FantasyGrounds Takes Legal Action Against WotC

[redcard]

They already had ceased and desisted weeks ago. There's a thread on the Gleemax forum about it- a WOTC employee said the graphic wasn't a marketing graphic (it was an internal mockup) and was used in marketing by mistake. The image has been replaced on the WOTC website with one that has a different die roller on it.

Good god, if I had a $1 for every time marketing took our mockups and showed them to the end customers, I'd be a billionaire. It's why I tend to make our mockups very, very vague and non-presentable outside the focus group I use them for.

Never make your prototype look good, folks. They'll just sell your prototype.

 

[Xorn]

Some other folks have pointed out, FG should be perfectly entitled to creating a character sheet that calculates modifiers and totals OUTSIDE the GSL, as long as they don't infringe copyright.

WotC/Hasbro can't copyright the word Bloodied, Inventory, or even Daily; and especially have no claims to MATH. As long as it's just blank fields with labels, you can do math with the numbers in those fields all you like. You can't do it under the license, but that just means no logo. WotC has no legal claim to stop anyone from making a blank character sheet that calculates number fields from other user-input numbers, unless that character sheet was made under the GSL.

Besides, fans have been using a 4E character sheet for months already, and don't have a monthly subscription fee for it.

 

[Mark]

It's not just the numbers but also the angles, if we figure there are 360 positions for each die (leaving out fractions of degrees for the time being). Well, if it is not just a mock up, then that does not bode well for the progress on the DDI (if they do not even have their own dice roller yet).

 

[Cadfan]

Xorn- that depends what your character sheet has in it. If you've got a drop down menu that lets you select between Lengthily-Named Copyrightable Strike and Totally Trademarkable Tactical Thwack, you might have a problem.

 

[Bagpuss]

Well, if it is not just a mock up, then that does not bode well for the progress on the DDI (if they do not even have their own dice roller yet).

It is just a mock up, they have replaced the image with one from the alpha version of the software, which are blue dice that look as different as a set of polyhedral dice can I suppose.

And judging by the number boxes underneath I doubt they have copied Fantasy Grounds, nice pick up and roll dice the virtual dice technique.

 

[Korgoth]

Is the complainant based in Finland? If so then I wonder how Finnish copyright law works. Not everybody has the same particulars of law. For example, iirc, if you're sued for libel in the UK the burden of proof is on you, the defendant.

 

[rvalle]

Hi guys. FG user here and I frequent their message boards quite a bit.

This is pretty old news (by today's web standards). As noted above the die were EXACTLY the same and were obviously copied and put into a WoTC document.

The same day FG announced they had served up a C&D order Wizards took the offending image down. In fact, it was within hours.

Scott Rouse admitted someone had used the picture for 'internal use only' but it escaped and made its way to the public website.

I didn't get the impression there would be any more issues after this. They were using something they shouldn't, it was brought to their attention and they fixed it.

This all happened before the GSL was released so its not some kind of revenge thing.

Of course the GSL is now the big topic of conversation.

rv

 

[Maggan]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought a cease and desist, wasn't the same as suing someone?

/M

 

[2WS-Steve]

Could be angling for a settlement where they get to include some version of a 4e character sheet in their software.

 

[JDJblatherings]

Marketing material isn't simply a "mock up".

It may indeed show an incomplete version of the product ( a mock up) but including the image in marketing materials is most certainly a violation of copyright.

I go thru stuff like this all the time with customers- "no you can not use that image unless you get permission. They have copyright we/you don't. Marketing materials are "for profit", this isn't "fair use"."