Third Party Character Creation iOS App Removed

The d20 Fight Club for D&D 5th Edition iOS app has been removed from the Apple App Store by its creator at the request of WotC. The creator reports that he received a Cease & Desist demand (although it's worth noting that some supposed recent C&Ds appear to have turned out to be amicable requests). This follows on from the removal of the D&D Tools website and the more recent online character generator.

The creator reports that "I received a cease and desist order from Wizards of the Coast. All D&D apps will be removed from the App Store as they weren't compliant with WotC's copyrights and trademarks. Hopefully they'll be back in some form someday. Til then, thanks for all the support."

Nobody has actually shared one of these C&Ds yet, and others have indicated that what they actually received was simply a friendly email asking that they respect WotC's trademarks, so it's not entirely clear what is happening. Hopefully somebody will share one soon!

It does look like this particular app contained text and stat blocks copied directly from the D&D books. Below is the DM version of the app (the companion to the character creation app).

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[Dire Bare]

Wizards has the right to police its copy right and remove all products even though they don't have an official character generator.

Wizards also has the right to lose its entire fan base.

Heh, heh. You're funny! Wizards is in absolutely no danger of losing even a significantly small portion of their fan base over this, much less everybody. Tempest in a teacup, and all of that. The vast majority of the D&D fanbase isn't even aware of this issue.

 

[aramis erak]

I understand takedown notices if WOTC has the intention to release a character creation app soon(tm*soon trademarked Blizzard ent.). I could understand C&D notices if WOTC already had a character creation app available. But they don't. As far as I'm aware their intended product will never be completed. There is no word of a replacement on the horizon, or any plan to do so. At best this is equivalent to C&D notices for fan-fiction. It doesn't accomplish anything but rile up the customer base.

It protects the trademarks from falling into the public domain.

US Trademark laws require proactive enforcement on the part of the holder. Failure to be proactive can be used to nullify them, even if registered.

 

[Sunseeker]

It protects the trademarks from falling into the public domain.

US Trademark laws require proactive enforcement on the part of the holder. Failure to be proactive can be used to nullify them, even if registered.

What protects trademarks even better is releasing products people want to buy, instead of forcing them to create their own. These character builders might exist if Wizards had a builder tool out, but the C&Ds would be much more understandable, because WOTC has their own and they want you to buy/use it. But they don't. WOTC has chosen to put the burden on the consumer base, and chosen to increase the burden instead of lessen it when given the opportunity.

Why not pair the C&D notice with an invitation to develop a new, light-weight tool to do the same thing?

Why? Because WOTC, like many corps, has chosen to be combative rather than cooperative. Because that's how capitalism works in America.

 

[Morrus]

It protects the trademarks from falling into the public domain.

US Trademark laws require proactive enforcement on the part of the holder. Failure to be proactive can be used to nullify them, even if registered.

While this does get dragged out in every thread of this type, it always misses an important nuance.

Protection doesn't equal prevention. Simply asking someone to acknowledge the trademark is more than enough. If you're asking them to remove it, then you're doing it for some other reason (which may be perfectly sensible, but is not required to protect the trademark). There is no requirement in law, US or elsewhere, for you to go out of your way to prevent anybody from using your trademark, only that you seek its acknowledgement.

That's why you see those trademark acknowledgements everywhere. People are either proactively saving companies the effort of asking them to do it, or have been asked to.

Takedowns have nothing to do with trademark protection, though.

 

[Dire Bare]

I already pointed out: sending out C&Ds when you're releasing your own products (or licensing them) is one thing. Sending out C&Ds with no clear intention of doing so is just bullying.

WOTC already declared their lack of intention to release their own tool when they canceled their licensed tool.

No. Not bullying, not even remotely close. And as Sacrosanct pointed out, not announcing their plans does not equate with "no plans". That is the most ridiculous thing I've heard all week.

WotC clearly had plans to release online tools for D&D 5 with DungeonScape. When that fell through, the logical assumption is that they STILL have plans, but it's going to take a while as they have to start the process over from scratch. And they are WISE to not discuss their future plans, as sooooo many cranky fans take every word from WotC as a "promise", and then when things inevitably change, scream that "promises" were "broken". They've been burned in the past on this, ESPECIALLY over online tools.

This is why I don't respond to people who chop up my posts, because it is almost universally a reaction to what you think I meant as opposed to what I actually wrote.

This is also silly. It's a common practice on these forums when responding to posts.

 

[GMforPowergamers]

We have no idea what they said in there letter we do know the people who got them took down ther stuff... I don't get why this isn't "worked out right"

 

[Morrus]

No. Not bullying, not even remotely close. And as Sacrosanct pointed out, not announcing their plans does not equate with "no plans".

For example, the major video game just announced, which has clearly been worked on for a couple of years, and which we knew nothing about.

Just because we don't know about a thing doesn't mean that thing doesn't exist or is not planned. And WotC is renowned for treating info about a game like a national security issue.

 

[Sunseeker]

No. Not bullying, not even remotely close. And as Sacrosanct pointed out, not announcing their plans does not equate with "no plans". That is the most ridiculous thing I've heard all week.

I said not announcing their plans is tantamount in the eyes of the consumer to having no plans. The default assumption should never be one of trust and assumption of further production. WOTC has been burned? Sure. But they've done a good deal of burning themselves, both to consumers and to those partnered with them. I have no reason to trust in the good judgement of WOTC as a business, indeed we have all been given plenty of reason over the years NOT to trust in the judgement of WOTC when it comes to D&D.

 

[Morrus]

This is also silly. It's a common practice on these forums when responding to posts.

It's common, but it's annoying as heck. I don't discuss stuff with people who do it, either. It basically turns a single conversation into 10 different ones, and then those 10 conversations in 10 more. It's a variation on the gish-gallop, and once it begins, the only real option is to back out or block out a week of spare time to deal with it.

 

[Dire Bare]

This 1990s dinosaur is a myth. 10 years ago it was true. Nowadays *everybody* goes on the internet to check out their hobbies, from grandmothers to children. If you're surrounded by people who don't do that, you're in a very unusual situation.

All of my nerdy friends are active on the internet, but few regularly visit message boards of any type, ENWorld, WotC, rpgnet, etc, etc. And few pay any attention at all to what's going on with RPG news. Anecdotal, of course, but I also doubt that fans active on internet message boards are a decent portion of the D&D fan base. I'm sure the situation has changed since the 90s, and I'm not saying message board fans are insignificantly small, but the endless back-and-forth in these threads certainly isn't impactful, IMO.

Of course, kinda hard to tell. I'm sure WotC has studied the situation in their market research, and that it factors in to how they deal with copyright and trademark infringers. Perhaps by sending polite requests rather than scary, threatening, C&D's?