From:	Andrew Payne III <smiling_bandit@**********.COM>
Subject:	Re: [Legal] Card ideas
Date:	Thu, 25 Sep 1997 11:19:11 -0700

---"Steven A. Tinner" wrote:
>
> >> What kind of legal issues would FASA have to deal with if they
> >> wanted to publish a card that was posted on this list?
> >
> >Good question. I'll ask Skuzzy or Jim about that when they get back.
>
> If current state of the TCG industry says anything, then you really
> don't have much to worry about. Look at Magic the Gathering. Fans
> make up TONS of their own cards. Scrye Magazine even publishes the
> things in every issue.
>
> AFAIK - FASA would need to ask for permission if the card were not
> already their "intellectual property" For example - just because I
> make an Ares MP Laser card, does NOT mean that FASA needs my
> permission to make one too. Even if theirs has the same benefits as
> the one I came up with, the original Ares MP was their "Intellectual
> Property" and as such, I had no legal basis for making the card for
> anything other than fun.
>
> Now, if I make a runner card named Bull, and give him some really
neat
> special ability like "Turn Bull to destroy any gear or location,
then
> the issue becomes trickier. I would assume that to produce an exact
> duplicate of this card, FASA would need my permission IF I marked
the
> material as being copyright me.

Very good points, makes me feel a little better. Here is another
point about your point after AFAIK, that relates to the Bull card.
Since the card game and mechanics are most likly considered FASA's
"intellectual property", could it not be said that any card that uses
the same game mechanics fall under FASA's "intellectual property"?

Come to think of it didn't Wizards of the Coast win a lawsuit against
a
start-up company that was producing "Magic" like stickers to put on
Magic cards.

>
> Overall, I don't expect to see this as a major issue.
>

I did not think it would be, I thought of it as I was checking out
Nemien/forrest's web page with cards thought up on this list.

===
Andrew Payne III
smiling_bandit@**********.com
http://www.oakland.edu/~ddmccoll/sr






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