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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Dannyalcatraz" data-source="post: 5329874" data-attributes="member: 19675">Copyright arises automatically upon the creation of IP, so its not "dangerous" to post things about your game or HRs or such.In all probability, something posted on a website like this is either subject to terms of use that would prevent someone from enforcing a copyright claim (I haven't checked anyone's terms of use to verify this) or would be deemed to be released into the public domain, barring an actual notice that the work in question was not being placed into the public domain.  And if someone DID happen to put up such a notice, I wouldn't be surprised to see mods take the post down, just to cover the site from potential liability.(I say probably because, AFAIK, nobody has ever tried to enforce such a claim.)But lets say someone did try to assert such a claim: I seriously doubt any Court would uphold a copyright claim against someone using material from ENWorld in their private game.What if they tried to incorporate a HR posted on ENWorld into a commercial product?Well, That rule would probably not be deemed to be copyrightable.However, if you posted a monster writeup containing fluff & mechanics, that unique bit of text covering fluff would be fully copyright protected...barring the Court finding that posting it here placed it into the public domain.What I think Bill was getting at is that if someone created IP, then someone else posted it on the internet without permission and then you used it in a commercial product, you're not protected by fair use.  IOW, you put yourself at risk of a lawsuit by using material found on the internet that you don't know who its original creator is, and fair use will not help you one bit.It will also not help you if the work is not commercial, but also not of an educational nature (that's test #1)- and that's pretty narrowly construed to cover only use in a recognized academic setting- or if the use substantially damages the market value of the copied IP (test #4).</blockquote>

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