no news is good news...
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Again - all the more reason to ask for a clarification from their legal department.
Sirs, I am a member of a well known internet forum - www.40konline.com. The forum deals almost entirely with the Games Workshop hobby, with a particular focus on Warhammer 40,000. Much of the activity on the forum has to do with in depth discussion and debate relating to tactics and rules. As such, in order to communicate with clarity and precision, it is often necessary to quote statistics and rules. There is some concern from some members of the forum that quoting rules or statistics would be against GW's IP Protection Policy. I am writing to your office to seek clarification of the extent of GW's IP Protection Policy. Obviously, there is no question that scanning pages of books, or copying great slabs of text would be innapropriate. Such behaviour would never be tolerated by the administrators of 40konline.com, but there is uncertainty as to referencing statistics and rules in general discussion relating to tactics and rules interpretation. A theoretical example might be: Smith: I am of the opinion that the most effective fit out for Armoured Sentinels is Plasma Cannons. I have 3 of them in my army. The S7 AP2 Plasma Cannon is perfect for killing Space Marines and Monstrous Creatures. The AV12 front armour also makes it invulnerable to any S5 weapons from the front, meaning that most infantry won't be able to hurt it. At 215 points, I think they are one of the best value purchases available to the Imperial Guard. What does everyone else think? Jones: I disagree. For 190 points, you could pick a Leman Russ Executioner, which fires 3 plasma cannon shots per turn, which is equal to the Armoured Sentinels. Additionally, an Executioner has AV14/13/11, making it significantly more durable than Armoured Sentinels, and invulnerable to anything weaker than S8 - so autocannons can't hurt it. Also, for an extra 40 points, you could purchase Plasma Sponsons which would allow you to fire 5 Plasma Cannon blasts per turn, or 4 shots while moving at combat speed, because the Lumbering Behemoth rule states: "A Leman Russ that moved at combat speed or remained stationary can fire its turret weapon in addition to any other weapon it is usually allowed to fire (even if the turret weapon is ordnance!)" Such debates often go on for many pages and often come down to some sort of incredibly detailed discussion of the superiority or inferiority of a particular troop type or tactic based on statistical and mathematical probabilities of dice rolling. It is somewhat embarrassing to admit, but deep analysis and discussion of the merits of different troop types at a statistical level is part of what I, and many others enjoy about the hobby, and it is difficult to to do without quoting small sections of specific rules or statistics from the rulebooks and codices. I would greatly appreciate if you would be able to confirm whether such a discussion is in breach of Games Workshops IP Protection Policy, and if so, whether such a breach would be considered merely trivial and of no concern to GW, or if it would be considered a serious infringement requiring immediate removal. Your guidance on this matter would be greatly appreciated by me and many others. Kind Regards,
Dear Sir,Thank you for your email. Our view is that the discussion of tactics and rules is an important part of the hobby and something that should be encouraged. However, as you may be aware, we need to balance this with protecting our intellectual property rights. The result of this is that provided that the discussion on www.40konline.com is of the nature you describe below, we are unlikely to have any issues. This said, we urge you to use your discretion when quoting or making reference to our rules and statistics. If you are simply referencing comments and opinions to rules, or using statistics to support your arguments, then we see will view this as an inevitable and non-problematic consequence of encouraging hobby activity. However, at the opposite end of the spectrum we will take action should we find people copying vast amounts text or images. Hopefully, this will provide an insight as to Games Workshop is likely to react to discussions of the hobby on www.40konline.com. Additionally, you may also find it useful to read our intellectual property policy (http://legal.games-workshop.com/) which will provide further guidance to both the letter and spirit of the way in which we will deal with people using our intellectual property. Yours faithfullyGroup Legal Department Games Workshop Group PLC
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