There was a time, back in the dark ages of electric typewriters and 2400 baud modems, when the true mark of an unschooled amatuer novelist was the "You're gonna steal my idea and so I've got to slap 'Copyright <myname> on every page" approach to manuscript submissions.
It only took a couple of hours research in a library before the author learned the copyright was already in place, as soon as taking pen to paper. Oh sure, you could mail it to yourself, or even register it with the copyright office. But you didn't have to.
I feel sorry for the writers starting out today. To keep this topic manageable, and because I am by no means an established and published author, I'll work with what I really know: Dungeons and Dragons.
Beginning Dungeon Masters will eventually grow into DMs who want to work up their own ideas. From there its a natural progression to publishing your own stuff.
The web makes it easy to publish. There are sites where DMs give their stuff away, and sites where you are asked to kick in a few bucks, and other places where you can invite contributions after folks take a look at your stuff..
On all of these sites, one thing is clear--or at least if not clear, then easily found: original authors of material retain their original copyrights.
Not so Wizards of the Coast. And, by extension, Gleemax.com.
First, we have the "We don't want your stuff" statement.
Gonna quote Wizards.com here in entirety. The caps are not mine:
8. Unsolicited Idea Submission Policy
NEITHER
WIZARDS NOR ANY OF ITS EMPLOYEES ACCEPTS OR CONSIDERS UNSOLICITED
MATERIALS PROVIDED TO WIZARDS REGARDING THE SITE, THE SITE CONTENT,
WIZARDS, OR THE PRODUCTS AND SERVICES OF WIZARDS, INCLUDING WITHOUT
LIMITATION QUESTIONS, COMMENTS, SUGGESTIONS, IDEAS, PLANS, NOTES,
DRAWINGS OR OTHER ARTWORK, DEMOS, PROTOTYPES, SAMPLES, ORIGINAL OR
CREATIVE MATERIALS, OR SIMILAR INFORMATION (COLLECTIVELY,
"SUBMISSIONS"). SOME EXAMPLES INCLUDE IDEAS FOR NEW ADVERTISING
CAMPAIGNS, NEW PROMOTIONS, NEW PRODUCTS OR TECHNOLOGIES, PROCESSES,
MATERIALS, MARKETING PLANS OR NEW PRODUCT NAMES. PLEASE DO NOT SEND ANY
SUBMISSIONS TO WIZARDS OR ANYONE AT WIZARDS. IF, DESPITE OUR REQUEST
THAT YOU NOT SEND US YOUR SUBMISSIONS, YOU STILL SEND THEM, WIZARDS MAY
NOT TREAT YOUR SUBMISSIONS AS CONFIDENTIAL OR PROPRIETARY AND MAY
DISCLOSE YOUR SUBMISSIONS TO ANY OTHER PERSON OR ENTITY, WHETHER
PUBLICLY OR PRIVATELY. WITH RESPECT TO ANY SUCH SUBMISSIONS YOU PROVIDE
THAT WIZARDS ACCEPTS INADVERTENTLY OR OTHERWISE CONTRARY TO THE ABOVE
POLICY, YOU HEREBY GRANT AN IRREVOCABLE, NONEXCLUSIVE, PERPETUAL,
WORLDWIDE, ROYALTY-FREE AND FULLY SUBLICENSABLE LICENSE TO USE,
PRACTICE, MAKE, HAVE MADE, REPRODUCE, MODIFY, ADAPT, PUBLISH,
TRANSLATE, CREATE DERIVATIVE WORKS FROM, DISTRIBUTE, PERFORM, AND
DISPLAY YOUR SUBMISSIONS AND THE INVENTIONS EMBODIED THEREIN FOR ANY
COMMERCIAL OR OTHER PURPOSE, WITHOUT ACKNOWLEDGMENT OR COMPENSATION TO
YOU.
That's pretty clear. Don't send us anything. Because if you do, and we like it, thanks so much for the donation.
