WOTC's Policy on Fan Sites

[msd]

I know this has been discussed in a couple of different contexts and I also know (or at least I think) that the policy has changed over the years.

My questions...

Does anyone know what the stated WOTC policy is regarding fan sites?

Do I have to use any and all copyrighted material at my own risk subject to fair use doctrines or does the policy create an express or implied license for non-commercial use on a fan site?

Does WOTC even have a stated policy with express guidelines regarding fan sites?

Is there anyone on these boards from WOTC who can either point me to public information from WOTC regarding these questions, or who can speak on behalf of WOTC?

Thanks,
Matt

P.S. - I am not a lawyer although I play one in law school. I will assume, unless you indicate otherwise, that you are not a lawyer and will not take any of your comments as legal advice or as creating an attorney client relationship.

 

[DaveStebbins]

You are correct that the policy has changed over the years. They currently seem to be pretty accepting of fan sites, from what I can tell. I couldn't find any kind of web policy on their site, perhaps they have one stickied somewhere in the forums. The best advice I can piece together is this: You are welcome to talk about a campaign and list books, classes, feats, spells, etc. on your site, as long as you do not reproduce them from the books. If your site is set up so people reading it can use things without needing the books, that's bad; if it just refers to things in the books, that's fine. I think, essentially, they don't want anyone posting stuff that will prevent people from needing to buy the books.

I believe the above applies to rules-type material, I'm not sure how they feel about their artwork, but I don't think it's a good idea to use logos and artwork from their site without e-mailing customer service and asking for permission. Of course, anything from the SRD can probably be used, but that gets into the whole OGL thing, where you can't use their Product Identity, which makes things murkier.

On the whole, reading it over, this doesn't seem very helpful, and it's probably not anything you haven't already heard. I guess the only real advice is to not reproduce logos, artwork or complete rules text from non-OGC books.

-Dave

 

[Morrus]

Here is the most recent information regarding WotC's fansite policy:

http://www.enworld.org/forums/article.php?a=15

 

[msd]

Thanks for the link, Morrus. But, this seems to apply to the specific issue of conversion of older material (or am I simply misreading the text?).

 

[Morrus]

I think you're misreading it - or maybe I presented the info poorly.

The first half deals with conversions and refers you to the conversion policy. The second half (Dancey's quote) refers to "fan sites in general". It's that section which applies here (or, at least until someone from WotC says otherwise).