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GSL vs. no GSL Forked From: Where are all of the campaign settings?
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<blockquote data-quote="Treebore" data-source="post: 4623108" data-attributes="member: 10177"><p>Yep, S'mon has the right of it, except on "harm", and at least here in the state of AZ the loser of a lawsuit pays all fees, including research and lawyers fees. I know this because I am currently involved in a lawsuit. So who pays fees in a lawsuit probably varies state to state. As to "harm" that is directly addressed in US Copyright law. So if financial loss/damage can be proven "harm" is a factor in US COpyright Law. In fact, such loss/damage has to be proven in order to sue over copyright. No financial loss/damage, then no copyright infringement.</p><p></p><p>Which is why people sharing copies of certain pages out of their RPG books won't ever be sued. Now if you were to distribute those same pages to 40, 100, or 1000 people via the internet, then loss/damage can be proven and your in trouble. This also assumes that the material is actually being actively marketed. If it is not being actively sold on the market, then distributing the copyrighted material would be causing no harm, so is not a offense.</p><p></p><p>So, as an example, if someone wanted to distribute copies of the Dragon magazine CD's, for free, they could not be sued under US Copyright law. However, if they sell those copies, or WOTC works out licensing issues with Kenzer over Knights of the Dinner Table, and any other "artist" who owns the work they did for TSR, and decides to sell CD PDF collections of their Dragon and Dungeon magazine collections, then the person better stop distributing copies, because then loss becomes provable.</p><p></p><p>So when you freely distribute OOP books, magazines, etc... you won't be SUCCESSFULLY sued. You distribute books, magazines, etc... that are actively being marketed/sold, then your in trouble. You ever sell anyone elses work, including OOP material, then you are making money off of their work, and can be sued. Successfully.</p><p></p><p>So for those people who have "free" copies of currently in print RPG material on your computers or on your CD's, you can be fined thousands of dollars and do up to 5 years in prison for each individual copy you are in possession of.</p><p></p><p></p><p>Still, I am not a lawyer, I am only going off of professional advice that I sought, so follow my advice at your own risk. Consult your own professionals to be as safe as possible.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Treebore, post: 4623108, member: 10177"] Yep, S'mon has the right of it, except on "harm", and at least here in the state of AZ the loser of a lawsuit pays all fees, including research and lawyers fees. I know this because I am currently involved in a lawsuit. So who pays fees in a lawsuit probably varies state to state. As to "harm" that is directly addressed in US Copyright law. So if financial loss/damage can be proven "harm" is a factor in US COpyright Law. In fact, such loss/damage has to be proven in order to sue over copyright. No financial loss/damage, then no copyright infringement. Which is why people sharing copies of certain pages out of their RPG books won't ever be sued. Now if you were to distribute those same pages to 40, 100, or 1000 people via the internet, then loss/damage can be proven and your in trouble. This also assumes that the material is actually being actively marketed. If it is not being actively sold on the market, then distributing the copyrighted material would be causing no harm, so is not a offense. So, as an example, if someone wanted to distribute copies of the Dragon magazine CD's, for free, they could not be sued under US Copyright law. However, if they sell those copies, or WOTC works out licensing issues with Kenzer over Knights of the Dinner Table, and any other "artist" who owns the work they did for TSR, and decides to sell CD PDF collections of their Dragon and Dungeon magazine collections, then the person better stop distributing copies, because then loss becomes provable. So when you freely distribute OOP books, magazines, etc... you won't be SUCCESSFULLY sued. You distribute books, magazines, etc... that are actively being marketed/sold, then your in trouble. You ever sell anyone elses work, including OOP material, then you are making money off of their work, and can be sued. Successfully. So for those people who have "free" copies of currently in print RPG material on your computers or on your CD's, you can be fined thousands of dollars and do up to 5 years in prison for each individual copy you are in possession of. Still, I am not a lawyer, I am only going off of professional advice that I sought, so follow my advice at your own risk. Consult your own professionals to be as safe as possible. [/QUOTE]
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GSL vs. no GSL Forked From: Where are all of the campaign settings?
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