But then there's this stuff, laying in wait on the Wizards resources site, the place where DMs will go for content, and the place that hosts the forums
1. User Content
By
posting or submitting any text, images, designs, video, sound, code,
data, lists, or other materials or information (such User-submitted
content, collectively, "User Content") to or through a Site, including
without limitation on any User profile page, you hereby irrevocably
grant to Wizards, its affiliates and sublicensees, a worldwide,
perpetual, irrevocable, royalty-free, non-exclusive, and fully
sub-licensable license, to use, reproduce, modify, adapt, publish,
translate, create derivative works from, distribute, perform and
display such User Content (in whole or in part) in any media and to
incorporate the User Content into other works in any format or medium
now known or later developed. The foregoing grants shall include the
right to exploit any proprietary rights in such User Content, including
but not limited to rights under copyright, trademark, service mark or
patent laws under any relevant jurisdiction.
Here's the problem--in order to get to the reference material that a good DM needs, the DM is forced to sign this. It's the only way, for instance, to get at Dragon magazine while online.
So, while the amateur author of modules is bound to heap their opening efforts with cliches by the handful, once in a while something bright, shiny and good drops out of the pile.
And if its been posted on the so-called "community" forums, with honest critique invited from honest gamers all over the planet, guess who just got screwed?
Not because any of the "community" is going to steal the thing.
Because the friggin host is.
But you agreed to their terms, so I can't call it stealing.
But that's what it is. Baiting the trap. Setting the table. And waiting for others to serve good food on it.
I've been blessed to hit one or two really good ideas in my gaming life. Good ones, ideas that were so memorable people still talk about them today, even though they may have encountered them over a dozen years ago. I didn't make any money with them; at the time I didn't know how. That doesn't matter. What matters is that even though I didn't cash in, I still owned the copyrights to the story narrative.
That won't happen on the Wizards.com site.
Next comes the really insidious part:
The terms found on the Wizards site are invalid. The really nasty ones are here, from the Gleemax site. Which you can't get to from the Wizards unless you're applying for a Wizards.com login.
You can find it here, on the Gleemax site:
2.
User Content; Intellectual Property
Ownership; Rights Granted to You
a. User
Content
Except with
respect to User Content (defined below) relating to those non-Wizards games
that have an official Gleemax.com webpage as set forth under Exception C under
Section 3(b) of these Member Terms, if applicable, by posting or submitting any
text, images, designs, video, sound, code, data, lists, or other materials or
information (such User-submitted content, collectively, "User
Content") to or through the Site, including without limitation on any User
profile page, you hereby irrevocably grant to Wizards, its affiliates and
sublicensees, a worldwide, perpetual, irrevocable, royalty-free, non-exclusive,
and fully sub-licensable license, to use, reproduce, modify, adapt, publish,
translate, create derivative works from, distribute, perform and display such
User Content (in whole or in part) in any media and to incorporate the User
Content into other works in any format or medium now known or later
developed. The foregoing grants shall
include the right to exploit any proprietary rights in such User Content,
including but not limited to rights under copyright, trademark, service mark or
patent laws under any relevant jurisdiction.
It is not the intention of Wizards to commercially exploit User Content
through the foregoing license grants. Rather, our lawyers tell us that this license is necessary to protect
Wizards in those rare circumstances where Wizards has ideas or business plans
similar to User Content.
With
respect to non-Wizards games that have an official Gleemax.com webpage as set
forth under Exception C under Section 3(b) of these Member Terms, by posting
any User Content relating to such games on or through the Service, you hereby
grant to Wizards a worldwide, irrevocable, royalty-free, non-exclusive license
to use, modify, publicly perform, publicly display, reproduce, and distribute
such User Content solely on and through the Service.
You
represent and warrant that: (i) you own or control all of the rights to the
User Content that you post or you otherwise have the right to post such User
Content to the Site, (ii) the User Content is accurate and not misleading, and
(iii) use and posting of the User Content you supply does not violate these
Member Terms and will not violate any rights of or cause injury to any person
or entity, including without limitation the privacy rights, publicity rights,
copyrights, contract rights or any other rights of any person. You agree to pay
for all royalties, fees, and any other monies owing any person by reason of any
User Content posted by you to or through the Site.
For audacity, I like this part. It's at the end of the first paragraph, if you want the context:
"It is not the intention of Wizards to commercially exploit User Content
through the foregoing license grants. Rather, our lawyers tell us that this license is necessary to protect
Wizards in those rare circumstances where Wizards has ideas or business plans
similar to User Content."
That's good.
Someone just put a label on a red box.
The label says "White box."
Does that make the box white?