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StarFleet Battles designers seeking MGT license?

Speaking of Oroginal trek, hasn't the copyright for the original series material expired now or something? I see a lot of original series comics at some game stores and they're making web movies of the original series at www.startreknewvoyages.com so hasn't parasite studios lost copyright to the original series stuff by now?

If the original stuff is out of copyright maybe we could get some decent games based on it, or adapt it to some decent systems....
 
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The Romulan Tal'Shiar managed to steal the corpse of Gene Rodenberry. Gene had been dead for about 17 years now (and we only had to wait for 70 years posthumous), but the meddling Tal'Shiar agents and mad scientists managed to resurrect him. He's not dead any more. So the Trek copyright will not expire for the forseeable future in this century.
</tongue-in-cheek>
 
Trent said:
Speaking of Oroginal trek, hasn't the copyright for the original series material expired now or something?
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Nope. Recent US federal law changes insure everything post 1928 is still in copyright unless specifically released to the public domain. Think Mortimer Mouse. When Mortimer becomes public domain... then other stuff from later will do so, too.

Unlike trademarks, copyright is not lost by non-defense.

Paramount, BTW, licenses New Voyages. It builds goodwill with the fans.
 
aramis said:
Nope. Recent US federal law changes insure everything post 1928 is still in copyright unless specifically released to the public domain. Think Mortimer Mouse. When Mortimer becomes public domain... then other stuff from later will do so, too.

Unlike trademarks, copyright is not lost by non-defense.

Paramount, BTW, licenses New Voyages. It builds goodwill with the fans.
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That sucks, really. I mean, I can see letting the creator of something hold the rights till he dies, but to allow someone else to take the rights and hold them forever just seems wrong.

I mean, why should people not even BORN when something was created be able to profit from and control it?

You said recent changes in law. Yep, that explains it, a certain political party in america has always favored the rights of big biz over everything else, they must have gotten the laws changed...
 
aramis said:
Nope. Recent US federal law changes insure everything post 1928 is still in copyright unless specifically released to the public domain. Think Mortimer Mouse. When Mortimer becomes public domain... then other stuff from later will do so, too.
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It's a little more nuanced than that, Aramis. Anything copyrighted prior to 1964 had to be specifically renewed after its initial period (28 years) came up in order for it to retain its copyright. Anything initially copyrighted in 1964 or after was granted an automatic renewel of its copyright when it came up. This originally granted it de facto 56-year period of protection; but of course "improvements" in modern IP legislation have effectively got everything in that category locked up on the reservation until much further out than that ... 2047 AD, at the very least.

But any material's copyright status prior to 1964 is dependent entirely on the owning entity's diligence in keeping track of, maintaining, or even just giving a damn about, the products in its stable enough to have filed the necessary paperwork at the time. Notice of copyright also had to be given at the time of initial publication -- meaning that if this wasn't done (and a surprising number of publications back then didn't) their material was effectively public domain at the time of publication. Plenty of other organizations never bothered check up on and/or renew their initial copyrights when they came up for renewal (or, alternatively, weren't even around anymore).

As such, not just some -- but the majority -- of material produced in the period from 1923-1964 is in the public domain. Most of it is crap, of course, and a lot of the good stuff is held by organizations that are diligent in maintaining and defending their intellectual properties; so anybody attempting to "freeload" any stuff from this period had better do their research first ... and then a second time to be sure ... and then a third time after that.

You'll find "CYA" tattooed on anyone who's ever mined the public domain for material -- either on their arms as a constant crib sheet ... or burned onto their asses by the IP lawyer who caught them with their pants down.
 
Trent said:
You said recent changes in law. Yep, that explains it, a certain political party in america has always favored the rights of big biz over everything else, they must have gotten the laws changed...
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Sonny Bono was pretty much the driving force for it all back in the day. And yes, he was a Republican.

But a lot of IP ownership is held by companies out on the West Coast (entertainment, software, etc.). These districts generally vote solidly Democratic; but since they also get a lot of money from the IP companies, their representatives tend to have to worst record when it comes to our current Eternal Copyright/DMCA/Innovation Destruction via Patent Troll situation. Sonny Bono's position on the issue was more a factor of his connections with the entertainment industry, for instance, than it was with whatever more general political ideologies he maintained.

These "Left Coast" Democrats are better versed than most Republicans on tech/IP issues and the like -- and as such can talk a better game about it -- but the end result is the same, no matter which side of the fence they're sitting on.
 
Actually, one of the copyright extensions specifies that even lapsed copyrights that would no longer lapse are in force, but that derivatives which were legal at the time are not violations now (due to Ex Post Facto).

Further, copyright is now presumed to exist from the moment of setting down in fixed form (recording or writing).
 
I really enjoyed playing SFB

I had a good partner that we use to tag team playing others.
Every other turn one of us would actually move the ships, roll the dice and etc. The other one would be reading the rule book(s).

At Kansas State Univ. Union we organized a StarTrek Day held the day bofore the 1st Star Trek Movie. We had trivia contests, name that actors real name and such.
On the ground floor where all 3 levels could look down on it, we had 10 players playing out a War scenario using a free form of 3 inch hexes.
On each level there were plaque cards giving out information on the game, the ships and some trivia. Each card also had some quote or extra info that was part of the Star hunt( scavenger hunt variant).

