What will Masterplan be after the C&D?

[Kafen]

Is Masterplan American?

I think the site is UK based - going by the website hosting and bits posted to the site. So, WOTC has two 'good' choices. They can use the upcoming Digital Economy Act to sue when it goes into effect next month or the EU copyright courts. Neither option is a good thing for WOTC considering the laws that protect software groups and companies in the EU. Recent cases, Apple in France and Mininova, do a good job of isolating the copyright claims to people transmitting the data. WOTC has very few legal options as long as Masterplan does not distribute the library files under those two systems. WOTC has a 'third not so good' choice that involves a suit in the US with Masterplan operating as an entity in the US through the internet.

It's why I can't see WOTC actually suing them in the EU. Mininova is GUILTY of tens of thousands of violations in the EU, and the only real penalty is the removal of torrents. The worst thing WOTC could do to them in Europe is say. "Remove those library files!!!! Oh wait, you don't host them." *shrug* So, WOTC is not likely to do much outside of the US. And, the US courts protect the software companies from petty lawsuits while allowing the small companies to counter sue for damages. The RIAA would be suing hard drive makers if people could actually sue for such silly things if you need a practical example. You know how easy it is fill a HD with stolen music? Every teenager in America would be named in the lawsuit against the HD makers. Ipod would be hit with a lawsuit every five minutes if you buy into the theory.

Sure, it's all just guess work on our end. However... Anyone that sits down with a lawyer more than once to actually piece together a license for a high traffic item in the digital age goes through the spiel. It's not hard to stay out of trouble for software devs. The only tough choice is opting to defend which is expensive. And, I have no problem pointing to the groups like the ACLU, FAP, and every state level bar association in the US if a large corp is unwise enough to actually sue a small software company under the SLAPP style laws. Lawyers would eat them alive.....and not charge Masterplan a cent because WOTC is a very Deep Pocket to pick.

Forget that stuff, there's still tons of 4E features to implement. Why should they split their talent across different projects? At most, they should leave room for fans to generate their own alternative rulesets.

If they had funds from a counter suit, they could split their project and focus on the 4e stuff. I agree with you, however. They should focus on 4e. It would be cool to get a Pathfinder version and MnM 3e version,still. It would not hurt my feelings to see it.

 

[Asmor]

Masterplan is a good piece of software. Imagine what they could do if they had the funding from a counter claim. I'd look forward to that development. They could afford to bring in people to develop code for a Pathfinder option. Mutants and Masterminds?

Forget that stuff, there's still tons of 4E features to implement. Why should they split their talent across different projects? At most, they should leave room for fans to generate their own alternative rulesets.

Because nothing excites you for supporting a game like a protracted legal battle against its creator?

 

[doctorhook]

Because nothing excites you for supporting a game like a protracted legal battle against its creator?

Ugh... touche'.

I'm not sure why we're still talking about the legality of that C&D. Is it that important to anybody here? I guess the thing that really bugged me is the idea that a 4E-based program should sue the makers of 4E, and use the proceeds to make non-4E-based software; as a 4E fan, I think that's a bloody horrible idea.

 

[Kafen]

Because nothing excites you for supporting a game like a protracted legal battle against its creator?

Two points... I support the developers of third party software for the first point. I develop software that consumes hundreds of hours of my time which makes it personal on some level. If the general community does not show its concern over bully tactics over free software, what is the point in defending any software on the practical level. The people advocating the idea that software developers need to smile and take the hit merely because WOTC is 'big' are hurting the entire gaming community by feeding the climate of fear. As reasonable developers, Masterplan deserves the protection of the community if you like their software and want to continue using it. On the second point, I have no pity for WOTC if they send out letters to Masterplan people when enforcement involves WOTC sending out letters to the torrent sites targeting the copyright infringing material. It is a legal step toward judicial barbarianism of the 1930s and 1940s for software developers to let big companies get away with it in silence. The chilling effect on innovation is huge with a message that does not speak well for the industry.

So yes, I get excited when people cheer a large corporation for using scare tactics to hurt the gaming industry. The truth is that I suspect people are treating this like an edition war topic which it is not. It is not about 4e versus The World. If you go to the Masterplan site, the hot topic is the legal aspect. It has nothing to do with Edition War pride and gaming system fights at this point. It's about good software that is under attack by a large company which affects the entire gaming industry.

Masterplan is moving on, though. So, the edition war pride stuff is a moot point. The license debate is beside the point. WOTC is going to take its bloody nose for this one and Masterplan is going forward to version 9.0 which means everyone wins. Heck, even the pirates win. Public trackers place the torrent sharing traffic at 30x the data traffic since I spotted this one on the Yoko Critic. It's the real lesson we take from this bit - big companies can bully little ones, but pirates are going to steal the data once they hear about it.

