Which version of the DMG?
Yah. 3.5 DMG is completely usable under the OGL. I know the 4.0 core will be, but I'm not sure if it is yet.
You might be overreacting... but I think the best thing would be to use the "Contact Us" feature of wizards.com and let them deal with all the problems.
:D
Thank you.
Yah. 3.5 DMG is completely usable under the OGL.
That's not true. There are lots of things in the 3.5 DMG that aren't available through the SRD.
Please contact Wizards Customer Service. Click the EMAIL US tab and choose the appropriate topics and then give as much information as possible.
That is incorrect.
[email]copyrightagent@wizards.com[/email]
That is the contact email for issues related to copyright infringement. Wizo/Orcs have NO authority or power to serve Cease & Desist orders to illegal websites. None. Contacting WotC customer service is a complete and utter waste of time. Only WotC's copyright and legal department can address this.
I see the wizo/orc competence requirements are still abysmally low...
That is incorrect.
[email]copyrightagent@wizards.com[/email]
That is the contact email for issues related to copyright infringement. Wizo/Orcs have NO authority or power to serve Cease & Desist orders to illegal websites. None. Contacting WotC customer service is a complete and utter waste of time. Only WotC's copyright and legal department can address this.
I see the wizo/orc competence requirements are still abysmally low...
Actually, contacting Customer Service is usually a decent answer when you are not positive who exactly to contact, as you know. They service customers, so if you send the email to the wrong spot they can then Forward it to the right spot.
That is the contact email for issues related to copyright infringement. Wizo/Orcs have NO authority or power to serve Cease & Desist orders to illegal websites. None. Contacting WotC customer service is a complete and utter waste of time. Only WotC's copyright and legal department can address this.
I see the wizo/orc competence requirements are still abysmally low...
You are correct that ORCs have no authority to serve a cease and desist. However, we have a clear line of communication with the people who do. When in doubt, contacting us through the Customer Service site is a good way to go.
That is incorrect.
[email]copyrightagent@wizards.com[/email]
That is the contact email for issues related to copyright infringement. Wizo/Orcs have NO authority or power to serve Cease & Desist orders to illegal websites. None. Contacting WotC customer service is a complete and utter waste of time. Only WotC's copyright and legal department can address this.
I see the wizo/orc competence requirements are still abysmally low...
You're absolutely correct. There is no possible way for CS to get a message to the copyright folks.
You are correct that ORCs have no authority to serve a cease and desist. However, we have a clear line of communication with the people who do. When in doubt, contacting us through the Customer Service site is a good way to go.
Actually, in my experience over the last 10 or 11 years, contacting CS is a good way to get ignored. Be that as it may.
The OP asked how to report copyright infringement. Chaos gave an incorrect answer, which I provided the correction for. Chaos and Tao are bonafide, paid employees of WotC, and should be expected to provide timely, accurate answers.
Or at least I think it does. How do I go about reporting it?
So, to accurately and completely answer your question.
Send an email to [email]copyrightagent@wizards.com[/email]
You'll want to include the URL of the offending website, as well as links to the specific pages in violation of WotC's property rights and citations of the exact material that is being illegally reproduced. If the offending website includes any ownership or contact information, I'd include that too. All this information will expedite WotC's response, as well as establish your complaint as something substantial, rather than a frivolous complaint from a disgruntled user of a 3rd party website.
Or at least I think it does. How do I go about reporting it?
If it's not a commercial website you might as well forget about it, nobody will care.
Can you imagine WoTC going at court with 13 year old kids that took a picture of Khelben Blackstaff and put it on their favourite wizard's online character sheet...
If it's not a commercial website you might as well forget about it, nobody will care.
Can you imagine WoTC going at court with 13 year old kids that took a picture of Khelben Blackstaff and put it on their favourite wizard's online character sheet...
Sadly, yes. And quite easily, too.
Actually, in my experience over the last 10 or 11 years, contacting CS is a good way to get ignored. Be that as it may.
The OP asked how to report copyright infringement. Chaos gave an incorrect answer, which I provided the correction for. Chaos and Tao are bonafide, paid employees of WotC, and should be expected to provide timely, accurate answers.
