Is there any particular reason /tg/-related companies can rip-off intellectual properties left and right without getting more lawsuits and losing ones than they can withstand?
>>47747366
Because most /tg/-related companies have less money to take in a lawsuit than the lawsuit would cost in the first place.
This is not an industry with a lot of cash in it for anybody but Wizards.
Because most fantasy myths come from cultures that have thousands of years of history. You can't trademark the concept of elves because that shit is as old as history.
>>47747392
Actually that doesn't necessarily matter. There are copyright laws in various countries that state if you fail to challenge copyright infringement then you're effectively giving it up. That's why big companies will go after even small shitty ones if their copyright is infringed. If you started to try to sell a Star Wars RPG out of your garage then Disney would be up your ass even if you only had a few hundred dollars to your name.
>>47747464
No, that's trademark, not copyright. Not even close to the same thing.
>>47747392
Funny, since I'm mostly thinking of Wizards with this.
>>47747513
What has Wizards done that you would expect them to be sued over?
A fair amount. Can't remember all of them off the top of my head but one was ripping off Stargate with The Orchov. Then there's the oh-so-convenient timing with things:Khans block JUST HAPPENS TO come out not long after Marco Polo was out, Zendikar JUST HAPPENS TO be out near peoples' interest in Attack on Titan and oh look, allies have the protags' gear. There are a lot more blatant direct rip-offs like the first one I mentioned if you look.
>>47747742
>ripping off Stargate with The Orchov
What the hell is "The Orchov"?
>Khans block JUST HAPPENS TO come out not long after Marco Polo was out
So?
>Zendikar JUST HAPPENS TO be out near peoples' interest in Attack on Titan
So?
>and oh look, allies have the protags' gear
Give a more specific example?
>>47747742
M:tG sets are prepared several years in advance. If it came to court, WotC can prove they got the concept / idea independently.
>>47747742
So your evidence is:
A slightly similar geometric shape.
Two very loosely related stories in a genre which is explored practically every year. (Marco polo was shit anyway, why would you want to copy that?)
And the use of ropes as 3DMG.
Zendikar was actually slightly indpired by James Cameron's Avatar and until you just said it, I've never once associated Zen with SNK.
Week bait tbqhf.
>>47747808
>I don't know the guilds of Ravinica after 2 blocks of it
Then stop arguing.
Just stop arguing in general.
>>47747841
What about the finishing touches on the "flavor", though?
Because Hasbro owns 90% of /tg/ and you can fuck right off if you don't like it.
>>47747972
>What about the finishing touches on the "flavor", though?
That's never big enough to qualify Intellectual Property Infringement.
>>47747972
>>I don't know the guilds of Ravinica after 2 blocks of it
You mean Orzhov?
>>47747948
I like how you ignored the Ori rip-off example and went with
>REMEMBER EVERY DETAIL of EVERY DIRECT EXAMPLE RIGHT NOW or YOU'RE WRONG!!!
If you've never noticed more than 1 yourself, you're either fucking blind or completely oblivious to any other media.
>>47747972
>>I don't know the guilds of Ravinica after 2 blocks of it
Do you mean "Orzhov"?
"Orchov" is not "Orzhov".
>>47747972
depends on what you mean by the ""flavor"".
Some amount of the written stuff (like flavor articles, probably not the books) might be pretty open to change close to launch but all the art is going to be set in stone pretty damn well in advance, not to mention that they need to establish the style of the world in advance of that for the artists to be working off of a consistent base.
>>47748054
"Kind of similar themes I guess" is not, has never been, and will never be covered by intellectual property laws.
Pic related.
>>47748057
>>47748047
Also literally how do the Orzhov rip off Stargate?
Does he mean Old Phyrexia? I don't get it.
>>47748047
>>47748057
Wow, 1 letter off. You sure disproved my point!
Dumbshits.
>>47748109
>still not giving any actual examples of anything supposedly copied from some other source
>>47748092
I already said The Ori in
>>47748054
Thought it was pretty obvious, too.