I'm not sure why we're still talking about the legality of that C&D. Is it that important to anybody here? I guess the thing that really bugged me is the idea that a 4E-based program should sue the makers of 4E, and use the proceeds to make non-4E-based software; as a 4E fan, I think that's a bloody horrible idea.

Most because it is the hot topic of the day on Facebook and the Masterplan site. The forums, too. *shrug* Anyways, I never said they should turn away from 4e. Why not increase their user base at a critical time in their development?

 

[MrMyth]

The people advocating the idea that software developers need to smile and take the hit merely because WOTC is 'big' are hurting the entire gaming community by feeding the climate of fear. As reasonable developers, Masterplan deserves the protection of the community if you like their software and want to continue using it.

Are... many people really arguing that Masterplan should take the hit simply because WotC is 'big'? I thought most people on that side of the argument were there because they genuinely feel Masterplan's former library system infringed on WotC's IP and that WotC was perfectly reasonable taking action against them.

Even beyond that, I also think members of the community are perfectly capable of liking Masterplan's software and wanting to use it without wanting it to allow for trivial acquisition and sharing of the full contents of DDI. There shouldn't be a requirement that the community protects Masterplan simply because it is the small fish, any more than the community should cater to WotC for being the big one.

 

[Kafen]

Are... many people really arguing that Masterplan should take the hit simply because WotC is 'big'? I thought most people on that side of the argument were there because they genuinely feel Masterplan's former library system infringed on WotC's IP and that WotC was perfectly reasonable taking action against them.

Even beyond that, I also think members of the community are perfectly capable of liking Masterplan's software and wanting to use it without wanting it to allow for trivial acquisition and sharing of the full contents of DDI. There shouldn't be a requirement that the community protects Masterplan simply because it is the small fish, any more than the community should cater to WotC for being the big one.

He who controls the spice?
Who has the funds to fight it?

You have at least a dozen people supporting those arguments. *shrug*

I agree with you on the second point in that there should not be a requirement on both sides, but it would be nice to know that Masterplan gets some support from the people that use it. So, I have no problem suggesting that people keep Masterplan on their list of concerns.

 

[Scribble]

There shouldn't be a requirement that the community protects Masterplan simply because it is the small fish, any more than the community should cater to WotC for being the big one.

I do always find this point interesting. People have a tendency to simply call anything the "big guy" does bullying.

Having not seen the C&D I can't really comment on whether or not they actually ARE being bullies, but still I don't think people should jump to conclusions either way.

After all, the people who write the software, and support the DDI for WoTC are people too, and have also spent probably hundreds of hours working on their own software- I'm sure it's kind of personal for them as well.

Again having not seen the C&D, it could be they ARE bullying... But just jumping to that conclusion because one group is big, and another small? That's kind of contrary to our whole basic foundation.

 

[rjdafoe]

My only problem with this is that it is now, during the time of when a new tool should be very close to being announced. If that tool is something to compete with Master Plan, then we really know what was behind it.

Also, I find it hard to not trust the deveper when he said the C&D explicitly stated to kill the whole software. he said they specifically pointed out what they did not like, but the C&D was to stop deveoping Master Plan - not to change it so it doesn't do it anymore.

All they had to do to stop what Master Plan does was to implement something on their side. A C&D letter does not stop the content that is already out there (if any) anyways.

Like I said, we shall see what happens as time goes on. If he releases v9, he may get another letter, or something more serious. There really is a reason why he is asking for lawyers advice after all.

 

[Markn]

I suspect that Wizards sent the C&D now because Masterplan was suddenly getting a lot of exposure. I was introduced to it only a month ago. The number of new users since then has exploded greatly as far as I can tell. Suddenly the new buzzword in 4e is Masterplan and it reaches the ears of WotC. They look into it further, also aware that some of their own people use the program and thus feel they need to close the exploit to DDI access. Whether this coincides with a soon to be released app is besides the point. They are simply protecting themselves here.

 

[Lord Xtheth]

My only problem with this is that it is now, during the time of when a new tool should be very close to being announced. If that tool is something to compete with Master Plan, then we really know what was behind it.

Also, I find it hard to not trust the deveper when he said the C&D explicitly stated to kill the whole software. he said they specifically pointed out what they did not like, but the C&D was to stop deveoping Master Plan - not to change it so it doesn't do it anymore.

All they had to do to stop what Master Plan does was to implement something on their side. A C&D letter does not stop the content that is already out there (if any) anyways.

Like I said, we shall see what happens as time goes on. If he releases v9, he may get another letter, or something more serious. There really is a reason why he is asking for lawyers advice after all.

I'm pretty sure its just a macro
Copy/paste email adress
initiate C&D macro
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