Cha 8?
Actually, in my experience over the last 10 or 11 years, contacting CS is a good way to get ignored. Be that as it may.
The OP asked how to report copyright infringement. Chaos gave an incorrect answer, which I provided the correction for. Chaos and Tao are bonafide, paid employees of WotC, and should be expected to provide timely, accurate answers.
So, to accurately and completely answer your question.
Send an email to [email]copyrightagent@wizards.com[/email]
You'll want to include the URL of the offending website, as well as links to the specific pages in violation of WotC's property rights and citations of the exact material that is being illegally reproduced. If the offending website includes any ownership or contact information, I'd include that too. All this information will expedite WotC's response, as well as establish your complaint as something substantial, rather than a frivolous complaint from a disgruntled user of a 3rd party website.
Not to start (or continue, as the case may be) an argument, but the information given by Despotrix is incorrect, or at the very least, out of date. The correct answer is that you should contact Wizards of the Coast through the Customer Service site, as suggested by both Chaos and myself. That way, the complaint can be vetted and the appropriate information requested before the incident is forwarded to the legal department.
CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFORMATION REGARDING REPORTING COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT.
I reported it to customer service about five minutes after making this topic. The site is still up. I don't know why, it's a pretty blatant rip off.
Legal wrangling takes time.
Even if the lawyers pounced the same day you sent your notice and issued a C&D order, if the website you're reporting chose to ignore that order, Wizards may well be giving them a deadline by which to reply.
After that they have to evaluate if its worth the cost of litigation, file suit, and then perhaps get a court-order for immediate takedown of the content in question. Assuming they could get such an order fulfilled.
There's other tricks (including contacting the webhost or ISP of the site in question) but it isn't odd for this sort of thing to take a couple weeks.
I reported it to customer service about five minutes after making this topic. The site is still up. I don't know why, it's a pretty blatant rip off.
So is there any reward for serving as WoTCs eyes/ears?
So is there any reward for serving as WoTCs eyes/ears?
The satisfaction of knowing you have done the right thing?
So...do the ORCs make a habit of taking down anything they dont like but doesnt violate the CoC? Just curious.
They shouldn't, but if they do, aside from seeing Customer Service or appealing to someone who may not listen anyway, there's not a whole lot you can do.
They shouldn't, but if they do, aside from seeing Customer Service or appealing to someone who may not listen anyway, there's not a whole lot you can do.
If it's not against the CoC just repost it.
So...do the ORCs make a habit of taking down anything they dont like but doesnt violate the CoC? Just curious.
If the ORCs removed something, then it was deemed to be in violation of the Code of Conduct.
If it's not against the CoC just repost it.
If it's been deleted by an ORC, then it was against the Code of Conduct. If you disagree with or do not understand the actions of an ORC, we are happy to explain the situation. Simply contact us through the customer service site. We cannot, however, publicly announce the reasoning behind all of our actions, as it would violate our privacy policy.
Reposting an already deleted post is generally not a good idea.
If it's been deleted by an ORC, then it was against the Code of Conduct. If you disagree with or do not understand the actions of an ORC, we are happy to explain the situation. Simply contact us through the customer service site.
Um, not necessarily. I had some Orc edit a post where I referenced via a quote, a game rule, and the mod took the quote out because he thought there was a "continuity" problem. Taking the quote out made the post unintelligible so I put it back in.
I didn't know that CoC included making a post into gibberish...
The satisfaction of knowing you have done the right thing?
Sorry, I've got better things to do than be an unpaid Hasbro IP narc.
Or at least I think it does. How do I go about reporting it?
Don't.
Snitches get stitches.
NO SNITCHING!
Ok, j/k.
But seriously, I wouldn't have bothered with it. I don't get paid by WotC.
It uses the word "the" and "it" and "and" several times! These words are used in the DMG and WotC should sue them!
OMG!
No, Wizards of the Coast will not give you anything for snitching on people online.
Nor will you go to Hell for failing to report it.
Personally, I'd spend my time doing something worthwhile. Like actually enjoying the game and trying not to get fellow gamers thrown in jail.
