"Individual list messages are copyrighted by the original poster; the
compilations are copyrighted by the list owners or the Phoenyx itself and
may be downloaded for personal perusal but not re-published without
permission. Please contact webster @phoenyx.net if you would like to do so -
contrary to the old saw, it is easier to get permission than forgiveness."
That's the official starting line from our host.
Ideas and information are exempt from copyright. As creator of your work,
copyright law (U.S.) gives you "the right to print, reprint and copy the
work; to sell or distribute copies of the work; to prepare 'derivative
works' (dramatizations, translations, musical arrangements, novelizations,
etc.); torecord the work; and to perform or display (the works) publically.
These rights give (the creator) control over how the work is used."
Celandra (as a setting and shared world project) exists under an (implied)
unrestricted, non-exclusive, shared copyright. That is to say, as near as I
can determine, legally anything which makes up Celandra (setting, societies,
world history, major characters, etc.) can be used by anyone involved. By
posting the information to the list, we voluntarily waive our "intellectual
property" rights. By posting, we have chosen to make these things freely
available to everyone's use.
So, the world is a shared copyright with waived intellectual property
protects. Specific posts are automatically copywritten to the author. What
does that mean in English? It means that what you have to watch out for is
not copyright violation but plagiarism. Use the setting all you want (and
any details that are intrinsic to the setting) but don't copy anyone's
specific stories. For example, if you want to use the Eerith (a Qai
society) in your story, there is no problem. The physical descriptions,
general nature of the society, that floating city I can't spell as a
setting, major personalities, etc. are all part of the world and are,
therefore, fair game. If you want to use a specific part of the Canto of
Fire (a story told on the list about the Eerith), you have to have express
written consent from the author. The basic reasoning is: we want to
encourage as much development of the world, in whatever creative form you
like, as freely and openly as possible but at the same time, we want to
prevent someone ripping off another persons hard work. Think in terms of
plagiarism rather than copyright and intellectual property. (The "for
commercial purposes" is a bit of an indulgent grey area. For example:
never do anything for the purpose of making money off of Celandra but, if
you self-publish something and sell enough copies to cover your expenses,
not only am I not opposed, I'm happy for you because that means that what
you did was really good. If you ever decide to do something like that,
though, definitely talk to the list and get permission first.)
That's the best I can put together. Obviously, since I am considering
publication of the Eerith Chronicles, I have a vested interest in getting it
right and I've done my homework. (That's why the money discussion makes me
uncomfortable. I'm looking at publishing the collected Eerith stories as a
convenience to the people who want a copy but I'd not turn down money from
strangers who wants to buy one. I'm sorry, I know that sounds shallow but
I'm poor and I'm paying the publication costs myself. If I could, I'd pay
to print a free copy for everyone on the list but I can't. I hope everyone
understands. Okay, enough side-tracking.)
The shortest version is: yes, what Jusso said BUT:
1-Ask our host (pheonyx.net) for permission or at least to determine if they
need anything special.
2-Absolutely always give credit to anyone who you can find who might have
been involved. If you ask who you can and credit everyone, then the worst
you can be accused of is forgetting someone (which is not a crime). I'd
suggest simply preparing a generic statement to put with your stuff such as:
"Celandra (and its general content) is a shared world project, used with
permission. It is a collaboration of a large number of individual
contributors and this author claims no exclusive rights to Celandra or its
general contents. Though certainly not a complete list of all the wonderful
people who have contributed to the development of this project, this author
would like to acknowledge the following individuals for specific
contributions which have enriched the specific work presented here: (list
everyone you can think of). The author would like to apologize in advance
to anyone who may have been missed in the above listing. It is certainly
not a complete list and this author is deeply grateful to everyone who has
contributed to the Celandra project over the years." (If anyone can think
of improvements or modifications to this disclaimer, let me know.)
Scared yet? Don't be. I'm just trying to give you as much help as possible
to be completely ironclad. Nothing ruins your day faster than some fool who
e-mails you a flame threatening to sue because you used a name similar to
one he used in something you never read. Do what you want, give credit,
have fun, and let us know where we can go to look at it and enjoy it as
well. Sorry to run on so long.
M. Keaton
----- Original Message -----
From: "Juha Vesanto (Juuso)"
To:
Sent: Friday, October 04, 2002 12:54 AM
Subject: Re: [Cel] [Ely][Amura]
| On Thu, 3 Oct 2002, Michelle Monroe wrote:
| > that), but my question is this: If I play a character or culture in an
RPG,
| > could I get in any trouble if I was to do anything outside the game with
it?
| > Like publishing an online comic based on it, or posting or publishing
stories
| > centered on it? Just my culture, I mean. Not anyone else's from the
game. I
| > just want to make sure, so if someone here sees an online comic about
Amura
| > five years from now, nobody will be upset.
|
| Short version: no problem.
|
| Long one: We have no written copyright policy, so all is juridically as
| per default on electronical mailing lists. (Actually I would be interested
| to know what the default actually is...). Some players have put copyrights
| over their material, but of course such copyright covers only their
| societies. In principle, I'm thinking along these lines:
| - everyone has unlimited right to use their own material, including
| commercial use
| - everyone has a right to use other material (general, other players),
| too, unless
| * the stuff is copyrighted
| * it's clearly a rip-off (ie. direct and (almost) complete copy
| of some society/story/IH-rules), and the intent is to get
| commercial benefits from its use
| Even in the latter case, a permission is likely if you ask nicely.
| - In any case, acknowledgements for the original author(s) in the case
| of reuse is expected.
|
| Disclaimer: Qaiyore GM might see things differently. Perhaps.
|
| juuso
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