I even loved the computer 3D games that were recreated in the late 90's. Even worked with the Design team lead ( I think that is the title) the one who made sure that games were designed, met specs and such.

Dave Chase
 
aramis said:
Actually, one of the copyright extensions specifies that even lapsed copyrights that would no longer lapse are in force, but that derivatives which were legal at the time are not violations now (due to Ex Post Facto).

Further, copyright is now presumed to exist from the moment of setting down in fixed form (recording or writing).
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That's Disney FUD. Here is the dope, straight from the US Copyright Office itself:

US Copyright Office said:
  • Works Published or Copyrighted Before January 1, 1964: Works published with notice of copyright or registered in unpublished form prior to January 1, 1964, had to be renewed during the 28th year of their first term of copyright to maintain protection for a full 95-year term.
  • Works Originally Copyrighted Between January 1, 1964, and December 31, 1977: These works are protected by copyright for the 28-year original term and the 67-year renewal term without the need of a first term or a renewal registration.
  • Copyrights in their second term on January 1, 1978, were automatically extended up to a maximum of 95 years, without the need for further renewal.
  • Works already in the public domain cannot be protected under the 1976 law or under the amendments of 1992 and 1998. The Act provides no procedure for restoring protection for works in which copyright has been lost for any reason.
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As I said: the majority of material published prior to 1964 was either never renewed, or even copyrighted in the first place. A lot of it wouldn't even have anyone around to claim ownership of it even if it were still under copyright.

One of the most well-known examples of this are the "Spicy" series of pulp-era magazines (Spicy Detective Stories, Spicy Mystery Stories, etc.). All published in the 1930's-40's, none of the Spicy pulps were ever copyrighted; and as such have been in the public domain for over sixty years, despite being published well after the early-twenties cutoff date.
 
G. Kashkanun Anderson said:
That's Disney FUD. Here is the dope, straight from the US Copyright Office itself:

As I said: the majority of material published prior to 1964 was either never renewed, or even copyrighted in the first place. A lot of it wouldn't even have anyone around to claim ownership of it even if it were still under copyright.

One of the most well-known examples of this are the "Spicy" series of pulp-era magazines (Spicy Detective Stories, Spicy Mystery Stories, etc.). All published in the 1930's-40's, none of the Spicy pulps were ever copyrighted; and as such have been in the public domain for over sixty years, despite being published well after the early-twenties cutoff date.
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Define "FUD" please.
 
deniable said:
Fear, uncertainty and doubt. It started as an IBM sales tactic.
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Heh. According to today's issue of the Los Angeles Times, it appears as if Disney suddenly has its own FUD to contend with.

Of course, it would take God Himself to take Disney down on this, since He's the only guy rich enough to outspend the Magic Kingdom Legal Department. Still, it would be nice if something could be done about this ridiculous IP corner we've painted ourselves into.
 
No. All it takes is a judge who gets the correct paperwork in a timely manner with all the i's dotted and t's crossed and who actually does his F*ing job of interpreting the law without making new law.

Ok, so that last condition is a major problem.

The problem is that Mickey and Mortimer are also trademarks... different body of law there.
 
Well, some republican scumbags have been doing t shirts with Barack Obama having huge mickey mouse ears on his head, and if disney doesn't take action it may weaken their claim the MM's copyright.

If they allow it then it makes them look republican, which would make them a lot of enemies.
 
aramis said:
No. All it takes is a judge who gets the correct paperwork in a timely manner with all the i's dotted and t's crossed and who actually does his F*ing job of interpreting the law without making new law.

Ok, so that last condition is a major problem.

The problem is that Mickey and Mortimer are also trademarks... different body of law there.
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Yea, and the pandering congress extended Disney's (and everyone's) rights to their trademarks significantly a few years ago, just as the copyright on Mickey and a lot of other Disney imagery was about to expire.

I have this feeling that,say, when Mickey's copyright is about to expire again, copyright will become extended into perpetuity for corporate holders. You authors out there ought to start incorporating, and copyrighting via the corporate authorship.
 
tim_manley said:
Anyone remember the very 1st Star Trek RPG that came out early 80s?
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If you are talking about the FASA one, I've got loads of stuff for it... the Starfleet, Klingon, Romulan, Andorian, Orion, Trader Captains & Merchant Princes, & Triangle stuff.

Along with the Constitution & D-7 deck plans.


And I have never played a single game!!! :mad:
 
BlackBat242 said:
If you are talking about the FASA one, I've got loads of stuff for it... the Starfleet, Klingon, Romulan, Andorian, Orion, Trader Captains & Merchant Princes, & Triangle stuff.

Along with the Constitution & D-7 deck plans.
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Yes, but MY Romulan Warbird deckplans are much more valuable than those!

MY Romulan Warbird deckplans are from..... Franz Joseph Designs, and created by that Michael Okuda guy. I wonder how much it would fetch on eBay these days...
 
Trent said:
Well, some republican scumbags have been doing t shirts with Barack Obama having huge mickey mouse ears on his head, and if disney doesn't take action it may weaken their claim the MM's copyright.

If they allow it then it makes them look republican, which would make them a lot of enemies.
Click to expand...

No politics, please.
 
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