Quote:
Originally Posted by Agentorange
You've mentioned on a few occasions that it would be a nice idea for there to be a BRP magic book as a supplement, including such things as the spirit magic/divine magic model, fleshed out shamanic rules etc etc. How ( to the best of your knowledge ) would the copyright work on this ? say someone wanted to do such a book and felt that Sandy petersons shamanic rules and sorcery were the best ones out there, would they need to approach Mr Peterson to use them as a basis of such a book, or would the fact that they are posted on the net in numerous places mean they were in the ' public domain' and could be used ? I have no intention of doing so I'm just curious about how the whole thing would work.
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The materials Sandy wrote are owned and copyrighted by him, unless he's sold the rights to them elsewhere. Releasing them on the web, even if for free, is in no way shape or form a relinquishment of those rights. The material will enter public domain when Sandy declares that they're in the public domain, or 75 years after his death, whichever comes first.
(Some countries vary on the length of time after death, but it's usually at least 50 years.)
My suggestion for someone wanting to do such a project (using that material) would be to contact Sandy and ask him for permission to use his work as the basis, and come to an arrangement that's mutually agreeable to both of you. This might include sharing some of the monies paid for the work. If Sandy doesn't want the material used, it's his right, and in my opinion, it's not a justification for just rewording his work and passing it off using the "you can't copyright a system, just the words" defense.
Even if you end up rewriting the whole thing from scratch, you should fully acknowledge Sandy's contribution and credit him accordingly.