Story Hours and Copyright

[Insight]

I've not started a Story Hour, but I may, and I have a few general questions about them before I do.

What rights, if any, does EN World assume when authors post their Story Hours? This is irrelevant for published settings, of course, but how does this apply to settings whose IP is owned by the author? Especially if EN World is the first place that this material appears?

Do Story Hour authors with their own settings need to place a copyright notice of some kind in their posts? How is this generally handled?

Thanks for your time.

 

[Michael Morris]

We don't have an official policy that I'm aware of, however the following rule of thumb applies with all messagboards: You retain the copyright over what you right, however by posting it to the messageboard you grant the owners of that messageboard the right to redistribute the contents of your posts. This effectively kills the monetary value of the IP in question.

Russ and Kevin however would be the final authorities in this. I'm just a code monkey.

 

[LightPhoenix]

IANAL, but I wanted to make one addendum to what Michael Morris said.

I believe, though I'm not certain, that a message board doesn't get the right to redistribute for monetary value. However, I believe (again, not a lawyer) that when you post something to a publicly accessable message board, that work can be quoted under fair use.

If you retain copyright, regardless of monetary gain or not, you have the right to control the use of that property. The precedent is fan fiction - some authors strictly forbid it (Robert Jordan being a notable one) and it doesn't matter that the writers aren't getting money for it, copyright law (specifically derivitive works clauses) grant the original author the right to deny people that. The exception, of course, is fair use.

 

[Morrus]

EN World doesn't assume any rights. At most, your post might end up on the news page, but the copyright's all yours.

Although a D&D story hour is bound to be tangled up in a lot of WotC IP anyway.

 

[Insight]

Cool. Thanks for the responses!

 

[BOZ]

plus, keep in mind that if you post it before you copyright it, people can steal at will...

 

[Raven Crowking]

plus, keep in mind that if you post it before you copyright it, people can steal at will...

I'm not so sure about that, although I am not a lawyer.

My understanding is that you own copyright (unless you give it away/sell it/whatever) from the moment that something exists in a "permanent form", even if you do not include a copyright notice. A copyright notice is, however, good practice and will help you should you ever need to take legal action. In the event that you need to take legal action, you must file for copyright, which includes a fee. You must be able to prove when you created the work. Some writers, I understand, mail themselves copies of their work so that the postdate on the unopened envelopes can be used as proof of creation date.

Of course, I am basing the above on my understanding of US Copyright Law based on various "advice to writers" type articles. Remember to keep your grains of salt handy.

RC

 

[Umbran]

My understanding is that you own copyright (unless you give it away/sell it/whatever) from the moment that something exists in a "permanent form", even if you do not include a copyright notice.

IANAL, but this is my understanding as well. Actually explicitly registering for copyright simply makes enforcement easier. It is by no means required.

Of course, if you post it in a public, electronic forum, where copyright infringement is as easy as "highlight, ctrl-c, ctrl-v", you're not exactly keeping your materials safe, either.

Some writers, I understand, mail themselves copies of their work so that the postdate on the unopened envelopes can be used as proof of creation date.

This is a form of "poor man's copyright", a form of security. Good, I am told, for when you're shopping your material around looking for a publisher. If you plan to send it to someone who you fear may steal it, this would be an inexpensive first line of defense.

 

[xmanii]

My understanding is that you own copyright (unless you give it away/sell it/whatever) from the moment that something exists in a "permanent form", even if you do not include a copyright notice. A copyright notice is, however, good practice and will help you should you ever need to take legal action. In the event that you need to take legal action, you must file for copyright, which includes a fee. You must be able to prove when you created the work. Some writers, I understand, mail themselves copies of their work so that the postdate on the unopened envelopes can be used as proof of creation date.

This is my understanding as well.

You can learn more by googling copyright, as well as visiting this site, it explains some myths about copyright.

 

[BOZ]

Of course, if you post it in a public, electronic forum, where copyright infringement is as easy as "highlight, ctrl-c, ctrl-v", you're not exactly keeping your materials safe, either.

that's what i meant.