Unearthed Arcana SRD - SCANNED

[Dinkeldog]

For those that might be interested, this doesn't seem to be a discussion on how to pull off an act of piracy. It seems more a way of creating such a document legally (and determination if such is possible). I'm not sure it would be legal at any rate because of the duplication of graphics. My advice would be to consider a re-presentation of the SRD in a potentially more useful format.

 

[Rasyr]

I don't see the term "good faith" in the OGL but it certainly makes sense that if it was done in this manner no one would complain. But not only PI. All non-OGC needs to be removed, leaving only OGC.

True, however, for the purpose of my post I was think of only OGC and PI material, and forgotten that there might be material not covered by either in there.

I agree that this seems like a rationalization. It's a slippery slope. One could, by this rationale, claim the entire D&D community is part of the "team" and pass documents around perpetually with no deadline set on when the final OGL'd work would be finished.

Which is why I said consult a lawyer.

However, if plausible/possible, a team would/should have to be more rigidly defined, and limited in scope.

If I were the copyright holder in this situation, I would consider a small group (not more than half a dozen, tops) as a team, but not the community as a whole as there is no organization or leadership role that is specifically filled to accomplish a set task.

Again, the team idea is a very risky one and not one I would recommend in this situation.

 

[Psion]

In theory, you can't even reproduce a copy of UA for your personal use. Why do you think that Wizards print "Permission is given to photocopy for personal use only" on their character sheets?

As far as I know, to set a precedent. And to get the copyright bullies at kinkos off you back.

I think you'd be hard pressed to find a case where the courts upheld any instance of prohibition of copying for personal use.

IANAL, but that's my perception.

 

[Psion]

I'm not sure it would be legal at any rate because of the duplication of graphics.

I thought the implication behind OCR was that there wouldn't be graphics.

 

[Blue]

As I read it, it is suggested as a team project.

The team would remove PI from the scanned document.

Unfortunately, first of all they'd have to be sent the scanned document - and that is illegal, because it still contains PI.

They could be sent the document if the PI was first removed...

I believe this is known as a "Catch 22" situation.

Just as a thought, he could organze it as a team project to have people read their own copy of UA and send in lists of PI to him to remove.

Cheers,
=Blue

 

[DMScott]

"No portion of this work other than the material designated as Open Game Content may be reproduced in any form without written permission." -- from the UA copyright page. There are also the copyright laws to consider.

In theory, you can't even reproduce a copy of UA for your personal use.

Unless, of course, you conduct the project in Canada, in which making single copies of any portion of a work "for use and private study" is not an infringement of copyright. I believe most commonwealth countries have similar statutes, and I'd be mildly surprised if the US didn't.

Of course, copyright relief in the case of an infraction requires that the holder prove damages occurred as a result of a breach. This is (to put it mildly) difficult in the case where someone makes a copy for personal use. It's particularly unlikely in a case where the document specifically grants the right to freely copy and redistribute a large chunk of it.

Why do you think that Wizards print "Permission is given to photocopy for personal use only" on their character sheets?

Those sheets carry various trademarked terms which WOTC must protect against unauthorized commercial use in order to retain their rights, and that makes them a completely different category of intellectual property. Comparing that to any copyright issue is worse than useless, it's misleading.

 

[SSquirrel]

For those that might be interested, this doesn't seem to be a discussion on how to pull off an act of piracy. It seems more a way of creating such a document legally (and determination if such is possible). I'm not sure it would be legal at any rate because of the duplication of graphics. My advice would be to consider a re-presentation of the SRD in a potentially more useful format.

The OCR step removes all graphics and leaves only text behind. If the grpahics were left in, you would have the illegal copies found on Kazaa, which isn't the goal of this project. There was a VERY short list of what is not OGC that I saw here on ENWorld at one point, so I would think removing the PI would be a very simple step, as there's only about 5 things.

Hagen

 

[eyebeams]

It looks to me like what you'll have to do is either break the law or do it all yourself.

Now another question presents itself:

Since the imaginary threat of tort comes from WotC, why not ask WotC how to go about it? Email them and keep the exchange filed and you'll protect yourself from liability while taking the right path. Plus, with any luck, this lets them know that somebody's going to put that stuff up, so they might get around to doing it themselves.

WotC is not as well staffed as it once was, but they have had a pretty good history of helping folks with this stuff.

 

[Felon]

I believe Merric has the correct read on the situation. Obviously otehr people have alredy done it, but haven't posted it for various reasons, including being asked not to by WOTC members, unofficially I believe from the original thread. People WILL do this eventually and YES emailing the scans with PI in them is illegal but so what? He's trying to send the copies he makes to _1_ person who will do the step of removing PI material. He's not posting the whole thing and then suggesting that everyone who downloads it remove the PI themselves.

Now see, you're being practical, which just isn't allowed in this sort of thread. Start bickering about the massive ramifications, both legal and karmic, or get out. Don't let the fact that you're neither a lawyer nor a deity be a deterrent to instructing on others on the proper course of action.

Every morning I face a similar crisis. Leaving my home for work, I must decide whether to jaywalk to reach the bus stop directly across the street, or walk a few hundred yards all of the way down the block and back. One choice is illegal , the other is wasteful and pointless :\ . Ultimately, I find myself breakin' the law every damn time. I think I will ultimately rectify this by calling the police and reporting myself every day when I get home from work. Either that or I'll wait until I get smeared by an SUV.

Seriously, jchristl, if you want to make an Unearthed Arcana SRD, that's great. Don't let the nitpickers and naysayers make you feel unappreciated. Unless WotC is willing to expend some rather ridiculous amounts of resources to stop you, the legal consequences are likely zero.

Then again, I'm no lawyer...just a felon.

 

[Swiftbrook]

Project Started

Allright folks, I've started. I'm looking through UA for PI.

First problem....What do we call this project? Unearthed Arcana is a trademark and PI. We can't call this the Unearthed Arcana SRD. Can we call it the UA SRD?

PI The List (page, column, paragraph, word(s))
4, L, 2, UA
4, L, 7, UA
4, L, 9, UA
5, L, 2, PHB --> Players SRD
5, L, 2, MM --> Monster SRD
5, L, 6, PHB & MM
7, L, 1, DMG --> Game Masters SRD
7, L, 5, PHB
7, L, 9, PHB & MM
7, L, 12, PHB
7, R, 7, MM
7, R, 13, PHB
7, B, DMG

-That's just the beginning. There's a lot of PI in this product.

-Swiftbrook