How does Copyrighting work?

[Dannyalcatraz]

Don't forget that even if your use of another's copyrighted work is "fair use," you still have to go all the way to trial to prove your use was fair.

Too right!

We attorneys are expensive, too!

The 1st printing of the 1Ed AD&D Dieties & Demigods contained both the Lankhmar and Cthulhu mythos- without proper licensing.

TSR had to REPRINT the entire book, sans Lankhmar and Cthulhu material...that cost some serious money.

More recently, you've seen bands like the Verve or Truth Hurts who have hit songs with unlicensed samples get hit not only with fines, but with forfeiture of their revenue from those songs. Note, I said revenue, not profit.

(OK, I've scared him enough...the next poster needs to link to a screaming demon and call the link "Intellectual Property Lawyer")

 

[arscott]

Don't forget that even if your use of another's copyrighted work is "fair use," you still have to go all the way to trial to prove your use was fair.

Not always. Some juristictions have Anti-SLAPP laws that protect you from being sued just to keep you from speaking out. So if you were to use an excerpt from a book in order to criticize the book or its author in a state with Anti-SLAPP laws, those laws would protect you from a lengthy lawsuit.

Of course misuse of artwork isn't something the Anti-SLAPP laws cover.


On another note, those who poach logos for use on their site are in extra trouble. Those are protected by Trademark law as well.

 

[TheAuldGrump]

Too right!

We attorneys are expensive, too!

The 1st printing of the 1Ed AD&D Dieties & Demigods contained both the Lankhmar and Cthulhu mythos- without proper licensing.

TSR had to REPRINT the entire book, sans Lankhmar and Cthulhu material...that cost some serious money.

More recently, you've seen bands like the Verve or Truth Hurts who have hit songs with unlicensed samples get hit not only with fines, but with forfeiture of their revenue from those songs. Note, I said revenue, not profit.

(OK, I've scared him enough...the next poster needs to link to a screaming demon and call the link "Intellectual Property Lawyer")

Actually the Deities and Demigods situation was sillier than that - Chaosium gave permission to use both the Cthulhu Mythos and Melnibone sections, after telling TSR 'ummm, we hold those licenses...', so the next two printings have the permission printed - but not the sections... The kept Lankhmar by the way, they were the ones that held the RPG license, it was Melnibone that they had to remove, or at least get permission to use.

Some of TSR's decisions are a little odd...

The Auld Grump

 

[I'm A Banana]

How does copyrighting work?

Magic. Magic and tiny little fairies that live in old trees. If you want to develop masatery over these things, I'm sure your local law school can teach you how to make the fairies obey your magic.

Copyright? Yeah, a wizard did it.

 

[Steverooo]

Or is it just presumptious and rude to use someone's else's stuff, even if you don't know who they are.

Yes.

Fair Use allows you to make copies for Personal, non-profit use. Putting it on the internet may not be found "personal" use, even if not for profit.

On the other side, I have a large collection of magazine articles, artwork, etc., by a host of authors, on my web site... Each has a copyright, and I have searched for, and obtained permission from, each of them (with the exception of a few who have found me). As long as you ask, most authors/artists are pretty cool about it. (I have been turned down, three times, and in all cases it was because another guy at a "competing" web site was disparaging mine, claiming I violated Copyrights, etc. Other than that, I've never been turned down.) YMMV (Your Milage May Vary!)

PS: If something was published, you may also need the Publisher's permission (which I also have). Depends upon who owns the rights (Dragon and The ENWorld Gamer now buys ALL rights, for instance!)

 

[S'mon]

"Even if you never set foot in the USA, the FBI can get you into the US courts for copyright infringement cases...and INTERPOL can do the reciprocal for Europeans..."

And those lawsuits can reach into $100k's per violation.

Heh, good luck trying to enforce your million dollar US law-court award for copyright infringement against somebody in a non-US jurisdiction. About as likely* as US courts enforcing French judgements fining Yahoo for offering Nazi memorabilia on Yahoo.com.

*Leaving aside possible bribery & intimidation of third-world jurisdictions.

 

[S'mon]

The 1st printing of the 1Ed AD&D Dieties & Demigods contained both the Lankhmar and Cthulhu mythos- without proper licensing.
TSR had to REPRINT the entire book, sans Lankhmar and Cthulhu material...that cost some serious money.

I love how perception is always so far from reality...

Given that the Cthulu mythos stories mostly never even were registered for copyright in the first place and were certainly in the Public Domain at the time, TSR had sh*tty legal advice. They were perfectly entitled to print the Cthulu mythos, at most they needed a disclaimer re trademarks. I'm not sure of the copyright status of Lankhmar, I suspect the early Nehwon stories are public domain but the later stuff (1960s on) probably is in copyright - US publishers used the trick of simulataneous first publication in Canada to get Berne protection - and certainly Leiber's last works published after US accession to Berne would get copyright protection. Still, if the early 1930s Nehwon stories aren't in copyright then TSR could have published derivative works based on those, no problem.

BTW most REH Conan stories aren't in copyright either. Back in the 1930s people rarely bothered registering magazine stories for copyright protection. So you can republish or create derivative works based on those stories without any copyright infringement.

 

[S'mon]

Too right!

We attorneys are expensive, too!

As well as being expensive, attorneys routinely lie and/or remain purposely ignorant of the law as it actually stands. This often works - even many court of first instance judges (in US, anyway) seem to have little knowledge of the law and are happy to take some plaintiff lawyer's word for it. To get justice as a defendant in US you often have to go to the court of appeal, which, with lawyers being such expensive blood-sucking roaches, is expensive.

Disclaimer: I teach IP law to the next generation of blood-sucking roaches...

 

[S'mon]

Magic. Magic and tiny little fairies that live in old trees. If you want to develop masatery over these things, I'm sure your local law school can teach you how to make the fairies obey your magic.

Copyright? Yeah, a wizard did it.

I'd say that was the best analysis so far.

 

[Keeper of Secrets]

(Intellectual Property Lawyer)

When I go to a website and see all kinds of obviously non-permissible uses, it doesn't really bug me all that much. For gamers or sci-fi guys who love what it is they are talking about the site is clearly much more of a devotion and homage to the subject matter than it is some attempt at ripping someone off. Though, I can certainly see why the holder of the copyright (or trademark) gets fired up. Recent years have shown that the way to protect your material is to be the most nasty S.O.B. and smackdown anyone who even looks at your material funny.