KICKSTOPPER EXPLAINED From One of the Creators This has been a life-changing two weeks for me. I moved states, started a new job, and got notice that our Kickstarter was taken down because of a DMCA complaint. A DMCA complaint is when someone feels that their Intellectual Property has been stolen by another entity. There are laws and rules in place for when an open company like Kickstarter receives one of these complaints. One result is that the project that is complained about is immediately taken down. The project owner has 10 days to refute this complaint following a specific set of guidelines. The complainant then has 10 days to either bring a lawsuit or they can do nothing and let it go. We have not yet written the graphic novel that this complaint was aimed at. As a matter of fact, we have barely written a general plot in a two paragraph format because we were raising funds to create this book first. This novel combines Shakespeares The Tempest and the world of H.P. Lovecraft and I have been assured by legal counsel that both of these IP sets are still open source. Because the complainant has never contacted us for more information, it would be impossible for him to even know whether his story and ours were the same. Furthermore, many of the points he sited in his original DMCA complaint about our project were not correct. Because of these reasons, it is fair to simply chalk this complaint up to a misunderstanding. This issue effects everyone who has ever created or enjoyed creations set in any genre that is open source (Open source is a term meaning it is not owned by any entity and therefore, free for all to create within). As Adam Scott Glancy (Pagan Publishing) writes: He (complainant) claims copyright over the idea of mashing up Shakespeare and Lovecraft. We have to make sure this guy doesnt gain any ground on this or hes going to turn up and start claiming that YOUR Lovecraft mashup is his idea too. My concern is that anyone can take issue with any product written in open source and cause a great deal of problems for its creators. I have crafted and sent my official, legal response to Kickstarter. Neither Aron nor myself are going to let this complaint stop us from creating in open source Intellectual Properties, and in particular we are still very excited to create Prosperos Price. We are fighting the good fight because if we do not, a bad precedent will take hold making it easier for anyone to come along and claim ownership over the sandbox later. The outpouring of support we have received has been incredible. Fans, creators, and game enthusiasts have come out of the woodwork to speak their minds about this issue both in favor of our personal rights as creators and also about the rights of anyone that makes things or enjoys things from open source material. This has indeed become a movement and both Aron and I recognize that our place in it is to take steps to protect those who strive to create anything using the amazing worlds of Lovecraft and/or Shakespeare. We are incredibly moved and inspired by everyones reactions. We want to fight this fight to do our tiny part in keeping our sandbox open for everyone to be able to play in without harassment. Many of you have asked if you can do more to help and indeed you can. Just by posting and discussing this, it gets the word out there that we are no easy targets. By being vocal we communicate that, as a community, we love each other as much as we love this fiction and because of that, will not sit by quietly. Please do not write negative reviews of the complainants book or say/do anything that would cause him anguish or harm. As much as this has been extraordinarily difficult I still have to say, this person is not unlike me; a creator that loves Shakespeare and Lovecraft and strives to make things in these open sources. And that makes him one of us. There are many mash up and open source materials that could have been effected by a complaint like this. Here are a few from John Scott Tynes: Over the years Lovecraft has been mashed up with Sherlock Holmes, P.G. Wodehouse, Jack the Ripper, the Ghostbusters, the Salem Witch Trials, various superheroes, cyberpunk, Where the Wild Things Are, Dungeons & Dragons, and just about anything else you can name. The idea that could possibly own the mashup of Cthulhu and The Tempest, or that no one but him could possibly conceive of watching Shakespeares most arcane play and imagine giving it a Lovecraft twist, is deeply ridiculous. Strength In Tentacles and Prose
Posted on: Sun, 09 Mar 2014 02:06:26 +0000
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