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Message: <blockquote data-quote="pawsplay" data-source="post: 4955180" data-attributes="member: 15538">Once upon a time, a filmmaker decided to film Dracula. Despite his best attempts, he was unable to obtain the rights from the Stoker estate. He changed "vampire" to "nosferatu" and "Count Dracula" to "Count Orlok." The Stoker estate sued and won. The film was ordered destroyed. However, it had already been distributed, and was subsequently copied. Thanks to those unauthorized and illegal copies, we have acess to an extraordinary film. The film is now in the public domain, where it can be loved and appreciated by anyone. I recoil with horror at the notion that the Stoker estate might have somehow eradicated the film. I had the privilege of watching it played once, with a live organist playing the original soundtrack. Aside from its innovations and its vintage, it is a fantastic film. Now, the Temple of Elemental Evil may not be Shakespeare, or even Nosferatu, but here's the thing: D&D is 30 years old, and we are coming into an era where people are interested in the original books and modules. I would hate it if those items became unavailable, unknown, and unattainable. If no digital copies are available, we can only hope that enough copies survive the decades it will take for the work to enter into the public domain... and then that WotC or whoever will refrain from attempting to use trademark law to keep the public domain works out of reprint because of the D&D logo on the cover. For example, see the Burroughs estate, who have been very successful in assassinating many derviations of the Tarzan or Barsoom books by threatening legal action over the use of characters they consider their trademarks.</blockquote>

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