From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]On Behalf Of Doug
Meerschaert
Sent: Tuesday, June 20, 2000 5:35 PM
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: RE: [Open_Gaming] Other's trademarks in my copyrighted material
<< First off, let me point out that I am *NOT* in any manner a laywer; all
that
follows is my layman's opinion, and if you really want a legal opinion of
credibility you should talk to a laywer. >>
Same here. Layman's opinion only.
<< > Selling as in gaining profits, or selling as in to take charge for the
> medium (book or CD)? (Would GFDL be "not selling"?)
I know of at least one site that "sells" a copy of its netbook in paper
form, and charges the cost of the printing and shipping. It also
distributes the book online, free of charge. I know that the site is up,
but I don't know if there is any extenuating circumstances. You *MIGHT* be
able to do it, but the persons to ask would be WotC, not the list. >>
This came up once earlier on one of the OGL lists, and the answer was "No",
if I recall correctly. As soon as you allow for "reasonable" media costs,
someone throws in "reasonable" shipping costs, then "reasonable" handling
costs, then "reasonable" labor costs, then... Slippery slope effect. Will
they actively hunt you down and terminate you if you charge a media fee? No.
Wouldn't be worth the bother to hunt out such violations. But if they become
aware of it, they are compelled to take action to protect their trademarks
(and maybe their copyrights). Cease-and-desist letters will follow.
If the media costs are high, have the other party send you paper, or a disk,
or whatever. Then it's clearly them providing you the medium for
reproduction. Or just make it a netbook, since that's a low cost (but high
hassle, if you have a slow modem) distribution mechanism.
<< > Besides, are these USA-spesific of INTERNATIONAL advice? Any country
that
> has signed the Bern treaty (or what it is called) has to treat an
> international copyrightholder at a certain level, and never worse than
> national copyrightholders.
:) Like I said, I'm not lawyer. But I do live in the US... >>
US law is now consistent with Berne convention.
Martin L. Shoemaker
Emerald Software, Inc. -- Custom Software and UML Training
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
www.EmeraldSoftwareInc.com
www.UMLBootCamp.com
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