WotC is *NOT* Evil: THE FINALE

[Scribble]

I am just glad this is not about Essentials.

How Copyright law is a... Starfruit?

 

[Pssthpok]

No offense, OP, but I think you overreacted to a sensible response.
Like one of the earlier posters said, you asked for intellectual property, WotC said no; you then asked for a reason, they said they couldn't give you one (the CSR isn't a lawyer). That's a sensible exchange. Where it loses sensibility is when you whine about the results and stomp off to go play rehashed 3.5... Have fun.

 

[Dice4Hire]

No offense, ... and stomp off to go play rehashed 3.5... Have fun.

This post was good till the last part. Just a cheap shot.

 

[Solvarn]

IP and Fair Use

IP law is tough because you are dealing with the intangible. Nice discussion in this thread.

Keep in mind that if a company doesn't vigorously pursue the defense of the intellectual property the company in question can actually lose it.

There is something with IP called fair use. While posting the images on the website wouldn't be fair use using it for your personal game and not distributing the images on a large scale would be fair use in my opinion.

 

[Ryujin]

IP law is tough because you are dealing with the intangible. Nice discussion in this thread.

Keep in mind that if a company doesn't vigorously pursue the defense of the intellectual property the company in question can actually lose it.

There is something with IP called fair use. While posting the images on the website wouldn't be fair use using it for your personal game and not distributing the images on a large scale would be fair use in my opinion.

I posted a link to the Fair Use Doctrine information on page 4. As I understand it you could use IP if you were reviewing the products in question, or reporting a news item that was somehow linked, but using it for purely personal purposes isn't permitted.

*EDIT* Wiki link, for whatever little it's worth: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fair_use

 

[TarionzCousin]

It's too bad joethelawyer moved his bookmarks or he would be writhing all over this thread.

 

[Nadaka]

After reading the first two pages and skipping the rest, I am going to chime in.

They will never give you permission to post images on the web.

For your own personal use in your own personal game at the game store? Absolutely no part of copyright law will prevent you from making copies of those images and using them as long as you don't distribute them (ie, the players don't get to keep the copies).

 

[Herschel]

I am just glad this is not about Essentials.

I literally laughed at my desk, and I can not yet give you more XP. *shakes fist at TerraDave for leaving me in this conundrum*

 

[Gloomshroud]

Well, to wrap this up folks, I wrote out an apology to the CSR team over at Wizards. This was their reply, reaffirming what you all have said. I really felt like a dunce after reading this.

Thank you for writing back. Unfortunately, the legal department does not take phone calls from the public as a whole, and we won't be able to put you in touch with them. But we are still working on this issue for you.

We've been in direct contact with the Brand team regarding this issue, and it has been recognized that the Fan Site kit has not yet been updated to include images from our most recent products like Dark Sun.

They are working on updating the Fan Site kit as we speak and we should see an update in the near future, likely the cover images to start. Please understand that there won't be a large number of images in the kit, and it may not have the images you're most interested in. We hope to add more as time goes on, but it is not a fast process, as we have to be very specific with what is allowed for public use. We do not just update all the images from the Art Galleries into the Fan Site kit.

And to answer your previous questions, ultimately we cannot give permission to just any and everyone to use any of our art they want. The reason is because it is our policy, which exists for legal and brand protection purposes. And we generally do not make exceptions to this policy. We do, however, recognize that fans want to use some of our art. That is why we created the D&D Fan Site Policy and Kit.

We do appreciate that you've contacted us, as it has helped us start the process to get the Fan Site kit updated to reflect recent releases.

Please let us know if you have any other questions or concerns. We'll be happy to help as best we can.

 

[vagabundo]

That was nice of them. Well it all worked out in the end, eh?...