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Hello, I'm new to this forum, and don't want to step on any toes, but I do have what might be a sensitive question.
Does anyone know of a good source for scans of old FASA supplements(pdf, jpg, whatever?
Also does anyone know what the legal ramifications, if any, would be?
Has there been any movement in the STRPG community to do this?
I also play another game which is now out of print, and the community is wrestling with this same issue.
I believe that the FASA material is still copyrighted, and, as such, it's illegal to distribute scans of FASA Trek materials.
Of course there has to be something left to prosecute such copyright if infringed upon. Since FASA went belly up and was not bought there is no corporate lawyers ready to pounce. Now the Starship combat game is different since a company had bought the material from FASA long before the bankruptcy. For anotehr example the LUG material is off limits since Decipher had bought that stuff outright.
A debateable and academic point at best but still worth considering.
It would be a copyright violation. According to my copy of the FASA RPG (2nd edition), the copyright holder is Paramount Pictures (Copyright 1966, 1983 Paramount Pictures Corporation).
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Thanks for the information guys. I certainly didn't mean to violate the terms of use, I just wasn't sure what the details of the legality were, but it's cleared up now.Quote:
It would be a copyright violation. According to my copy of the FASA RPG (2nd edition), the copyright holder is Paramount Pictures (Copyright 1966, 1983 Paramount Pictures Corporation).
Now steering this in a more legal direction, if paramount is the copyright holder has anyone tried contacting them in an attempt to get permission for a non profit fan effort to make the material electronicly available?
I was not aware of this. Could you tell me what company purchased the Starship Combat Game rights?Quote:
Now the Starship combat game is different since a company had bought the material from FASA long before the bankruptcy.
As mentioned I play another out of print game, and that community is also struggling with these question. The copyright holder in that case has flipped between heavy handed tactics, and ignoring the issue.
First of, Dan, relax alittle bit, for pete's sake I have always played devils advocate on this issue :D But as a point of reference the trade mark is owned by Paramount (look at your books alittle more) not the material unless Paramont has some stipulation about reversion of rights to the tradmark owner; Dan or Doug may have some clarification comment on that.
As to the Starship game, there was a group on the web which did an updated version of the game plus the starship consturction rules brining it upto the TNG era. it was around for some time and FASA never really seemed upset however when the company bought the game system from FASA they were asked to take it down which they promtly did. Unfortuantely the company only wanted the system and not the Star Trek side of things.
For more information (as well as some downloads of the era's not covered in the original construction system) here is there site:
http://www.geocities.com/graylingnator/
They also have a Yahoo group as well.
If your just looking for images, might I recomend the following http://www.shipschematics.net/startrek/
Good luck on finding what your looking for, theres a lot of home brew images there as well.
Just answering a question. I'm always relaxed. :cool:Quote:
Originally posted by Eric R.
First of, Dan, relax alittle bit, for pete's sake I have always played devils advocate on this issue :D
Thanks for the replies. I would have responded sooner, but I have been busy checking out those links. The first sites yahoo group doesn't seem to have a way to join, though.
Not sure if this would fall into the same legal arena as entire supplement, but what about scans of the ship counter sheets? IIRC we were permitted to reproduce those(the ones from the recognition manuals) to paste onto cardboard and make our own sheets.
Also, does anyone know how to get into that previously mntioned yahoo group? I keep getting a message that you have to be a member when I click on the link from the website. I tried e mailing the webmaster, but it bounced.
The Yahoo Group is here: TheFASAStarTrekUniverseE-group · The FASA Star Trek Universe E-group . You of course need to be a Yahoo user. Click on join this group in the upper right hand corner. Y!Group owner's emailQuote:
Originally Posted by truecrimson
A buddy of mine and I also heavily modified the system to more accurately reflect in the game what was seen in the various shows as well as draft our own rules for technological advances to create the ships seen in later series.
By the time we were finished, the Construction Manual had pretty much just maintained its framework but all the tech to some degree had been reworked. We found our system to work nicely, especially in the later ST eras such as TNG. The ships actually had staying power similar to that seen in the shows.
We used the system for about six years but eventually LUG produced their version and we switched away from FASA as an RPG.
Regards,
CKV.
For anotehr example the LUG material is off limits since Decipher had bought that stuff outright.
Wizards of the Coast, actually. Decipher only bought the license. Wizards bought the copyrights to the game materials along with its acquisition of LUG. As for the FASA game, the copyright to the game itself remains with the former owners of FASA. Copyright notices in the books are often very much simplified from the legal reality, and it generally makes sense to simply credit the licensor, hence the Paramount copyright notice.
Howeverit's still under copyright whether or not FASA still exists, and since the materials incorporate Paramount's trademarked and copyrighted materials, if anyone was to come at you it would be Viacom's legal department, and as we all know they are a 700-pound gorilla with a bad temper weilding a large legal club.
As I understand it, FASA did not go bankrupt, but was not very profitable and they want to move onto another project, Wizkids Games with the clix miniatures.Quote:
Originally Posted by Eric R.
While you are right about how they do copyright notices, it is a bad practice and could cause legal problems in enforcement of the copyright. While it is true that you do not need to put a copyright notice for the work to be copyrighted, when the notice is place on a work it needs to be done right or the copyright could be challenged. Of course, I am not a lawyer and that just my understanding of it.Quote:
Originally Posted by Owen E Oulton
All FASA's remaining intelectual property was transfer to Wizkids Games, which was originally owned by one the founder of FASA. For a couple of the FASA RPGs are licensed to FanPro by Wizkids. Wizkids was bought by Topps, Inc. in the last couple of years or so.
And there is the matter of Wizkids/Topps could come after you, too.Quote:
Originally Posted by Owen E Oulton
I'm not too informed on the legal ramifications on scanning, but, if you're looking for FASATrek websites and sources, I have a short list of sites on my links page which might save you some searching. There's plenty of people out there who've picked up where FASA left off.Quote:
.Hello, I'm new to this forum, and don't want to step on any toes, but I do have what might be a sensitive question.
Does anyone know of a good source for scans of old FASA supplements(pdf, jpg, whatever?
Also does anyone know what the legal ramifications, if any, would be?
Has there been any movement in the STRPG community to do this?
I also play another game which is now out of print, and the community is wrestling with this same issue.
...Then there's always eBay...
http://www.geocities.com/ufc465537/S...liography.html
Here's another link that may help:
http://www.anzwers.org/free/fasa/links.htm
It's got a pretty extensive listing of FASA sites. Hope it helps.
J