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<blockquote data-quote="evilref" data-source="post: 5368601" data-attributes="member: 73517">The problem with the fearmongering touched on in some of the posts leading to this one, and with rampant tinfoil hattery on the wotc boards is that you need an understanding of copyright law and how it's applied to understand how ludicrous the 'they want to take our stuff' argument is (aside from the many difficulties involved in it). And for those who want to use it in their latest mud-throwing contest, it appeals to fear and people's uncertainty. Like political attack adds, the attack is easy, disproving it is hard.Take for example the boilerplate 'You grant us the right to use anything you write on our forums'. Unless I've missed it (which could happen but my search was fairly extensive), this has never been succesfully used as a defence for a company taking someone's idea/writing and using it for themselves).In assorted jurisdictions it wouldn't even be accepted as a defence. It's also open to all sorts of issues whereby the rights for X are owned by Y and the creator cannot give X away to Z in the first place because Y owns it.What the boilerplate does is help protect the companies that have it from frivolous law suits. It means if they show a screenshot of their bulletin boards and it happens to be your forum post, then they have a stronger defence case if you try and sue them for it.What amuses me most about the 'they're going to take our stuff' idea (aside from the very idea that said stuff is worth taking in the first place), is that that boilerplate is seen on thousands of websites. Such as Paizo's.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="evilref, post: 5368601, member: 73517"] The problem with the fearmongering touched on in some of the posts leading to this one, and with rampant tinfoil hattery on the wotc boards is that you need an understanding of copyright law and how it's applied to understand how ludicrous the 'they want to take our stuff' argument is (aside from the many difficulties involved in it). And for those who want to use it in their latest mud-throwing contest, it appeals to fear and people's uncertainty. Like political attack adds, the attack is easy, disproving it is hard. Take for example the boilerplate 'You grant us the right to use anything you write on our forums'. Unless I've missed it (which could happen but my search was fairly extensive), this has never been succesfully used as a defence for a company taking someone's idea/writing and using it for themselves). In assorted jurisdictions it wouldn't even be accepted as a defence. It's also open to all sorts of issues whereby the rights for X are owned by Y and the creator cannot give X away to Z in the first place because Y owns it. What the boilerplate does is help protect the companies that have it from frivolous law suits. It means if they show a screenshot of their bulletin boards and it happens to be your forum post, then they have a stronger defence case if you try and sue them for it. What amuses me most about the 'they're going to take our stuff' idea (aside from the very idea that said stuff is worth taking in the first place), is that that boilerplate is seen on thousands of websites. Such as Paizo's. [/QUOTE]

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