Outlaw Press stolen artwork accusations

[Dannyalcatraz]

As a side note, Treebore, you might have some success if your lawyer can contact whomever it is whomever it is processing the copyright violator's payments.

As in, if they take MasterCard, contact MasterCard; if they take PayPal, contact Paypal- and then tell them that your wife holds the copyright for X piece, which is being illegally distributed by Fill In the Blank website. With enough proof of your claim, you may be able to shut down their ability to accept money for their downloads...effectively shutting them down.

At least temporarily.

Do you know the violator's country of origin/operations? You may get better traction with a lawyer who is a local.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Okay, well good luck with that. Personally, I'd prefer the FBI concentrating on terrorists and violent criminals and let the courts handle everyday copyright infringement as is normally done, but hey...

Edit: That sounded a lot harsher than I intended it to - I apologize, Treebore.

I wish that were so as well, but the truth is that white collar crime- of which CI is but one of many- has an economic impact that far outweighs the costs (cost of trial & imprisonment; destroyed infrastructure; lost wages; wrongful death suits, etc.) of violent crime. In some cases, white collar crimes can even lead to death (due to increased stress exacerbating underlying conditions and/or reducing the access to healthcare).

As such, I view it as being every bit as serious as violent crime, and worthy of equal attention.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Parc Yloh!

I'm just agog and aghast. I just looked at that pdf, and I must say that the only way he should have used those pieces was with full notification and payment to the artists for use.

If he didn't...well, that's mind-bogglingly, monumentally dumb. If this ever gets taken to trial, they're going to need a revolving door out of the jury box, because they won't take much time to decide the verdict!

Not only would he face fines & imprisonment, but if he is, indeed a lawyer, he'd get suspended if not barred outright.

 

[jdrakeh]

Not only would he face fines & imprisonment, but if he is, indeed a lawyer, he'd get suspended if not barred outright.

I think somebody mentioned on the RPGNet thread or over at Trollhalla that he's not actually a licensed attorney, but that he has had formal schooling to that end.

On another note, at least some good has come out of this — Trollbridge has established a Lulu storefront to help get legal, fan-created, T&T stuff into print without having to rely on Outlaw Press.

 

[Shroomy]

Apparently, the rights to some of that art is held by some litigious corporations, such as Games Workshop and one of the collectable card companies. Then, there's the whole "The Djinni's Ring" from Dungeon #9, whose rights are controlled by WotC. Hopefully, someone will take him to the cleaners.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Apparently, the rights to some of that art is held by some litigious corporations, such as Games Workshop and one of the collectable card companies. Then, there's the whole "The Djinni's Ring" from Dungeon #9, whose rights are controlled by WotC. Hopefully, someone will take him to the cleaners.

Has anyone notified them?

After all, they only sue when they think they should...

Case in point- many people know that The Verve got sued by The Rolling Stones for an unlicensed use of one of their songs in "Bittersweet Symphony." The Verve lost all revenues from that single, and, as I recall, a portion of their album royalties.

What most people don't know is that there is another song on the same album that infringes at least as much on a song from Aphrodite's Child's album, 666 (FYI, AC was Vangelis' first band), also without credit. The reason? Nobody told the company or artists about the song...and The Verve didn't stick their heads up and release it as a single.

(At the moment, I don't recall which one The Verve yoinked, but for your listening pleasure, here's the big song from that album: The Four Horsemen)

 

[tenkar]

On a side note, the man has good taste in art.

Poor sense of right / wrong it seems.

 

[mudbunny]

Apparently, the rights to some of that art is held by some litigious corporations, such as Games Workshop and one of the collectable card companies. Then, there's the whole "The Djinni's Ring" from Dungeon #9, whose rights are controlled by WotC. Hopefully, someone will take him to the cleaners.

If they don't know already, they will once I hit send. What Outlaw Press item is it in??

 

[megamania]

I guess he figured no one would catch on or bother with him.



kinda reminds me of music copyrights......


whole another subject.

If proven and prosecuted he should be done with gaming for a while.

 

[Shemeska]

Huh. The artwork used as the cover for Hobbit Hole #1 is the same artwork from Knowledge Arcana #5 when it was the WotC forum e-zine, pre-Gleemax. I had a story in that issue. Does anyone know if Hobbit Hole #1 just used that cover artwork for its purposes, or did it possibly reuse some of the content of KA#5?