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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