8 hours ago, Daeglan said:

What they are doing is fair use. They are not charging for the product.

Fair use can only be established in court. On a case by case basis. Charging money for something is not all that goes into consideration in a fair use case.

All of the settings on these forums that use IP's that are not owned by the poster are copyright infringements, and if their respective holders decide to take legal action they are within their rights to do so. In such a case, the options available are basicly: comply, negotiate or take the issue to court citing fair use. This also includes the Genesys IP btw, since we don't have permission from FFG to publish any Genesys content outside these forums.

3 hours ago, PurpleKittenofDeath said:

Fair use can only be established in court. On a case by case basis. Charging money for something is not all that goes into consideration in a fair use case.

All of the settings on these forums that use IP's that are not owned by the poster are copyright infringements, and if their respective holders decide to take legal action they are within their rights to do so. In such a case, the options available are basicly: comply, negotiate or take the issue to court citing fair use. This also includes the Genesys IP btw, since we don't have permission from FFG to publish any Genesys content outside these forums.

Uhhh no. That is not how copyright works. As a photographer i am pretty aware of how copyright works. And fair use is well defined.

5 hours ago, Imbasel said:

You are incorrectly applying the legal definition of fair use.

I’m not whining because of lack of access. I’m deeply concerned that what they’re doing is:

A. Immoral as they’re profiting off of JK’s IP B. Illegal as they are charging for the product without permission of JK.

As has been stated they are making money off of JK’s IP. They are risking a lot by doing this. Even if it is released for free at a later point.

They could still be sued for profiting off of the paywall in connection to Harry Potter. They could be nice and just issue a cease and desist order.

Or JK’s lawyers could go after the money and take them to court. That’s not a fight they would win.

Then bring it up with them. Not here.

33 minutes ago, Daeglan said:

Uhhh no. That is not how copyright works. As a photographer i am pretty aware of how copyright works. And fair use is well defined.

Fair Use has exactly two applications:

1. To create a derivative work as a parody of the original. (Many of Weird Al Yankovic's songs, for instance, would fall under Fair Use doctrine, even though he is courteous to enough to ask permission from the original artist.)
2. To use a portion of the material under copyright in order to critique or criticize said material, or for the purposes of research, reporting, or instruction.

These are the only reasonable applications of Fair Use under current laws.

Don't get me wrong, this is all a murky gray area, and the owner of the intellectual property would have to prove that there has been infringement, but there have been plenty of cases like this - mostly in the video game world, where people have made independent video games from someone else's IP and distributed them for free, only to receive cease and desist orders or end up at the wrong end of a lawsuit - and none of them have come down on the side of the game designer.

Further, locking a "vault" behind a paywall means that they are, as plenty of people have stated, profiting off the items in said vault.

Believe me, as a writer and a hobbyist game designer (with aspirations to do more), I have studied this thoroughly. My concern has nothing to do with whether I can download their PDF or not, as you insinuated to Imbasel earlier. My biggest concern is that FFG will see some kind of backlash from any potential action JKR's legal team carries out, and it will be the nail in the coffin of any sort of Open Gaming License for Genesys.

I think we all have a vested interest in making sure things are above the board.

Then talk to them. Whining about it here accomplishes nothing.

After doing a bit of a search, I have discovered that the Harry Potter theme is not currently behind a paywall at all. It is password protected, but the login information was easily obtainable through Google, as GMC (I assume "GM Chris") posted it publicly to Kickstarter on February 18th.

Quote

GM Chris' 57-page Harry Potter theme, along with characters sheets (for each of the 8 new archetypes and a "blank"), are now LIVE in the d20radio backerzone!

Domain: http://vault.d20radio.com

User Name: d20RadioBacker

Password: !amaBacker16

Enjoy, guys!

Peace, Love and Good Gaming,

GMC

1 minute ago, Daeglan said:

Then talk to them. Whining about it here accomplishes nothing.

Sharing a concern that could have a negative impact on the entire Genesys community isn't whining, Daeglan. Some of us are trying to have a rational discussion concerning the legal and moral implications of a Harry Potter fan project for Genesys.

What a strange thing to do on the boards dedicated to said game!

It is when you talk about it in a place that will accomplish nothing. You have concern talk to it with the culprit. Otherwise you are whining and accomplishing nothing.

Because the person you should talk to is easy to find.