Publishers, Piracy, and You

[Man-thing]

Yes, but you can't know that he did delete it nor that he hasn't sold them 100 times before. The right of first sale even applies to electronic items. It's just more difficult to police.

Agreed. But I'd hate to think we must start with the assumption that the seller is doing something illegal.

 

[Man-thing]

Wow! Its been shut down. That was quick.

 

[jaerdaph]

In the sellers defense, he looks to be selling for the first time and might actually be on the up and up.

Edit:

And by 'On the up and up' I mean - Actually getting out of the RPG scene and no longer keeping any copies of the items he is giving with the 3.0 books.

And I have a bridge for sale in Brooklyn if you'd like to make an offer.

 

[Ranger Rick]

I had a few minutes and I went to that ebay site. He is selling 3 books for 10 bucks. With it are a bunch of cds. Where is the piratecy? What in heavens name is the big deal? I can not believe he is making any money on this? I would imagine shipping 3 books costs almost 10 bucks in shipping.

 

[Man-thing]

Where is the piracy?

The piracy comes in the form of distributing this material:
To my knowledge the items in bold have not been made available for sale as pdf.


Basic D&D (BD&D), 1st edition (1e), and 2nd edition (2e)
1e Books of Tricks and Traps (TSR)
1e Dungeon Master's Design Kit (TSR)
1e Unearthed Arcana (TSR)
2e Book of Lairs (TSR)
2e Complete Set of 26 2nd edition books (Typed)
2e The Complete Book of Humanoids (TSR)
BD&D Dungeons & Dragons Rules Cyclopedia (TSR)
BD&D The Book of Marvelous Magic (TSR)

3rd Edition D&D (and 3.5 as noted)
A Dozen Free Spell Books (NB)
Adventurers Guild (NB)
Alchemy & Herbalists (BP)
Alignment Quiz (NB)
Anger of Angles (S&S)
Arcana Unearthed - Grimoire (S&S)
Arcana Unearthed - Legacy of the Dragons (S&S)
Arcana Unearthed - Player's Guide (S&S)
Arcana Unearthed - The Diamond Throne (S&S)
Arcana Unearthed - Way of the Staff (S&S)
Arms & Armor (BP)
Arms and Equipment Guide (WotC)
Bare Knuckle Bar Fighting (NB)
Big List of RPG Plots (NB)
Bonus Familiars (WotC)
Book of Broken Dreams (NG)
Book of Challenges - Stay Out of the Dark Web Enhancement (WotC)
Book of Challenges (WotC)
Book of Eldridge Magic (MP)
Book of Eldridge Might I (MP)
Book of Eldridge Might II (MP)
Book of Eldridge Might III - The Nexus (S&S)
Book of Exalted Deeds (WotC)
Book of Taverns (S&S)
Book of Templates (SG)
Book of Vile Darkness (WotC)
Bricks and Bones II (WW)
Campaign Planner (MEG)
Cleric Time Domain (AG)
Conversion Manual (WotC)
D20 Rules System (NB)
Deities & Demigods (WotC)
Dragonlance - Campaign Setting (WotC)
Dragons (AEG)
Dungeon Master's Guide (WotC)
Dungeon Master's Guide 3.5 (WotC)
Dungeons (AEG)
Eberron Campaign Setting (WotC)
Eberron Campaign Setting Eratta (WotC)
Encyclopaedia Arcane - Battle Magic (MGP)
Encyclopaedia Arcane - Chaos Magic (MGP)
Encyclopaedia Arcane - Chronomancy (MGP)
Encyclopaedia Arcane - Constructs (MGP)
Encyclopaedia Arcane - Crossbreeding (MGP)
Encyclopaedia Arcane - Demonology (MGP)
Encyclopaedia Arcane - Elementalism (MGP)
Encyclopaedia Arcane - Illusionism (MGP)
Encyclopaedia Arcane - Necromancy (MGP)
Encyclopaedia Arcane - Nymphology - Blue Magic (MGP)
Encyclopaedia Arcane - Star Magic (MGP)
Encyclopaedia Divine - Fey Magic (MGP)
Encyclopaedia Divine - Shamans (MGP)
Enemies and Allies (WotC)
Epic Level Handbook (WotC)
Epic Level Handbook 3.5 (WotC)
Evil (AEG)
Evil Extras (AEG)
Expanded Psionics Handbook 3.5 (WotC)
Feat Cards (NB)
Forgotten Realms - Campaign Setting (WotC)
Forgotten Realms - Faerun Atlas (WotC)
Forgotten Realms - Faiths and Pantheons (WotC)
Forgotten Realms - Feats and Prestige Classes (NB)
Forgotten Realms - Lords of Darkness (WotC)
Forgotten Realms - Magic of Faerun (WotC)
Forgotten Realms - Races of Faerun (WotC)
Forgotten Realms - Silver Marches (WotC)
Forgotten Realms - Survival Kit 2000 (NB)
Forgotten Realms - Unapproachable East (WotC)
Forgotten Realms - Underdark (WotC)
Frostburn 3.5 (WotC)
Ghostwalk Campaign (WotC)
Gods (AEG)
Good (AEG)
Grim N Gritty Hit Point Rules (NB)
Grimtooth's Traps - 101 (FB)
Gryphon's Book of 3rd Edition Feats (NB)
Gryphon's Book of Weapons and Armor (NB)
Hallowfaust - City of Necromancers (S&S)
Heroes and Magic (OI)
How to Design a Feat (DM)
Ink and Quill (BP)
Kingdoms of Kalamar - The Root of All Evil (KC)
Leto's Tome of Bizarre, Arcane, and Weird Stuff (NB)
Living Dungeon Master (NB)
Magic (NB)
Magic of Rokugan (AEG)
Manual of the Planes - Supplement (WotC)
Manual of the Planes (WotC)
Map Folio II (WotC)
Martial Arts System (NB)
Master Poison Chart (BP)
Mechanomancy - Preview (AG)
Mercenaries (AEG)
Miniatures Handbook (WotC)
Mithril - City of the Golem (S&S)
Mythic Races (FFG)
Necromantic Lore (FFG)
New Exotic Weapons (DM)
New Familiars (DM)
New Familiars (NB)
New Magical Items (WotC)
Oriental Adventures (WotC)
Planar Handbook 3.5 (WotC)
Player's Handbook (NB)
Player's Handbook (WotC)
Player's Handbook 3.5 (WotC)
Point Based Magic (NB)
Poisons (AA)
Psionics Handbook - Master More Powers of the Mind (NB)
Psionics Handbook (WotC)
Psionics Toolkit (S&S)
Ravenloft - Campaign Setting (S&S)
Ravenloft - Champions of Darkness (S&S)
Ravenloft - Dungeon Master's Guide (S&S)
Ravenloft - Secrets of the Dread Realms (S&S)
Relics & Rituals I - Magic Item Prices (S&S)
Relics & Rituals I (S&S)
Relics & Rituals II (S&S)
Seafarer's Handbook (FFG)
Ships of the Elves (MGP)
Ships of the Goblinoids (MGP)
Societies of Magic (GR)
Specialty Priests (NB)
Spell Compendium (NB)
Swords Into Plowshares (NB)
Tarot Magic (AM)
The Age of Scorn (NB)
The Assassin's Guide to Poisons (NB)
The Big Book of RPG Practical Jokes and Pranks (NB)
The Bonds of Magic 1 - Cabal (S&S)
The Bonds of Magic 2 - The Faithful (S&S)
The Mad Merchant's Shop of Curious Wares (SR)
The Netbook of Feats (NB)
The Netbook of Magical Treasures (NB)
The Stronghold Builder's Guidebook - Tower Builder (WotC))
The Ultimate Equipment Guide 2 (MGP)
The Wheel of Time Roleplaying Game (WotC)
The Wise and the Wicked (S&S)
Tome of Feats (NB)
Tome of the Arcane (NB)
Toolbox (AEG)
Tournaments, Fairs, and Taverns (NP)
Towns (Bp)
Traps & Treachery II (FFG)
Ultimate Feats (MGP)
Undead (AEG)
Unearthed Arcana (WotC)
War (AEG)
War Ships - Maps (MGP)
Warcraft - Alliance and Horde Compendium (S&S)
Warcraft - Core Rulebook (S&S)
Wild Spellcraft (NP)

