I am having professional copies of Anuire and the Battle Mat made

[gloriousbattle]

Okay, it has been a long time since last I posted on this forum, but I have started new Birthright campaign (using Labyrinth Lord, interestingly enough) that will be played over Skype. I have commissioned the original campaign map and the battle mat from a local printer.

I am well aware that some forums get touchy about copyright issues, and even mentioning this kind of thing. I am satisfied that this is legal, because, like it or not, TSR/WOTC put this stuff into the public domain, and once that is done, it remains there forever, and the original copyright holder has no more right to it than anyone else, thereafter. "Just kidding. I didn't really mean to put it in the public domain" doesn't work.

However, this thread is not about poking WOTC or anyone else with a stick, rather, I simply want better quality scans than the (pretty awful) ones put in the originally released set. This so I can play the game without risking damage to my original boxed set.

However, this is going to cost me $172.00 for the scans and prints both. A bit expensive. Therefore, I would be willing to put the scans up here, if I could get enough contributions to defray this somewhat. I'm sure that, even if nobody does contribute, my player's copies of the scans will make it to the web eventually, and I certainly have no copyright to them, but, if anyone is interested, I am willing to put them up earlier than that.

Anyway, I would do this if I got total contributions of $86. This is roughly half of what I will be paying, and I consider it fair.

Now, if anyone wants to argue copyright law with me, don't bother. If you think that I'm being greedily commercial or doing something illegal or whatever, please just tell the mods, and I'm sure they will remove this if they think it is inappropriate.

If interested, please let me know. I think this would be a good way to bolster my favorit old D&D campaign.

[AndrewTall]

Copyright law is always a problem area on websites, not least because every country tends to have its own particular laws on the matter. BR is still in copyright - and will be for a number of years, so as joint owner of some of the related IP (everything developed and posted on the site is joint under the agreement with WOTC subject to their various exemptions) obviously we do have strong views and can't condone anyone breaching copyright.

The key issue, from what I've seen, tends to be restricted to things done "for profit" though, personal use tends not to be an issue. Thelandrin knows copyright law better than I do so I'll let him decide on whether we are required to pull your post, but I suspect that any copyright issue would relate to you seeking contributions towards the cost, rather than you wanting a shiny new map for your game (don't we all?)

It might also depend on whether your printers are doing "a copy" by merging together the existing maps (which all have very slightly different scales just to be a pain) or "a new derivative piece of art" - the latter tends to be less of an issue and arguably comes within our agreement with WOTC (such as it currently is) anyway unless it is done for profit (which was strictly forbidden by the lawyers of WOTC).

[arpig2]

Why not just make your own map and then have that printed - total cost would be about $20.
And since it is a map you made yourself, copyright is not an issue.

[Sorontar]

As has been mentioned, Birthright is not in the public domain. The use of the artwork and features of the game were originally licensed to birthright.net. We are not the public.

But as others have said, production of your own maps would probably be looked over, provided those maps are your work, not copies of existing maps.

The full license agreement can be seen at http://www.birthright.net/forums/showwiki.php?title=Birthright_license_agreement

Sorontar

[Thelandrin]

Well, I'm certainly no lawyer, copyright or otherwise, but this site is not permitted to generate profit in any fashion (or allow it to be so) from Birthright materials. I don't think we're even allowed to host Birthright PDFs that we haven't created ourselves.

[gloriousbattle]

Well, as I said, I don't want to poke anybody with a stick, and I am not doing anything for profit by asking for contributions to defray my costs, nor is it a violation of copyright to copy anything placed free on the web by the original copyright holder. You can't put rules on that, because contract law does not apply, as there is no consideration (more than a peppercorn...) Copyright is, in this sense, all or nothing.

However, I am here because I enjoy Birthright. So, I'll tell you what. I got the scans and they are really nice. If anyone is interested in admiring them, contact me, and no charge whatsoever. Just trying to maintain a great old campaign.

Merry Christmas fellow Anuireans.

[Naughtical]

What maps are you talking about? The giant blank one in the boxed set?

[arpig2]

nor is it a violation of copyright to copy anything placed free on the web by the original copyright holder.
For what it is worth, that is incorrect. It is a violation of copyright to make any use of copyrighted material without the permission of the holder of that copyright.

[Thelandrin]

It's also a very common misconception that if you aren't generating a profit, you aren't violating someone's copyright. Read this link (http://www.copyrightservice.co.uk/copyright/p01_uk_copyright_law) to get a primer on just my country's copyright law.