This site it takes stuff directly from the DM's Toolkit chapter and puts it into a program that let's you create monsters quickly. While an interesting and neat tool, it's a blatant violation of WoTC's IP.
It depends, are they rules that have been plugged in? Rules aren't copyrightable and I haven't heard of WotC patenting any of them. So it could be quite legal.
This site it takes stuff directly from the DM's Toolkit chapter and puts it into a program that let's you create monsters quickly. While an interesting and neat tool, it's a blatant violation of WoTC's IP.
So because someone decided to put work into something that makes your life easier (or if not you, then your fellow gamers), you feel the need to rat them out? It's not like he has a full .pdf download of the DMG available on his site. Don't be a WotC Nazi.
This site it takes stuff directly from the DM's Toolkit chapter and puts it into a program that let's you create monsters quickly. While an interesting and neat tool, it's a blatant violation of WoTC's IP.
I'm sorry, but this makes me sick. Is this what WotC really wants? Gamers turning against Gamers who try to make things to help each other out and overall HELP the hobby and hobbyists?
I hope not, because if things are going to turn into an IP witchhunt thanks to WotC and their GSLs, then I'm jumping ship.
And no, I don't care that losing one customer will have no effect on WotC what-so-ever. I'm not jumping ship to hurt Wizards, I'd be jumping ship to save my sanity.
Is this what WotC really wants? Gamers turning against Gamers who try to make things to help each other out and overall HELP the hobby and hobbyists?
A gamer took it upon themselves to turn someone in. No-one asked him to, and he hasn't been rewarded by WotC for doing so.
This site it takes stuff directly from the DM's Toolkit chapter and puts it into a program that let's you create monsters quickly. While an interesting and neat tool, it's a blatant violation of WoTC's IP.
Wait. This thread wasn't about a digital copy of the books hosted on some server, or someone copying and pasting the books to their site, but about someone who took time out of their day to make players' lives easier? For free none the less?
Mental note to self, never attempt to make Ratinyourwalls life easier, he (could be she) may attempt to have me sued.
I didn't comment on this thread originally because i thought it was something like torrents of books, which are so prevalent its hardly even worth it for WoTC to bother shutting them down. But this is over something as simple as someone making a program that makes encounters for DMs?
This whole thing just made me think of Mike Brady ...
That's a good argument for remaining silent when someone commits a crime. As a law abiding citizen I sure hope people are encouraged to go to the police.
I personally think if you want to report someone distributing copyrighted material then you should go to the police. It is a criminal act, and you'll see how quickly the police respond. If law enforcement puts so little emphasis on copyright infringement, and if we as a society do so much copyright infringement, maybe copyright infringement just isn't that big of a deal?
After all, I doubt WotC will even do anything about this. I believe I've found the tool, and its still there. I will be surprised if it isn't still there in 12 months time.
Personally, if I were WotC, I'd be happy to see little tools like this popping up. It makes designing monsters faster and easier, and could even help generate interest in DM'ing, which would motivate players to buy the DMG.
***EDIT***
I just noticed that WotC now offers a similar monster attribute generator amongst their bonus tools on D&DI. I Suppose that directly competing with their own online subscription services could motivate WotC to take action against this website. Note that the D&DI monster creator did not exist when the tool in question first appeared.
That's a good argument for remaining silent when someone commits a crime. As a law abiding citizen I sure hope people are encouraged to go to the police.
I personally think if you want to report someone distributing copyrighted material then you should go to the police. It is a criminal act, and you'll see how quickly the police respond. If law enforcement puts so little emphasis on copyright infringement, and if we as a society do so much copyright infringement, maybe copyright infringement just isn't that big of a deal?
After all, I doubt WotC will even do anything about this. I believe I've found the tool, and its still there. I will be surprised if it isn't still there in 12 months time.
Since you've found it, could you post the link for us non-haters out here? Thanks to a certain individual who seems ungrateful for the work put in by his fellow gamers, its not like you would be telling WotC something they don't already know. And if they take the route I hope they will, which is to allow fan-made tools so long as they don't go so far as to provide copies of material from the rulebook or make a program that allows you to play without any books, then the site will be there for everyone to enjoy.
