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Message: <blockquote data-quote="evilref" data-source="post: 5370045" data-attributes="member: 73517">I can only conclude you didn't actually grasp what I was expressing here. You cannot transfer the copyright of something you have created (and obviously is copyrightable, and you have the right to copyright etc. without a signed document). Ergo I doubt that WotC will claim ownership over such things because the law does not allow them to.This is where your generalities have to be more specific and why I have to question why you're doing this fearmongering in the first place.1) Using software doesn't mean I have to accept what they've provided as law. I can use software and not agree with the company's legal interpretation of my rights and how they interact with said software. Were Adobe, for example, to claim the ownership of anything I created in Photoshop as theirs. Or Microsoft to claim ownership of anything I write in Word that doesn't mean by using that software I have transfered those rights to them. Nor does it mean they can enforce that claim in court. Sure, they could sue to try and enforce it but past precedent and case law would not substantiate it. 2) What are you actually arguing here? Are you arguing the concept of a character (which has no copyright protection), are you arguing the numbers on the sheet (again no protection for said numbers) or are you arguing that they can own the background of said character which I write in a journal entry (which they hypothetically could claim but could not enforce without a signed transfer of ownership).3) Yes, I'd be willing to go to court to protect my rights. Or not. You seem to have missed what I wrote, again. I'll try and make it clearer. The standard text I was referencing, and have quoted previously, (to use Paizo's text as an example) is this:Users posting messages to the site automatically  grant Paizo Publishing the royalty-free, perpetual, irrevocable,  nonexclusive right and license to use, reproduce, modify, adapt,  publish, translate, sublicense, copy and distribute such messages  throughout the world in any media.As a defence against a frivolous lawsuit (I post X to Y website and then sue them for publishing my writing) it's excellent. As a defence for them taking a short story I write and then publishing it...it has great gaping holes in it. I assume, of course, that you're flying this same flag of fear mongering against Paizo for using the above text?No? Didn't think so. Why is it you're doing this again.This is a great piece of fearmongering here. Well, maybe they'll get the law changed to protect them. You then delve into the hacking of data. I assume, of course, you have a blog where you post that no one should put anything on the internet for fear it will be hacked. Or copied and used by someone else.Ohh, wait, maybe google will start to publish your emails, because you're using their software that means...Codswallop.Every garage I've been to has a sign stating (to paraphrase) 'Owners leave their cars here at their own risk and <name of garage> cannot be held liable for any loss or damage>. Which is great for what it is. Unless say the garage collapses because it was improperly constructed. Or an employee of the garage is the one to crash into your car or... Broad defences are written as such to try and avoid loopholes, however, claiming something is not the same as actually having it. Add in the difference in international copyright laws and the point you're banging on about becomes decidedly weaker.And they can legally protect themselves, but protecting themselves is not the same as depriving others of rights which a court and the law deems they should have. Which is what you're arguing.You think WotC were wrong to sue people for illegally distributing their files? Well, that explains a lot. Moreover, again, you're misrepresenting my point.Fundamentally I believe you are using generalised language to spread the 'fear' of WotC stealing people's ideas (while ignoring the realities of the publishing industry, the nature of the software involved and all manner of other complications, legal and otherwise).So, why? Why are you doing this? Why aren't you doing it about Apple, or Sony or say Paizo?Why aren't you posting how people should be scared of posting character ideas, or adventure ideas onto Paizo's website for fear Paizo will 'own' their ideas?</blockquote>

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