Copyright of work posted here?

[ravells]

I have a vague memory from way back that there was some condition of the forum that by agreeing to join the forum the copyright to any traveller related work you posted on the forum automatically became the property of Hunter (or someone else)?

Is this right or am I imagining it? I've looked at the Forum FAQs and terms and can't find anything there.

cheers

Ravs

 

[far-trader]

I think you're confusing a couple statements. As I recall it any original work posted here is still yours. And once upon a time you were allowed to post (quite freely) any Traveller copyrighted material owned by Marc or Hunter under the QLI license. That rule might still be in the FAQ iirc but should have been edited long ago.

 

[BlackBat242]

When I first joined, the mods & Hunter were quite vigorously stomping on anyone who posted copyrighted material owned by anyone other than the actual poster.. even that material owned by Marc!


Yes, I have seen statements to the effect that "all your posts are belong to us" on some discussion boards... but the reality is that those boards would lose in nearly every case if it came to a lawsuit.

The easiest way to deal with the issue, if you want to retain control of something you want to post, is to write it up in your preferred document format (PDF, MS Word, etc) and make a hard-copy that includes dating information (printed & notarized, burned onto a CD, etc), then post it on the discussion board of your choice the next day.

Then you have proof that it was created by you, and was created before its appearance on that board, and therefore really is 100% yours.

 

[Dragoner]

Screenshots are also considered acceptable.

 

[aramis]

I think you're confusing a couple statements. As I recall it any original work posted here is still yours. And once upon a time you were allowed to post (quite freely) any Traveller copyrighted material owned by Marc or Hunter under the QLI license. That rule might still be in the FAQ iirc but should have been edited long ago.

No, that used to be in the terms.

It's actually a standard term for MANY BBS's, especially those for fans of shows and games.

Primary reason? to prevent suits over parallels, like someone coming up with tables almost identical to Dr. Thomas' ones for use in a T20 product. Or someone posting a plot similar to the episode airing the week after next.

 

[ravells]

thanks for the replies guys, so I take it that if I were to post up my own artwork here (e.g. maps and the like), I wouldn't have a problem?

 

[aramis]

Just make certain you include your copyright notice on it, please.

 

[aramis]

One other thing: Anything in the playtest forums is inherently giving Marc permission to use it in the playtested material; anything in the errata threads is giving Don permission to use it in the errata.

 

[Andrew Boulton]

It's complicated.

IANAL, but...

You own the copyright of anything original you post. However, by posting it you automatically grant the BBS a licence to delete, edit, or otherwise muck about with it as required. You're also effectively giving it away for free to everyone on the net, so don't post anything you want to keep control of.

 

[DaveChase]

It's complicated.

IANAL, but...

You own the copyright of anything original you post. However, by posting it you automatically grant the BBS a licence to delete, edit, or otherwise muck about with it as required. You're also effectively giving it away for free to everyone on the net, so don't post anything you want to keep control of.

Well said.

The only thing that I could add is
IANAL
and
Credit where credit is due.

The most that you can expect (and if you had tons of money to throw away for legal battle to enforce it,) is that anything you post on open to the public forums is available for others to use freely as long as they give credit to the original author.
But they can not sell it, make money off of it, because obviously the original author never intended it to be for sale or they would not have posted it on a an open to the public forum.

And to highlight one item that Andrew said

"It's complicated."


Dave Chase

 

[ravells]

Cheers, anything I posted would be under creative commons anyway. I was thinking of going back to my 'evolution of a starport' thread (if anyone remembers it, lol), but this time in 2D.

 

[Dragoner]

Limiting user generated content is a bad business model.

IP laws can be a grey area and usually comes down to who has deeper pockets and a better set of lawyers.

 

[coliver988]

Cheers, anything I posted would be under creative commons anyway. I was thinking of going back to my 'evolution of a starport' thread (if anyone remembers it, lol), but this time in 2D.

I remember, and somewhere I saved off all those great images (I think my Traveller stuff is the reason I bought the TB external drive )

 

[Mithras]

The easiest way ... is not to post it. I delineate all of my work between 'what I don't mind sharing', and 'the stuff I'm saving to publish', which only friends see via email.

The easiest way to deal with the issue, if you want to retain control of something you want to post, is to write it up in your preferred document format (PDF, MS Word, etc) and make a hard-copy that includes dating information (printed & notarized, burned onto a CD, etc), then post it on the discussion board of your choice the next day.

Then you have proof that it was created by you, and was created before its appearance on that board, and therefore really is 100% yours.

 

[aramis]

The easiest way ... is not to post it.

Especially true on a publisher's house website.

Which, this site was (RPGRealms/QLI) and is (FFE).

Especially since Marc has not shied away from releasing previously unreleased materials for older editions.

 

[ravells]

It's not as if this is a money making venture or anything (god forbid). I trust Marc implicitly (he gave me land on his 50th birthday! lol!) that he would do the right thing. I just like posting stuff up for the community to enjoy is all. Frankly, if none of the fan posted stuff here has been abused then I think there is very little likelihood that my small efforts will be, so I'll grab my pen and ink and do the starport thing again.