There may be others in there that I missed. Essentially he is selling scanned copies of products. This is evident in the following line.

A few of these are a little hard to read, and a couple are not complete. But for the rest of them (98%), they are great, and make super reference material (especially if you game with a computer).

 

[Ranger Rick]

Considering the books cost over 10 bucks each and he has 3 of them and the software. How his he turning a profit?

If they are not available as a software item than how did he get them? If he bought scanning software and hardware, than he is losing so much money due to overhead and time than he is pretty much giving it to you at a loss.

I still can not see how this is priatecy if there is no profit.

 

[Crothian]

I still can not see how this is priatecy if there is no profit.

He could have downloaded all those PDFs from other people who pirated the material. No cost to him whatso ever, pure profit.

 

[Man-thing]

definition: The unauthorized use, duplication, or distribution of copyrighted resources.

In my country piracy is not restricted to the making of profit.

It is piracy if you are distributing copyright material. What he is doing certainly qualifies.

 

[Ranger Rick]

Damn you all are extremly high strung. Why would someone pirate stuff if they had no profit in it.

Logic says no profit than how is it wrong? Big deal if he does this. How does this e-bay sell hurt the big name manufactures of products? It does not.

The way you all are making him sound like the epotime of evil makes me wish more people did this. It is nothing but a few cds of programs. There is no harm in it for anyone except lawyers.

 

[Man-thing]

I don't think it is the epitome of evil more likely misguided.

The simple fact is that illegal copies of material means the the copies and thus the freelancer do not recieve fair reimbursement for thier work.

It also harms the relationship between companies and the consumers.

I haven't looked at the books of any large companies or any small companies books but I know that if a disk containing Campaign Planner is sold that means that Phil Reed does not get $5 for a product he created. Not some nameless company but Phil, he posts here, he offers advice, he gives away a ton of free material to people.