From: Alex Ferguson (abf@interzone.ucc.ie)
Date: Wed 25 Jun 1997 - 23:24:13 EEST
> From dummy Wed Feb 29 12:12:12 1990
> X-EB: ----------------------------------------------------------------------
Robin D. Laws asserts:
> The principle of derivative works is not a gray area.
But what _is_ a grey area, is what _constitutes_ a "derivative work" in
the RPG field. Spiderman comics are a poor analogy, as lots of other
legal instruments can be brought to bear here, such as the numerous
trademarks, and the copyright on the likeness of Spidey's ever-lovin'
physiognomy, over and above the copyright which exists in the text. I
doubt that, say, a review of Troll Gods could be held to fall foul of
this criterion, whereas publishing one's own "Pamaltela: Land of
Pocharngo and Plenty" almost certainly would. In between, we have what
looks like a Grey Area(TM), at least to me, until someone provides
me with a Crisp Clarification.
I thik the closest the field has ever gotten to a "test case" of this
area was the TSR/RoleAids farrago. I don't recall the details of
the settlement of this case, but I believe it essentially boiled down
to Mayfair agreeing to (at least in effect) _sell_ the rights to the
products (back?) to them, so they could promptly bury it. While
TSR got to 'protect' their copyright (and probably more particularly,
trademarks), effectively nothing was "proved" in the process. Except
that where game companies differ, lawyers profit, of course.
Slainte,
Alex.
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