No, action cannot be taken on Blizzard for using content that falls under this license.
End of story.|||Took 31 posts for a clear answer to that question.
I have another question though: Do you still have to ask permission from Wizards of the Coast if you use things like Forgotten Realms and Spelljammer from them? (eg. Baldur's Gate games, Planescape: Torment, etc)|||Quote:
Took 31 posts for a clear answer to that question.
I have another question though: Do you still have to ask permission from Wizards of the Coast if you use things like Forgotten Realms and Spelljammer from them? (eg. Baldur's Gate games, Planescape: Torment, etc)
I believe you still have to ask if you use certain aspects from those that are copyrighted under WotC for a different since they don't fall under the Open Game License. I'm not 100% since I can't look at what all falls under their OGL at the moment.
I know that D&D 4 doesn't fall under it, but all (or almost all) items that fall under D&D 3 and 3.5 are under it.|||Slightly OT question.
Didn't the events leading to D&D4 (Spellplague) only happen in Forgotten Realms?|||Quote:
ok and knight_wolf seriously....idea dont come from everything around the world god were did you go to school? the power of thinking bring idea which then bring invention
Where the hell did YOU go to school? Don't you get the point of what Wolf has said?
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thomas jefferson if i remember right,yes some idea were inspired by nature and other stuff but you have imagination that invented stuff also...the atom bomb is a freaking invention...
If Blizz's wizard is a "replica" of DnD's wizard, then the atom bomb is a "replica" of the natural chemical reactions that occur when those substances meet.
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Refrigeration was invented cause we've seen something similar
Refrigeration is a "replica" of natural refrigeration, or by using giant ice blocks and putting them in a cooler.
Buddy, you're just going against yourself.
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and this "Nobody invented magic lore .. it exists since the dawn of history."....i simply dont get.....im talking about spell that were created by D&D...not really the entire magic concept
Where did you find that DnD invented everything? In case you hadn't had any clue, there were other games invented before DnD.
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Inspiration is one thing, but they directly copied some spells. Don't you usually at least change the name?
But then you get everyone going "OMFG L00K AT DA N00000BZZZZ DEY COPEEED DA SPELLZORZ AND CHANGD DA NAME WUT N00BZORZ". Since things like fireball are already standards for any mage archtype, you might as well stick with it. The reaction will be worse if you copy it and change the name (in other words, copying vs plaigerism.|||Learn the difference between plagiarism and inspiration, thinking that ‘wizards’ were somehow invented by d&d just shows your ignorance. And as a kindness could you crap on less in your posts please, reading a page long dribble with little to no point is a complete waste of everyone’s time.|||Quote:
He has a point though. Inspiration is one thing, but they directly copied some spells. Don't you usually at least change the name?
Blizzard cannot be sued for the names of their spells nor based on the originality of the spell effects. The problem is that even if D&D did have a copyright over their spell names, however ridiculous that may sound, if D&D (or rather Wizards of the Coast now) does not protect the usage of that name, then the name becomes terribly generic and difficult to enforce. In those cases, the name and the effect are generally rendered as fair use by other companies.
It is rather impossible for Blizzard (or any fantasy game) to be original with their spells considering the sheer bulk of spells that have been produced by D&D for just about every occasion and effect for the past 30 years. Just about an entire generation of RPG and video game creators have grown up almost completely immersed in D&D terminology, magic, and fantasy.
In other news: The Nations of Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Germany, and England sues the Tolkien Estate for plagaristic use of elves.|||Quote:
In other news: The Nations of Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Germany, and England sues the Tolkien Estate for plagaristic use of elves.
Thing about Tolkien is, he used the existing names for his new races, not existing races for the new names ( as Warcraft and Warhammer always do ) :} In his first book elves were not called elves but "Quendi" or "Eldars". Dwarfs were not called dwarfs but "Naugrims". When he introduced Human race he said "Eldars were called Elves in human language" / "Naugrims were called dwarfs in human language" etc... So there is no basis for anyone to successfully sue him, because he used the names just to ease the reading of the story which was too complex for ordinary people. As he wrote in his letters "There is so much created by now, even I forget some of the names I invented for Middle Earth" and one sentence after, he adds "Because there are dozens of names in Middle Earth for Eldar, I decided to call them all together by one word which is familiar among the readers"|||Quote:
Thing about Tolkien is, he used the existing names for his new races, not existing races for the new names ( as Warcraft and Warhammer always do ) :} In his first book elves were not called elves but "Quendi" or "Eldars". Dwarfs were not called dwarfs but "Naugrims". When he introduced Human race he said "Eldars were called Elves in human language" / "Naugrims were called dwarfs in human language" etc... So there is no basis for anyone to successfully sue him, because he used the names just to ease the reading of the story which was too complex for ordinary people. As he wrote in his letters "There is so much created by now, even I forget some of the names I invented for Middle Earth" and one sentence after, he adds "Because there are dozens of names in Middle Earth for Eldar, I decided to call them all together by one word which is familiar among the readers"
Anyway, I think that eldars are a kind of elves and not simply another way to call them, just, for example like the avari are, correct me if I'm wrong.
About suing Blizzard, imagine how some people will act if they put an elf as the archer class (which could be awesome)|||Quote:
can't they get sued for this kind of stuff?
The short answer is no.
The long answer is that you can't hold copyright over ideas, and after a certain period of time you can't even hold copyright over your specific form of ideas. Also, if you can cite it from before a specific date, something like 1920, it's totally fair use. So even if someone on earth DID hold the copyright for the word "Wizard", they would automatically be totally screwed because someone can cite the usage of the word "Wizard" from before that date and completely use the idea in it's entirety.
Wizards of the Coast holds absolutely no copyright over any words such as elf, dwarf, wizard, dragon, ect. ect. ect. ad nauseum, because the vast vast vast majority of that material comes from ancient folk stories and fairy tales, ALL of which falls into fair usage.
Even Disney doesn't hold copyright over the storySnow White and the Seven Dwarves. They DO hold copyright over the characters Snow White and the Seven Dwarves. Although those characters are going to be coming into fair usage very shortly, if they haven't already, because enough time has passed. But, essentially, if you wanted to make a story called "A white girl and seven short guys" and make it EXACTLY the story of Snow White, Disney can do nothing because they cannot actually hold copyright over the story of Snow White and the Seven Dwarves.
To put it incredibly bluntly. The entire works of Shakespeare are fair use. If you can find the word "Wizard" in shakespeare (The Tempest, Midsummer Night's Dream, Macbeth) you can TOTALLY use it totally for free. Why do you think so many game developers use fantasy settings?
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