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Mailing List Logs for ShadowRN

Message no. 1
From: "David M. Girardot" <GIRARDOT@*********.EDU>
Subject: Can a GM Copyright his Run?
Date: Tue, 6 Apr 93 05:55:01 CET
My take on this is that a) the run itself is not copyrightable, but
b) the GM's written adventure is, but c) his adventure might not be
copyrightable unless he gets a license from the Game Company.

Also, let me repeat what someone else mentioned: you cannot copyright
an idea.

The real point though is that copyright law means civil suits. So unless
you have the mulah to go chasing after the villains of your worst case
scenario (and beleive me it will COST) you're probably best of putting a
little compyright notice on your work and leaving it at that. Now, if
Big Game Company sends you a contact to buy your manuscript for $$$$, then
maybe you should worry more about copyrights. :)

Finally, let me say that there is a great deal of discussion over whether
or not email-lists are "public-distribution" or not. The bottom line there
is that if you are really paranoid about the copyright of something, you
shouldn't post it to the list. I realize that calling email lists "public
forums" is counter-intuitive, but it legalese never has made much sense
anyway.

Your best bet about "copyrighting" the characters, IMHO, is to use a variation
of the GNUish "Copyleft" license -- which allows more or less free dist.
as long as the authors retain credit and rights to their work, and no
money is made off of it.

--David
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Girardot@*********.edu Girardot@********.bitnet
dmgirard@***.cs.du.edu
-*-
Prognosticator * Gamer * Scribbler * Reader * Consultant * Sorta Apple Rep
Message no. 2
From: "Robert A. Hayden" <hayden@*******.MANKATO.MSUS.EDU>
Subject: Re: Can a GM Copyright his Run?
Date: Tue, 6 Apr 93 06:21:10 CET
On Tue, 6 Apr 1993, David M. Girardot wrote:

> Finally, let me say that there is a great deal of discussion over whether
> or not email-lists are "public-distribution" or not. The bottom line there
> is that if you are really paranoid about the copyright of something, you
> shouldn't post it to the list. I realize that calling email lists "public
> forums" is counter-intuitive, but it legalese never has made much sense
> anyway.

Thats one of the problem. The shadowtalk logs are publically available.
I also maintain the edited versions which I freely distribute (although I
could copyright these edited ones without any problem as a 'value added'
item). The question is, who can claim shadowtalk? and what can they claim?

> Your best bet about "copyrighting" the characters, IMHO, is to use a
variation
> of the GNUish "Copyleft" license -- which allows more or less free dist.
> as long as the authors retain credit and rights to their work, and no
> money is made off of it.

There may be some legal holes in 'copyleft'. As I said when I started
this topic, I spent some time talking with a magazine editor and bouncing
ideas off of him. He's never heard of anything like 'copylefting' and
doubts its validity. I don't know enough about it to render an opinion,
but I do think it is outside of what we are trying to accomplish here
right now.


[> Robert Hayden ____ <] Black Holes result from God
[> \ /__ <] dividing the universe by zero.
[> hayden@*******.mankato.msus.edu \/ / <]
[> aq650@****.INS.CWRU.Edu \/ <] # include std_disclaimer.h

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Disclaimer

These messages were posted a long time ago on a mailing list far, far away. The copyright to their contents probably lies with the original authors of the individual messages, but since they were published in an electronic forum that anyone could subscribe to, and the logs were available to subscribers and most likely non-subscribers as well, it's felt that re-publishing them here is a kind of public service.

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