telgalad
Posts: 2
8/30/2012
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Hey all, love the fact that i got into the most recent beta event. Quick question on worlds and legality. As soon is I heard about the beta, I immediately started drawing up a world for X-men. However, i then realized that this might not be legal, does anyone have any idea about this? is making worlds for things like x-men or lord of the rings legal?
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Passionario
Posts: 777
9/1/2012
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By the way, have you tried asking Marvel yet?
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Passionario: Profile, Story, Ending
Passion: Profile, Appearance
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Kitsune
Posts: 220
9/1/2012
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It certainly never hurts to ask..... ^_^
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http://fallenlondon.storynexus.com/Profile/Mikhail~DuRall
My Lovely World:
http://et.storynexus.com
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Nigel Evans
Posts: 212
9/1/2012
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Folks, it would please me if we didn't see any more "Actually, the real summary of the situation is X" from anyone who isn't a UK IP lawyer. And for that matter any more "StoryNexus is for Y" stuff.
I appreciate you're engaged and have opinions, but at this early stage there's a real chance of giving other users the wrong impression of the platform and the legal issues. And that would be an awful shame.
Thanks folks.
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SmyJohn
Posts: 42
9/4/2012
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You guys should meet Gecko Bizarre. He's a sweet if sometimes disconcerting little reptile.
OK, I don't own a lizard. But if I did that would totally be its name.
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Lily Fox
Posts: 346
8/31/2012
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Uh, no. Intellectual Property isn't just the name. Whatever an author calls it, a story about a school of mutants which hosts a semi-secret team of mutant superheroes headed up by a psychic bald guy in a wheelchair who fight another team of mutants led by a man who can control magnetism is X-Men IP.
Now, if an X-men-esque story is intended as satire, that's Fair Use and Marvel/Disney can't do anything about it. But it's not original and the characters are still not the author's property.
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@LilyLayer4
Fallen London character: Lilith B.
Author of Maelstrom - Play - Discuss
Author of City of Phire - Play - Discuss
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Alexis Kennedy
Posts: 1374
8/31/2012
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Gordon Levine wrote:
I don't think anyone from FBG has said Story Nexus is intended to be exclusively (or mostly!) a platform for revenue-generating games.
edited by levineg85 on 8/31/2012
It is not intended to be exclusively (or mostly!) a platform for revenue-generating games.
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katastrophe
Posts: 17
9/1/2012
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Chrysoula wrote:
Actually, I think putting a game on StoryNexus is exactly like running a semi-public RPG on a forum. I mean, I'm not a Marvel lawyer but it's just a matter of automation.
Or a MUD/MUSH. Anyone else remember those? There used to be fan-run MUDs for everything under the sun, and I don't remember anyone making much of a practice of shutting them down.
Which isn't to say that Marvel won't bother the OP: Marvel suffers from that specific form of inadequacy that leads to attaching a lawyer and then waving him about while screaming "Mine's bigger! MINE'S BIGGER!" But that's the OP's risk to take.
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Oh hey, a webcomic.
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Chrysoula
Posts: 40
9/1/2012
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I suspect you pretty much have to decide that for yourself. However, I recommend Wikipedia articles on 'sampling', 'appropriation (art)', 'de minimis' and 'fair use' (Which, to be clear, is an American legal thing and not universal.) Also keep in mind that copyright is not applied or defended in the same way in all countries.
Most of the time, you have to think about the money. Copyright is most vigorously defended when money is at stake, and when there's a reasonable demonstration that the infringing material has damaged the money-making capacity of the original material.
Also, copyright covers the expression of an idea. There's a bit of complexity regarding derivative works, but in general it applies to the actual words used to express an idea. Taking the same idea and expressing it in your own words is not a violation of copyright (usually). (Trademark is a issue.) It is the foundation of lots and lots of excellent art, though.
No, I am not a lawyer, just somebody who's researched this from a variety of angles in the past. The ultimate answer is, "You're going to have to decide for yourself," and "Failbetter is going to comply with takedown notices." Because copyright prosecution and defense is often extremely complicated and variable.
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