At 10:15 AM 4/22/01 -0700, Ryan S. Dancey wrote:
[...]
>The situation that exists today where Wizards and other publishers
>essentially turn a blind eye to the flagrant infringments of their
>copyrights and the misuse of their trademarks on the internet is an anamoly.
>It does not represent either the historical practice, or the reasonable
>future policies of the hobby gaming publishers. When the OGL becomes more
>firmly established and most of the D&D system is available for use under
>that license, I expect Wizards will change its stance regarding unlicensed
>and infringing works.
Here we get once again into the topic of setting-based fan sites -- sites
that are irrevocably tied to the Forgotten Realms, Dragonlance,
Spelljammer, etc.
Here is the situation as I understand it...please correct me if I'm
mistaken in any of these points:
1. Almost all D&D-related fan sites on the Internet today are relying upon
WotC's "Internet Use Policy". This is an unofficial policy by which WotC
allows fans to operate non-profit sites making use of their IP under
certain rather liberal standards. This policy is no longer written
anywhere, is revocable at will, and offers no legal "safe harbor" to any of
the fan sites except WotC's good will (or indifference).
2. According to the statement quoted above, WotC will likely eventually
revoke this policy and require all fan sites -- whether for-profit or not
-- to abide by the terms of the OGL license. This license precludes the
holder from using any WotC PI or trademarks -- which I assume includes each
specific setting (FR for instance) and everything in it, with the possible
exception of world-specific monsters, spells, magic items, etc. Presumably,
WotC will *not* make such things as "Forgotten Realms", "Cormyr",
"Elminster", etc., open content.
3. THEREFORE, it will be legally impossible to maintain a setting-specific
fan site under the OGL. And therefore, all such sites will have to be
removed from the Internet when this change takes effect.
Sean Reynolds, Rich Baker and others involved in the new FR design have
made it clear on the FR mailing list that the new version of the setting
will focus heavily on the "core" areas where most players base their
campaigns -- the North, the Sword Coast, Cormyr, the Dales, and a handful
of other areas. Marketability will be the final consideration, because WotC
is a business and doesn't want to repeat the mistakes that drove TSR to the
brink of bankruptcy --especially with public stockholders now expecting
results. We cannot expect to see official products detailing "The Great
Glacier" or "The Endless Waste" or other areas that do not appeal much to
the market in general, but which are of interest to hardcore Realmsophiles
(such as me). Realms fans on the Net have a long tradition of "filling in
the spaces" with group projects (Northern Journey, Arylon City, the
upcoming Silverymoon project recently mentioned on this list) and solo
projects (like the one I've been working on). Also, many of the
discontinued settings such as Dragonlance and Dark Sun still have a core of
supporters who can *only* keep their worlds alive through such projects.
Requiring an OGL for all fan-based sites will be a serious problem. Not for
WotC from a business standpoint, but for the fans.
Possible solutions?
A. Keep things as they are. I really doubt that WotC can point to any
evidence that fan sites have hurt them in any way, financially or legally.
In fact, as long as rules and source material are not reprinted wholesale
(which is already a violation of the "Internet Use Policy"), anyone wanting
to use the material on these sites needs to buy the relevant D&D setting
products, such as the forthcoming FR hardback. Note that the Web is filled
with large, popular fan sites devoted to Xena, Star Trek, and God knows how
many other valuable properties with no question of trademark erosion, and
no financial damage to the trademark holder. Lorraine Williams ordered the
purge of D&D fan sites in the 90's because she was desperately trying to
sell the sinking TSR ship and was terrified that fan sites would dilute the
trademarks and devalue the company. I think a more relaxed approach is
possible now.
B. Allow non-profit fan sites to operate as usual, but require a standard
disclaimer verifying that all trademarks and PI are the property of WotC,
that such trademarks are not challenged, that the material may not be used
commercially by any party, and that the webmaster claims no right to
authorize public redistribution of this derivative work, or further
derivative works based on it, to other parties. This means the content is
only "open" for its own purposes, not for downstream reuse, but since the
webmaster is basing his work on material he doesn't own, it's the only fair
and legally responsible way to do it. But, the webmaster could specify that
he allows downstream users to make use of that portion of his content that
is totally original, provided the downstream user complies (at his own
risk) with the WotC Internet Use Policy.
>Noncommercial publishers need do nothing other than provide a simple license
>text to insulate themselves from this problem - a zero cost, low impact
>solution that benefits everyone.
Correct...for sites using only generic D&D material with no PI.
We setting-specific fans need some guidance here, especially since there
have been conflicting statements from various people -- Clark Peterson says
he heard the Internet Use Policy is going away; Faust says that's not true
and that the IUP is the best recourse for non-profit fan sites; Ryan says
WotC won't have a problem if we put up FR fan sites; then a post saying
that the IUP will probably be replaced by the OGL, thus precluding (under
the current rules as I understand -- or misunderstand -- them) any
FR-specific web sites unless they render themselves pointless by
eliminating all FR-specific references.
>I think the clear cut trend is to reinforce the rights of copyright holders
>vs. the rights of the public. The original intent of the copyright and
>patent laws was to give creative people a limited right to exploit their
>creations before the public gained full access to those creations in order
>to stimulate innovation. Over the last 225 years, the law has become less
>and less interested in >ever< returning those rights to the public and has
>become a tool to perpetuate the exclusive rights conveyed essentially
>forever. My opinion is that every time "Steamboat Willie" comes close to
>copyright expiration, the Congress will extend the deadline again, ad
>nauseum, forever.
That's absolutely true. They're even inventing ways to bring some public
domain stuff *back* under copyright -- such as the URAA. (The web company I
used to work for got a cease & desist letter from the estate of Charlie
Chaplin because we posted a digital version of "The Gold Rush" -- which was
PD when we bought it, but copyrighted again by the time we got it up online).
<bellyache>
The sad fact is that ours (the U.S.) is a government of big business, by
big business, for big business...and that situation is fully supported by
the people, by their apathy if by nothing else. I fully believe that 20
years from now, Congress will have gotten bold enough to simply make all
copyrights "in perpetuity". That means that people 500 years from now will
still be collecting free, unearned money for work their 16-times-great
grandparents did. That's justice for you -- but it makes the Disneys and
MGMs of the world happy, so there you go. A few intellectual freedom
advocates will scream in protest, and the other 99.9% of the world will
yawn and turn to the football game.
</bellyache>
WotC has always been nothing but friendly towards the fans, but the fact is
that with the Hasbro takeover, our favorite game is now ultimately in the
hands of men in grey suits who think "gaming" means the blackjack tables at
Bally's. They really don't care whether D&D comes, goes, stays, lays or
prays as long as it keeps generating profit. Economic reality #1: if the
3rd edition core books hadn't sold as well as they did, D&D would no longer
exist at this moment. Economic reality #2: WotC will have to do what it
takes to make Hasbro and its investors happy, no matter what.
I hope everything works out for us.
Andrew Crossett
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
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