WotC Frylock's Gaming & Geekery Challenges WotC's Copyright Claims

[Umbran]

I prefer DC's method of dealing with Superman. The S shield is a trademark, good luck telling a Superman story without that symbol.

Shazam! The original publisher (Fawcett Comics) stopped publishing Captain Marvel stories in part because of the threat of copyright infringement on DC - that basically they had stolen Superman and put a new symbol on his chest.

 

[Mort]

Over in Meta in a thread called "The Old Server" Morrus has posted a screenshot of a tweet in which this guy make it very clear what he thinks of ENWorld and its denizens...

Having seen his tweet, I'm really curious who he showed this argument to!

His argument seems, very, very, weak. He's relying on the lack of creativity in the original stat blocks (which he seems to have basically cut and paste), yet he feels his are creative enough that he slapped a copyright symbol on them - sure, ok.

 

[lowkey13]

*Deleted by user*

 

[BookBarbarian]

Shazam! The original publisher (Fawcett Comics) stopped publishing Captain Marvel stories in part because of the threat of copyright infringement on DC - that basically they had stolen Superman and put a new symbol on his chest.

Then DC buys Fawcett and wants to publish Captain Marvel again but now there is Marvel's Captain Marvel so back to the courts!

 

[Umbran]

I'd argue that a stat block if its in the SRD is usable by anyone.

Usable by anyone... who is publishing under the OGL. If Frylock isn't publishing under the OGL, then he doesn't have agreed-upon right to use the information.

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

I would tend to agree with this assessment. I’ve met plenty of lawyers absolutely consumed with their own self-importance.

As others have pointed out, his argument is based on the sort of narrow-minded interpretation that would get shredded in court.

But then again, I'm just a troll that doesn't understand patent law (except for, you know, the nine years I spent working for an international law firm [not as a lawyer, admittedly])...

Or is this all instead what I think it is: a potential fiasco being engineered by a narcissistic lawyer with a desire for attention and publicity

 

[Fezzwick]

Hi! I am a gamer and a non-practicing attorney. First, Frylock's arguments are tenable. Second, opinions are fine to share, but is the lawyer bashing so necessary? A lot of people on forums like this would be offended by people trolling with nerd and geek stereotypes. If you have a valid contribution to make, I'd like to hear it. But aren't we better than trolling with stereotypical lawyer jokes?

 

[lowkey13]

*Deleted by user*

 

[Enevhar Aldarion]

If this continues, maybe WotC should bring out the actual employee(s) who wrote the stat blocks in contention and have them countersue for IP theft, since he was so stupid as to slap his copyright on someone else's work.

 

[Parmandur]

Hi! I am a gamer and a non-practicing attorney. First, Frylock's arguments are tenable. Second, opinions are fine to share, but is the lawyer bashing so necessary? A lot of people on forums like this would be offended by people trolling with nerd and geek stereotypes. If you have a valid contribution to make, I'd like to hear it. But aren't we better than trolling with stereotypical lawyer jokes?

You are new here, huh?