As for WotC's own digital tools, if they're really going to be as good as WotC hopes/claims, then they will easily beat out any homemade programs. Besides, if you shut out all the competition, you get Windows Vista.
Since you've found it, could you post the link for us non-haters out here?
Well the one I found is over here. On second thoughts I'm unsure if this is the one the OP is talking about because it primarily consists of rules which aren't copyrightable and therefore aren't copyright infringement.
It does display a picture of the Monster Manual format, however MANY sites out there are using this format without adhering to the GSL and links are posted here all the time to those sites. So I doubt that is something WotC finds offensive.
So yeah, all in all I have my doubts this is actually the one, as it clearly doesn't infringe on WotC's copyright, except for one minor thing which that many, many, many other people are also infringing.
It is a criminal act, and you'll see how quickly the police respond.
Pretty sure it's civil, not criminal.
Pretty sure it's civil, not criminal.
Its actually criminal as well as civil.
Seriously, guys. Wizards has people doing this job, you don't need to do it for them. You won't get paid. You won't get brownie points to go to heaven. You're not changing the world. You're just wasting time.
So. Calm down, chicken little. The sky is not going to fall because someone does something questionable on the internet.
I believe I've found the tool, and its still there. I will be surprised if it isn't still there in 12 months time.
Could you send me the link via PM? I could certainly make use of a tool like that. :D
edit: d'oh!
Next time, I'll remember to read the whole thread... maybe. OK, not likely.This site it takes stuff directly from the DM's Toolkit chapter and puts it into a program that let's you create monsters quickly. While an interesting and neat tool, it's a blatant violation of WoTC's IP.
Sounds like WOTC should hire this person.
I suppose, as designer of a site that host a tool similar to what's described, I should speak up. I'm can't see any good coming from WotC going against a "tool" that automates the DM's toolbox section (as my site does) without explicitly posting text from the books. They would only alienate customers and start the old "WotC is like TSR" complaint all over again. Now I don't know what site this person is talking about, but I will continue to defend the creation of automated tools. My own site hosts an unfinished (as in, not errata'ed) "monster calculator" that simplifies the rules in the DMG by automatically doing the math for elite monsters. I don't see this as a violation, because it doesn't give you access to anything in the book directly.
It isn't, unless the GSL specifically says somewhere, "The purchaser of these books must do the math for elite monsters themselves, without aid, using long division on a college ruled 8.5 x 11 piece of paper, using a number 2 mechanical pencil in complete silence."
But I wouldn't be surprised that Wizards would try something like that. But then again, my opinion of the D&D department of WOTC is dreadfully low, and probably will be for the run of the current edition.
Snitches who snitch for no reason or gain on things which are completely borderline.
Dozens of copies of the core books can be found on Torrent without trying. Yet one guy makes the concerted effort to make playing a bit more fun as people create their OWN NEW MONSTERS...and you go out of your way to stifle them.
Thats sickening.
Leichenreiter even has a link in his sig to the site!
I don't think that WotC has something against toolkits ...
Hasbro Could (theoretically) patent 4E rules and then prosecute, but doing so means they give up copyrights on the wording of stuff, and Patents expire. Copyrights effectively don't (I think its up to 150 years).
Dozens of copies of the core books can be found on Torrent without trying.
Just because everyone else is doing it, doesn't make it right.
Seriously people, calling him a tattletale and such? Isn't that a bit childish? I'm by no means Mr. Perfect, and I agree, I doubt said tool actually breaks copyright, but that doesn't mean he was wrong for reporting it. As was already mentioned in this thread, wouldn't you report any other crime you saw without needing to be paid? I would hope so, or I would think the world would be a lot less safe.
Just because everyone else is doing it, doesn't make it right.
Seriously people, calling him a tattletale and such? Isn't that a bit childish? I'm by no means Mr. Perfect, and I agree, I doubt said tool actually breaks copyright, but that doesn't mean he was wrong for reporting it. As was already mentioned in this thread, wouldn't you report any other crime you saw without needing to be paid? I would hope so, or I would think the world would be a lot less safe.
