- Offizieller Beitrag
Anfang Juni hat Chaosium bekannt gegeben, dass sie ihre Lizenzpolitik überarbeitet haben. Nunmehr werden folgende Varianten angeboten:
- Fan Material Policy (non-commercial, non-retail, unofficial, unbranded, no apps/software, no merchandise items)
- Limited License/Small Publisher (Bruttoumsatz mit dem Produkt kleiner als USD $2.000 p. a., Lizenzkosten $100 p. a., unofficial, "for use with")
- Commercial License (nach Absprache)
Für viele private Hobbyautoren könnte sicherlich die Fan License interessant sein. Auf YSDC gibt es dazu einen Thread. Von Chaosium auch noch eine FAQ.
Interessant ist folgender Passus in der FAQ:
ZitatAlles anzeigenQ: Copyrights and Trademarks - what are they?
A: Our intellectual property - our text and images - are legally protected by copyright, giving Chaosium/Moon Design Publications exclusive rights for its use and distribution. Our logos, titles and certain content are trademarks, which uniquely identify our products. For example, ‘Call of Cthulhu’ and ‘RuneQuest’, among others, are officially registered as Chaosium/Moon Design Publications trademarks, whereas the written text and artwork in these works are protected by copyright. How others (fans, small publishers, commercial licensees) get to use our copyrights and trademarks is through our Fan-Use and Licensing policies. If our copyrights are violated or trademarks are infringed - for example, someone producing an unauthorised Masks of Nyarlathotep graphic novel - and it comes to our attention, the law requires us to police the violation, otherwise we may lose the right to claim them.
[...]
Q: Isn’t H.P. Lovecraft/Cthulhu Mythos in the public domain?
A: Not all aspects of H.P. Lovecraft’s work or the Cthulhu Mythos are in the public domain. Although H.P. Lovecraft was the originator of the Mythos, he generously collaborated with a wide circle of writers, and since his death others have continued to contribute to its ongoing creation. Included in this group are such names as August Derleth, Robert Bloch, Clark Ashton Smith, Brian Lumley, Ramsey Campbell, Sandy Petersen, and Chaosium itself, among others.
A: So you're not trying to claim you "own" the Mythos?
A: We make no claim that we "own" the Mythos, never have. Because HPL died over 70 years ago, his individual writings are now in the public domain, but the Mythos was/is a shared creation—even in HPL's lifetime ("the Lovecraft Circle"). Many of the writers HPL collaborated with lived on much later into the 20th century, e.g. Clarke Ashton Smith (d.1961), August Derleth (d.1971), Robert Bloch (d.1994), etc. Certain elements of the Mythos are theirs, or have been created by still-living authors including Brian Lumley, Ramsey Campbell and indeed Chaosium's Sandy Petersen. What these writers created in the Mythos won't enter the public domain until they have been dead for 70 years (or in Sandy's case, maybe never, because he is clearly an Immortal Being). We don't claim to own the Mythos in general (although certain elements of it are Chaosium IP), but we do own the Call of Cthulhu RPG, and and are obliged to protect it.
Das Problem hierbei ist der Begriff certain content. Es wird zwar ausgeführt, dass Coprights für gewisse Teile des Mythos bestehen, diese werden aber nicht definiert (außer "Call of Cthulhu").
In der Fan Lizenz heißt es:
ZitatYou may reference the names of things, institutions, places, people, deities, and concepts from our published products, provided you make it clear that these are our marks.
Dies finde ich gelinde gesagt schwierig, da bspw. der gute alte Cthulhu sicherlich in einer Chaosium Publikation auftaucht, aber nun einmal definitiv gemeinfrei ist. Ergo stellt sich wieder einmal die Frage, was genau denn unter das Chaosium Copyright fällt.