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Will there be a 4.75 a la Pathfinder?
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<blockquote data-quote="fanboy2000" data-source="post: 6332574" data-attributes="member: 19998"><p>Well, you can flip through a book before you buy it. If there is a likelihood of confusion that the layout would make a consumer think the book is a WotC book and not a 3PP, then there's at least an argument for trademark.</p><p></p><p>Any given page from a 4e book is covered by copyright, taken together. When you separate the content from the layout, things get a bit tricky. The content, the words and pictures, are certainly protected by copyright. Even if you lay it out differently, you're still infringing (at least if you don't have a exception). </p><p></p><p>But what about just the layout? What if I write all new content and just make it look like WotC product? I haven't taken a good look at them, but I suspect that the EU's strong unfair competition laws would call that palming off, a big no no. </p><p></p><p>In the U.S.? My sense is that the layout of a book would considered trade dress. Particularly if you are, in fact, using it to distinguish your products (RPG books) from others. Which is how they were using them. I can spot a WotC 4e D&D book from 50 paces. They're designed that way for a reason, so people know which books are official and which ones aren't. Maybe the GSL doesn't claim them, but I strongly suspect they haven't waived their rights to it.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="fanboy2000, post: 6332574, member: 19998"] Well, you can flip through a book before you buy it. If there is a likelihood of confusion that the layout would make a consumer think the book is a WotC book and not a 3PP, then there's at least an argument for trademark. Any given page from a 4e book is covered by copyright, taken together. When you separate the content from the layout, things get a bit tricky. The content, the words and pictures, are certainly protected by copyright. Even if you lay it out differently, you're still infringing (at least if you don't have a exception). But what about just the layout? What if I write all new content and just make it look like WotC product? I haven't taken a good look at them, but I suspect that the EU's strong unfair competition laws would call that palming off, a big no no. In the U.S.? My sense is that the layout of a book would considered trade dress. Particularly if you are, in fact, using it to distinguish your products (RPG books) from others. Which is how they were using them. I can spot a WotC 4e D&D book from 50 paces. They're designed that way for a reason, so people know which books are official and which ones aren't. Maybe the GSL doesn't claim them, but I strongly suspect they haven't waived their rights to it. [/QUOTE]
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