The problem is that the crime supposedly committed would only be a crime if WotC decided to exercise draconian limitations on what their fans can and can not do with the books to help other fans, even when said help is free and only comes at the cost of the "criminal's" free time and server space.
What the OP is reporting is a fan helping other fans by making the DM's workload easier, which is a FAR CRY DIFFERENT than stealing, or ANY crime for that matter. The sheer thought of this EVEN BEING CONSIDERED a crime is just sickening.
The problem is that the crime supposedly committed would only be a crime if WotC decided to exercise draconian limitations on what their fans can and can not do with the books to help other fans, even when said help is free and only comes at the cost of the "criminal's" free time and server space.
What the OP is reporting is a fan helping other fans by making the DM's workload easier, which is a FAR CRY DIFFERENT than stealing, or ANY crime for that matter. The sheer thought of this EVEN BEING CONSIDERED a crime is just sickening.
Not to disenfranchise your right-minded zeal, Narukagami, but...
Did the OP even mention that he was tattling on toolkits? Maybe there is actually a site that reproduces a lot of material from the DMG unlawfully.
Anyway, if we did establish that it was IN FACT a tool kit site, than I concur with you.
Not to start (or continue, as the case may be) an argument, but the information given by Despotrix is incorrect, or at the very least, out of date.
Then you need to update your website, the answer I posted is directly from the site. Or keep arguing and refuse to admit any error. I'm not the one complaining, it doesn't matter to me one bit.
The problem is that the crime supposedly committed would only be a crime if WotC decided to exercise draconian limitations on what their fans can and can not do with the books to help other fans, even when said help is free and only comes at the cost of the "criminal's" free time and server space.
What the OP is reporting is a fan helping other fans by making the DM's workload easier, which is a FAR CRY DIFFERENT than stealing, or ANY crime for that matter. The sheer thought of this EVEN BEING CONSIDERED a crime is just sickening.
This was before the OP even said it was a tool. For all we knew, every book Wizards has made so far was posted up on this site, and people were still calling him a tattletale who didn't care for his fellow players. As I said, I think the tool is probably ok, but before we knew that, posters were still attacking him for it.
WOTC is more open about their products that most companies and is probably a lot more tollerant of such sites, especially with the OGL and GSL liscenses out there. You might want to read those liscences if you haven't.
Mark Charke
Most of the DMG can be reprinted. Check the SRD.
You seem to be basing this off 3.5. I made the same basic assumption, for whatever reason. This statement is true for the 3.5 SRD; but it's not true for the 4e SRD (as best as I understand it).
Most of the DMG can be reprinted. Check the SRD. If you don't know what the SRD is then you don't know what you are talking about. Why the need to report on someone? If it's a problem I'm sure WOTC will find out and take care of it. They're certainly not going to reward people for "telling" on others.
WOTC is more open about their products that most companies and is probably a lot more tollerant of such sites, especially with the OGL and GSL liscenses out there. You might want to read those liscences if you haven't.
Mark Charke
As already said, 3.X has the SRD/OGL. For 4th edition, they did not renew this, and you cannot reprint anything in any book. No fluff, no crunch, nothing. The GSL allows one to use the system, and a some of the words found in the system (ie. if you make a monster, you can say it has encounter powers, basic melee attacks, etc). So, you're the one who doesn't know one he's talking about.
1) Is it a direct digital reproduction of the books. Talking about the rules doesn't apply since you can't copyright rules, just the manual that describes how to use the rules. This is why there can be knockoffs of Monoply out there as long as they don't use the wording of the Monoply rules manual or the Monoply name.
2) If it's not a direct copy of text and not being charged for (most toolkits) chances are it won't be gone after by WotC since it's not worth the effort and the site/person gone after will have a fairly sound 'fair use' defense. Copyright after all doesn't cover concepts but actual 'bodies of work' (a novel, rulebook, piece of art). Also they can't stop someone from saying 'usable with D&D 4th Edition' or something similar. They just can't use the official logo without adhering too the GSL. It's the same way that software can say 'works with Windows Vista' without having to pay Vista for the right to say so but having the 'Made for Vista' and similar branding logos requires a special agreement with MS.
Of course, I won't, because I'm CN.
Just saying.
Thread closed.