On 4/13/00 2:31 PM, Rogers Cadenhead ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) wrote
>That's not true. Copyright exists to protect specific kinds of
>works, not anything you can express in written form. Game rules are
>one of the things that are explicitly not covered by copyright law
>in the U.S.
Game rules themselves are a tricky thing to copyright, but the Player's
Hanbook itself is extremely copyrightable. It'd be difficult to
summarize the rules without tripping over WotC's unique expression of
them.
From:
http://lcweb.loc.gov/copyright/circs/circ1.html
HAT WORKS ARE PROTECTED?
Copyright protects "original works of authorship" that are fixed in
a tangible form of expression. The fixation need not be directly
perceptible so long as it may be communicated with the aid of a
machine or device. Copyrightable works include the following
categories:
* (1) literary works;
* (2) musical works, including any accompanying words
* (3) dramatic works, including any accompanying music
* (4) pantomimes and choreographic works
* (5) pictorial, graphic, and sculptural works
* (6) motion pictures and other audiovisual works
* (7) sound recordings
* (8) architectural works
These categories should be viewed broadly. For example, computer
programs and most "compilations" may be registered as "literary
works"; maps and architectural plans may be registered as
"pictorial, graphic, and sculptural works."
______________________________________________________________
WHAT IS NOT PROTECTED BY COPYRIGHT?
[snip]
* Ideas, procedures, methods, systems, processes, concepts,
principles, discoveries, or devices, as distinguished from a
description, explanation, or illustration
--
Russ Taylor (http://www.cmc.net/~rtaylor/)
CMC Tech Support Manager
"Oooh, Marge, they have the internet on computers now!" -- Homer Simpson
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