I expect that they would consult their actual lawyers before proceeding (especially having been burned once before). Problem is, that adds significant cost to what is already a low-profit product.

I would very much like to get my hands on a "Dragon Archive II" and especially a "Dungeon Archive". Whether as a single compilation or as a bunch of (very low-cost) individual files. But I'm not holding my breath.

 

[Sword of Spirit]

The real problem here is that US copyright generally lasts for 70 years. That applies to software as well as print. We need to get with the times and change copyright duration to fit reasonable expectations and current technology. No more than 10 years for software, and maybe 15-20 for text (print and electronic).