Copy right, please, all read.

[LAYF]

Copy right, please, all read.

Currently, where I live, there have been a great search for piracy, or other violation of copy right.
Now, on this forum, there are currently circulating links t documents containing rules or ideas for character creation. These document are under copy right protection, and seeing as THunt is changing all WOTC related things, I donÔÇÖt thing ke wants a law suit for hosting illegal files, or links to such.

Therefore, while I know it will lower some game possibilities, I ask that those who have linked to files, protected by copyright law, will take their links down.

In advance. Thank you.

[BadgeAddict]

Just want to post here to make myself known. http://www.apegames.com/ootsDoD.html this is a link to the people who actually make the game. So I don't think this is in danger of breaking copyright laws. In fact Ape games, who produces OoTS, has given links to download all of their instructions here http://www.apegames.com/downloads.html

This being said, I think I'm safe.

[LAYF]

ThatÔÇÖs actually great... those who have right to post the things they do... or think they have.. please post so along with your original links... and let the links you make be from a legit source... this way, we can avoid THunt getting any lawsuit he do not need.

[ThroughTheWell]

First, I thought THunt removing every instance of Players Handbook and such (excepting maybe yaun-ti) was a joke. It (his tweets) sounded like a joke because he started with yaun-ti and then continued to the absurd like Players Handbook. If you think it was real, I'd kind of like a cut and past of the whole thing here, and then a call out to THunt or a mod to confirm. Then I'd still almost want confirmation of before and after changes to the actual comic. At that point, I'd wonder whether mentioning anything not in the D&D SRD (many monssters, all non core classes and feats, etc), and not even then without a copyright notice, was an actionable violation.

Second, if you know of specific links you think violate copyright, tell the poster, then tell a mod, and maybe if you want to warn us from reposting, give us specific examples.

[Amara]

Would this also apply to books provided as PDFs by reason of them being out of print, and no longer able to be easily acquired any other way as a result? I did link PDFs... but I can't exactly refer people elsewhere to get the books, either. For a while White Wolf went print on demand, but the only hope of getting any of the books now is either downloading the pdfs, or getting lucky to pick them up in a used book shop. :/
Or ordering online/getting them from eBay, but that tends to be pricy and I've had bad luck with that, and have gotten quite a few badly damaged copies that are barely usable.
I don't think it's very likely that oWoD will ever be reprinted either, since they're now producing 'remastered' books with the old setting, and new rules. I can still pull them down, if so... Technically a copyright in the US lasts 28 years without renewal.

I just have no idea how I can run a game without providing them for players, but better safe than sorry. I can understand that. ;-;

[BadgeAddict]

I think where LAYF is going is links for PDFs that are not linked to the original author/creator. Example, perhaps I know where you can get a copy of a new released music artist for free, but not exactly legal, this causes legal issues.

[SeeAMoose]

First, I thought THunt removing every instance of Players Handbook and such (excepting maybe yaun-ti) was a joke. It (his tweets) sounded like a joke because he started with yaun-ti and then continued to the absurd like Players Handbook. If you think it was real, I'd kind of like a cut and past of the whole thing here, and then a call out to THunt or a mod to confirm. Then I'd still almost want confirmation of before and after changes to the actual comic. At that point, I'd wonder whether mentioning anything not in the D&D SRD (many monssters, all non core classes and feats, etc), and not even then without a copyright notice, was an actionable violation.

Second, if you know of specific links you think violate copyright, tell the poster, then tell a mod, and maybe if you want to warn us from reposting, give us specific examples.

1) The copyright issue Thunt mentioned on twitter is not a joke based on what I have seen. He mentioned it on ustream well before making the comment on twitter, and it's actually Danielle who is going through to change the references. He seemed to be very stressed about it at the time.

2) I am not particularly familiar with copyright law in Germany and the EU (where this forum is hosted), so I am unsure of what exactly would be problematic. However, for starters I can say that you should not attach any files to the forum that are in anyway copyrighted by anyone else. In fact... I may disable that option entirely to be safe. Linking to websites that discuss rules should be fine, linking directly to copyrighted rule-sets probably would be a problem though. I'll look into the laws as soon as I get a chance.

Edit: I'll try to put together some forum wide rules on this over the weekend, but in the meantime you should try to abide by the following rules:

• Do not post the content of a copyrighted work beyond short excerpts
• If you include anything from a copyrighted work in your post you must attribute it to the author and link to the original
• Do not post anything that is not legally available otherwise.

Linking to copyrighted material and even to infringing material appears to be legal, but we still need to be safe. If anyone has a more detailed understanding of European copyright law, please let me know.

[LAYF]

In the EU. The author and/or publisher of creative work has the right to control distribution of said work.
So, you are allowed to:
-Link to said work, if the place you link to is provided by the author or publisher.
-Link to reviews of said work.
-Link to or host any part of the work that is not within the copyright agreement of said work.
You are not allowed to:
-Host said work without written confirmation from the publisher or author.
-In any way encourage people to find and/or acquire said work in any way that can be considered piracy.

I had to as one of the legal guyÔÇÖs at work to find this stuff out. There are not much to be found. But he gave me this article to look at http://www.out-law.com/en/articles/2013 ... academics/


So basically:
Hyperlink OK.
Hosting, not ok.
Publishing or communicating, not ok.


Hope that answers a little...