So quick note of clarity on copyright law. I am seeing a couple of people who own PDF copy they obtained thinking its okay since they own the actual book. I, like them, though this was ok, arguing that I didnt want to degrade the book with overuse and would prefer to use the digital copy instead. Turns out, in the US and Canada at least, its not. In the US, reproducing and distributing copyrighted materials without permission of the copyright holder is illegal. Section 107 does provide for certain fair use exceptions under limited circumstances. Fair use is a DEFENSE to a claim of infringement, not a right, as one poster correctly pointed out. Depending on the circumstances, it may or may not succeed. In Canada its even worse, essentially, you can reproduce a few pages (to a maximum of a chapter) for personal educational use, but anything more and you have to pay a licensing fee/purchase electronic usage. While its unlikely that Hasbro would sue someone for having a PDF scan of their books, whether or not said person owns a physical copy, you shouldnt do it and definitely shouldnt show up at a con with the PDF on your tablet without written permission. However, if you want to photocopy or print out some excerpts of the book and stick them to your DM Screen or something like that- that should be fine, I guess, I mean- I am pretty sure- whatever- shut up. The main take away here is two things: One: There is a lot to discuss when talking about Copyright and Fair use, especially on an international group like this and Facebook is not the place to do it- so please refrain from doing so in the comments below. Two: My recommendation, and I belive that of WotC, is to use the DugeonScape app (the beta comes out tomorrow) for your digital representation needs and/or contacting WotC directly and asking for permission if you plan to go to a public game or convention with a digital PDF
Posted on: Mon, 22 Sep 2014 01:27:16 +0000
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