What is the rule or legal standing for folks creating modules and charging for them?
Is that allowed?
i.e. can a publisher of boardgames create modules and charge for them, making them only available on their website.?
The only question to consider w/r/t distributing or charging for a module is whether you have the rights to do that with the material you put into the module.
This situation is the same as with, say, an image editor. Editing an image in an image editor doesn’t give the creators of the image editor any rights over your image.
FWIW - there is a legal doctrine called “Fair Use” that may apply…
If I own a game and make “player aids” to help me play the game with friends, I haven’t done “harm” to the publisher of the game. However, the intellectual property of the original game remains with the publisher/author.
However, if I turn around and sell those player aids without permission of the IP owner, they could potentially argue in court that I have infringed their IP.
As soon as you sell something (without permission), you have potentially inflicted economic harm… I’ve seen this happen for a game used to play extensively and it destroyed relationships, harmed the gaming community, etc.
If I create unique material (e.g., an expansion scenario), then I probably own the IP to that scenario (only) and could sell it… (but note it’s worthless without the original material)
The Vassal paradigm works because players are presumed to own a physical copy of the game and thus the Vassal “player aid” doesn’t harm the publisher (i.e., cut into their sales).
FWIW - I would be very cautious (and consider seeking legal advice), both from a personal liability standpoint AND if game companies start to view Vassal as a threat and explicitly rescind permission to create modules for their games, then it hurts the entire Vassal Community.
My opinion for what it’s worth…
I took the question to be asking if I (the “publisher”) own the rights to a game, can I create a Vassal module, make it only available on my site and sell it?
Absolutely you have total ownership of all IP involved and can ask other sites not to publish the module.
If the question was can I create a Vassal module for a game that I do not have the rights to and then sell that module? The answer is almost certainly no.
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I understand this is a necro thread. I was under the impression that VASSAL code owners did not want modules being sold even by publishers. Which is fine if that is not the case.
I am unclear why a publisher would want to charge for the modules given it is the single best marketing tool they probably have.
Thanks folks
Our desires as the Vassal developers make no difference for what module developers are legally able to do with the modules they develop. It’s not up to us.
Technically, the license of Vassal could contain a clause a la
By using this software [Vassal] you agree to not develop and distribute modules, extensions, saves, logs, or other auxiliary materials designed to work with the software, on a for-profit basis.
However, there is no such clause in license of Vassal - which is the GNU Lesser General Public License, version 2.1 or later (LGPL-2.1). Despite what Microsoft CEOs have said in their FUD campaign against Open Source software, and the GNU General Public License, version 2 in particular, the LGPL-2.1 is not viral in the sense that derive products must also be licensed in the same way.
If, somehow, the copyright holders of Vassal decided to limit the purpose of modules developed for Vassal, then someone could easily fork off from the code base and make a new, freer, version of Vassal - say Fassal.
“[I]ntellectual property” is really a short hand for several aspects:
- Copyright - who can claim “ownership” or “authorship”.
- Trademark - the recognisable “brand”.
- Patents - any invention that may have been granted a patent.
It is worth noting, that the only things that someone can claim copyright over is original and artistic expression. Something that anyone with a bit of expertise within a field could relatively easily recreate cannot be copyrighted, and copyright cannot be claimed on prior-art. Nor can one claim copyright on concepts such as game rules, mechanics, theme, or the like.
Trademarks a bit more pesky. If your product has a recognisable brand - such as a title or logo - or your producer has a recognisable brand identity - such as a name or logo - then those cannot be used by others - for any purpose, without prior agreement. You could infringe on a trademark if you developed a game that is themed around a particular space-western universe - without using copyrighted materials - but you would not be able to use that universe’s trademarks in your game unless you got prior permission by the trademark holders. However, trademarks must, to some extend, be enforced to be valid, so using trademarks that have not been actively used for quite some time is probably OK.
Patents is not really a thing in the gaming world, so I don’t have much to say about it.
This thread over on BoardGameGeek is worth a read on these issues.
There’s a common misunderstanding around copyright and monetary profit. If you develop a game aid, which somehow uses copyrighted materials - for example graphics - and you distribute that - whether for money or not - then you may be liable. Claiming fair use may not be viable. Note also, that fair use is a doctrine specific to the United States of America, and other judiciaries may not recognise it, as it is not part of the Berne or similar conventions.
If your play-aid does not use copyrighted material, then there’s no infringement, but you may be liable on trademark grounds. If you made a play-aid for - say - Axis and Allies and used that name on your play-aid or in promotional material - whether for profit or not - then you may be infringing on that trademark.
For example, you make a module of GMT’s Italy '43 and you use the original graphics and maybe the module also contain the rules downloaded from GMT’s web-site. Graphics is clearly original and artistic work, and the exact phrasing of rules could also be considered as such, and could be copyrighted. If you did not obtain license - whether explicit or implicit - to use that copyrighted material, then you may be infringing on GMT’s copyright.
Of course, if you do not use copyrighted materials in your module, then you are all good. Remember, that concepts such as rules - only their artistic and original expression - can not be copyrighted.
Suppose you had permission to use the graphics and rules from GMT, but now you want to market the module - whether for profit or not - and you say the module is “Compatible with GMT’s Italy '43”. Now you are using the GMT trademark to promote your product, and you need to obtain permission to do so. If you do not have that permission, then you could infringe on GMTs trademark.
My 2¢ (I am not a lawyer)
Yours,
Christian