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<blockquote data-quote="Jer" data-source="post: 8632367" data-attributes="member: 19857"><p>No - we're not there yet. T$R was a malicious and predatory actor back in the day - they used lawsuits as a weapon to shut down companies that weren't infringing on their properties but didn't have the money to defend themselves (as well as other shady predatory techniques like what they did to SPI) in addition to attacking fan sites and fan work on the internet.</p><p></p><p>Where Wizards is at is almost the opposite of where T$R was back in the day. They've created multiple safe harbors for compatible materials - the OGL, DMsGuild, the fan-site policy - and have (since the 4e GSL debacle at least) bent over backwards to be a good steward of the copyrights and trademarks they own. As far as large companies that own valuable IP go they're by far the most permissive as to what fans can get away with doing.</p><p></p><p>These guys have specifically gone out of their way to flaunt the safe harbors, abuse <strong>trademark</strong> law, and generally pick fights over this material. In all of this nonsense nobody should forget that the lawsuit that is underway <em>was brought by LaNasa against Wizards</em>. Wizards from what I can tell wanted to keep it out of the courts to start with and let the PTO process run its course. LaNasa was the one who brought the lawsuit and sought a summary judgment - once he did that the American civil legal system takes over and basically forces Wizards hands. (Make no mistake - I suspect that if the PTO had judged against them on the TSR and Star Frontiers marks they would have certainly started their own lawsuit, but also I have no doubt personally that the PTO would have ruled in their favor.)</p><p></p><p>It takes a lot to get me to defend a large corporation over any small actor, but LaNasa's actions have managed it.</p><p></p><p>I'm not only offended by the attempt to piggy-back off of the name recognition of <em>Alarums and Excursions</em>, I'm also irrationally irritated by the illiteracy of him not understanding what the phrase "alarums and excursions" means, why it was used as a title for the zine, and why "alarms and journeys" isn't a synonym for it.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Jer, post: 8632367, member: 19857"] No - we're not there yet. T$R was a malicious and predatory actor back in the day - they used lawsuits as a weapon to shut down companies that weren't infringing on their properties but didn't have the money to defend themselves (as well as other shady predatory techniques like what they did to SPI) in addition to attacking fan sites and fan work on the internet. Where Wizards is at is almost the opposite of where T$R was back in the day. They've created multiple safe harbors for compatible materials - the OGL, DMsGuild, the fan-site policy - and have (since the 4e GSL debacle at least) bent over backwards to be a good steward of the copyrights and trademarks they own. As far as large companies that own valuable IP go they're by far the most permissive as to what fans can get away with doing. These guys have specifically gone out of their way to flaunt the safe harbors, abuse [B]trademark[/B] law, and generally pick fights over this material. In all of this nonsense nobody should forget that the lawsuit that is underway [I]was brought by LaNasa against Wizards[/I]. Wizards from what I can tell wanted to keep it out of the courts to start with and let the PTO process run its course. LaNasa was the one who brought the lawsuit and sought a summary judgment - once he did that the American civil legal system takes over and basically forces Wizards hands. (Make no mistake - I suspect that if the PTO had judged against them on the TSR and Star Frontiers marks they would have certainly started their own lawsuit, but also I have no doubt personally that the PTO would have ruled in their favor.) It takes a lot to get me to defend a large corporation over any small actor, but LaNasa's actions have managed it. I'm not only offended by the attempt to piggy-back off of the name recognition of [I]Alarums and Excursions[/I], I'm also irrationally irritated by the illiteracy of him not understanding what the phrase "alarums and excursions" means, why it was used as a title for the zine, and why "alarms and journeys" isn't a synonym for it. [/QUOTE]
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