legality of GW pictures and uniy stats

[number7]

Hello all,
Im considering starting a you tube channel for 40k.
I was just wondering about the legality of using gw photos and quoting stat lines.
I wondered if I could use them under the fair use copyright laws.

What is the rules I need to play by?

[infornography]

Definitely no on the pictures, and a fairly strong no on the statlines.

If you use generalities you can get away with it, but GW is very protective of their statlines and IP.

Think about it this way, you can give some aspects like saying that a unit is toughness 6, and you could even over the course of multiple videos state every part of the statline separately, but you should never give the whole statline at once. Also unit costs are something to be careful of. You can say how much a unit cost including it's upgrades, but you can't say how much each upgrade cost. Just basically don't provide enough information that someone could get away with not owning the codex.

note: this is not to be taken as actual legal advise, merely guidelines that I have seen used by other sites in the past that have not been harassed by GW.

[Raven]

I've seen plenty of videos where people will rattle off entire statlines and they've yet to get into trouble over it.

[cibissum]

Probably because many statlines are available for free from GW's site itself. That said, I think it's something do to at your own risk.

[WestRider]

The rule that seems to be the really hardcore line is to not give out individual Points costs for Models and options. An overall cost for a Unit total is OK, statlines are generally OK since most of those are posted freely on GW's site.

I've heard that they're also pretty strict about the use of their photos and artwork, but that seems to be really inconsistent, because I've also seen places make extensive use with no apparent consequence.

[immortalblue]

Stat lines you are fine, they are listed on the gw web site. As for artwork, It also depends where you are based. The US has some laws for reproducing stuff for non profit under reasonable use. Google it for more info...

Sent from my GT-I9300 using proboards

[Overread]

Jul 25, 2013 16:47:46 GMT WestRider said:

The rule that seems to be the really hardcore line is to not give out individual Points costs for Models and options. An overall cost for a Unit total is OK, statlines are generally OK since most of those are posted freely on GW's site.

I've heard that they're also pretty strict about the use of their photos and artwork, but that seems to be really inconsistent, because I've also seen places make extensive use with no apparent consequence.

Far as I can tell they mostly cracked down on the us of their photos for retail/commercial use - specifically ebay and regular shops using their product images. It was very odd though because they also banned any regular retail shop using them as well even though the shop has to buy the stock from GW in the first place (though it generally fits with the market plan that they only want the independent market to trail blaze new areas before GW moves in to take over with their own shop).



That said if you want direct input contact them directly, they have pretty good customer service and you should be able to get a detailed answer without any worries from them directly.

[WestRider]

I've also heard of them causing problems with clubs and tournaments that were using original GW art to promote their events, even when there weren't any sales involved.

[triplare]

I take it there aren't any ways to contact GW and ask them directly about what their policies are?

[oranos325]

Jul 25, 2013 18:34:06 GMT Overread said:

That said if you want direct input contact them directly, they have pretty good customer service and you should be able to get a detailed answer without any worries from them directly.

  triplare: As Overread said, you can try just calling customer service.

[t⊗theark]

Jul 25, 2013 13:11:28 GMT Raven said:

I've seen plenty of videos where people will rattle off entire statlines and they've yet to get into trouble over it.

Sure, but there's a lot of people who use other's intellectual property without good reason - internet's big man, I don't think lawyers are that dedicated.

[baconslice]

I think it's to do with money. If you use your stat lines, points costs etc to review the products themselves with your opinions is one thing.
But if you start using these things to promote/ sell a product then that's bad.

[lostiris]

Beasts of War give out stats and individual/ upgrade points costs all the time and as far as I'm aware haven't incurred the wrath of GW for it.

[t⊗theark]

Jul 27, 2013 2:56:10 GMT lostiris said:

Beasts of War give out stats and individual/ upgrade points costs all the time and as far as I'm aware haven't incurred the wrath of GW for it.

I think they did have some drama for a while actually. It was either with IP or it was with running ads and google got a bit huffed. Also, they tend to hide it very well, things like "He costs 15 more than a space marine captain" or "She can be upgraded to take a combi-bolter for 10 searchlights" and stuff like that.

[yoritomo]

Maybe I, as a moderator, can shed some light on the subject.


Copyrights are designed to protect the intellectual property of the creator. This means that in order to use something you must usually get permission from the creator. I use the term usually because there are some exceptions.

The big one that applies to use is the "fair use" clause found in most copyright laws. All this says is that you can use a limited part of a copyrighted work to further a discussion. It's kind of like siting a source in a report you did in school. If you kept the quote to just a few lines you didn't need to talk to the author to get permission. It is much the same way with talking about 40K. If you talk about the rules that's fine, so long as you are making a point.

This can be taken too far. Going back to the report, if you copied one or two lines everyone was okay with it. If you copied one or two pages then your teacher accused you of plagiarism, or stealing the authors IP. The same thing goes for 40K. If you are giving stats just because you think people want to hear stats then you are breaking GWs copyright and it will not fall under fair use.

The best test to see if it falls under fair use is to ask yourself, "what does this add to the discussion?" If the answer is nothing then you should assume you are breaking copyright laws. If you're teaching something by quoting it then you're pretty safe.

This isn't everything about copyright laws, but if you follow this then GW won't go for the throat if they don't like what you are doing.


I would also like to point out that we go overboard on copyright protection here. You don't necessarily need to be as uptight as us on things like point costs and such.