More catching up...

From: Brian Tickler <tickler_at_netcom.com>
Date: Thu, 3 Jul 1997 18:22:54 -0700 (PDT)

> From: "Peter Donald" <neurolab_at_psyc.queensu.ca>
> Date: Wed, 25 Jun 97 00:45:26 -0400
> Subject: Re: CopyrightQuest
>
> Fiction publishing (cf. various and sundry lawsuits over
> fan-written derivative material. For more on the reasons why companies
> and authors come down like a ton of bricks on unlicensed publications
> see the case of Marion Zimmer Bradley, who has lost the ability to
> write in part of her creation - the world of Darkover - because she
> wasn't zealous enough in pursuing a fan who published derivative works
> set in her world).

RPGs allow derivitive works by definition, which implicitly gives the kind of rights you're are talking about Marion Zimmer Bradley giving by default when see didn't "aggresively pursue" her copyright. This has been my contention: that the very act of publishing a fictional world setting in an RPG must by force give up a large portion of the copyright. At this point, beyond a forced credit to the author/company each time the key terms are used and the right not to have whole or large parts of their published products reproduced, all other protected rights a fictional work would otherwise enjoy are forfeit...

• -- Brian T. Tickler http://www.netcom.com/~tickler/index.html

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