Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 Ivorythorn Dec 28, 2014 17:29:58	I've been having a discussion about copyright and IP ownership about early TSR modules, and can't seem to find any info on who owns the copyrights.  Anyone here have any info on these?  I'm talking about early, early stuff written by Gygax, etc.  Any help would be appreciated...
#2 Azzy1974 Dec 28, 2014 17:37:36	Ivorythorn wrote:
#3 ankiyavon Dec 28, 2014 18:39:36	Azzy1974 wrote:
#4 Zardnaar Dec 28, 2014 18:59:10	ankiyavon wrote:
#5 ankiyavon Dec 28, 2014 19:05:23	Zardnaar wrote:
#6 Grazel Dec 28, 2014 20:56:32	Actually more recently WotC did re-release the very early D&D and Chainmail rules and I think they got those along with all the other IP from TSR. They only let the TSR name go after they established themselves as the source for D&D material since it'd no longer cause confusion. These were mostly just reprintings of the old rules to celebrate the age of D&D and it's predecessor (Chainmail). Chances are good that any published material's copyright transfered to WotC during the purchase of TSR even for related items Gygax released prior to the formation of TSR (which I believe happened at the time of Chainmail anyway, just not in the acroynmed form and possibly an different name, later rebranded).   I seem to recall an issue over those rights when Gygax split with TSR and tried to publish pre-Basic rules and TSR blocked him because they owned the rights still (pretty common for a founder to not realize when they form a corporation that they are transferring a lot if not all of their previous related material to the corporation and lose individual rights to it).
#7 ankiyavon Dec 28, 2014 22:36:55	Grazel wrote:
#8 Ivorythorn Dec 29, 2014 11:28:00	Thanks guys!  After some research I did determine that the copyrights were owned by WotC, but the other info is useful as well.