>>47748284
>Orzhov
>Ori
There is literally nothing alike here, starting with how the Orzhov have gold encrusted everything with fancy magic stuff, and the Ori look like pic related.
>>47748335
Where would I even begin with that post? There's no point in arguing with someone as retarded as you.
>>47748130
You're asking me to remember things I've noticed in passing over years.
Some things that put it closer to doing it a number of times that make you scratch your head over how they keep getting away with it:A ton of stuff from TSR, Tolken (Tell me they've never sued anyone, so I can laugh at you), other novels, He-Man.
>>47748491
>still can't give any specific examples at all
3/10 bait
>>47747366
You can't copyright an idea, only a specific execution of that idea.
>>47748491
>Tell me they've never sued anyone
The Tolkien estate has proceeded with any number of lawsuits or legal settlements, but only when it's something that's actually protected by copyrights or trademarks.
For example, the settlement they made with TSR is why there are "halflings" and not "hobbits" in D&D. The specifics of hobbits are protected, but not the general idea of half-size people who often go barefoot.
>>47748491
>You're asking me to remember things I've noticed in passing over years.
Yes. If you're claiming a phenomenon is occurring, you need to demonstrate that the phenomenon is actually occurring. Otherwise, we call you an idiot and go about our merry way.
>>47748491
I'm not sure you understand how copyright law works. Are you claiming that Tolkien has copyrighted elves, wizards and generic fantasy settings or that He-man owns the Conan-esque 80s barbarian look? Copyright law doesn't prevent people from making a thinly veiled clone with a new coat of paint slapped on. Just because the teenage mutant ninja turtles exist doesn't mean I can't make a comic about teenage mutant samurai rhinos who live in the sewers of LA with their master Stinger the frog if I wanted to. Also Wizards owns TSR so they aren't infringing on it's copyright since it's their intellectual property in the first place.
>>47748734
>Adolescent Aberrant Samurai Rhinos
Don't want exactly the same words (unless they're particularly generic), since that could be grounds for a trademark infringement case.
Otherwise you're spot on.
>>47748765
Right, you have to at least put in the token effort of coming up with different names for things, but there's nothing stopping you from just re-skinning the characters and copying the plot.
>>47748920
Oh, yeah, definitely.
>>47748491
>>47748335
Even if the outfits are similar (and they aren't, just do an advanced search for Orzhov watermark cards, there's much more gold and fancy patterns and such for the Orzhov) There are slight thematic similarities in the construction of a religion designed to benefit those preaching it at the expense of the followers, but even those show marked differences, given that the Orzhov focus primarily on material wealth as a means of worship; accruing and repaying debt as a means of advancement within the guild.
>>47747366
Because most /tg/-related stuff has it's origin in mythology/sagas/folk tales and they are no longer protected. And it's nearly impossible to come up with new ideas that have not been done before. Meaning you can always find a non protected story to say "My idea is not stolen from X but inspired from old story y".
The only thing you can protect are designs. And that's not an easy thing to do because even small changes can easily declared as being "original".
The same thing is partially true for music. I vaguely remember a case where the suing party lost because someone found a piece from like 1700 that had a very similar part in it.
>>47747972
Flavor can't be copyrighted.
Settings can't be copyrighted.
Fashion can be copyrighted.
You can copyright names, specific images and register specific items. You cannot call dibs on dinosaurs and expect to sue every paleoartist afterwards.
>>47748734
No, Tolkien has claimed species you avoided mentioning:Orcs and Hobbits as their personal i.p.s Wizards also ripped off direct scenes from the books at times, like when the Fellowship found the inscriptions with the remains of the dwarves. They had a character that looked exactly like He-Man that was clearly inspired by a healing ability he had and a second character who looked pretty damn close to how he did. I wouldn't have mentioned He-Man if it were less than that. I knew someone would forget that Wizards didn't always own TSR and that Wizards shamelessly plagiarized and took advantage of TSR for years before out-competing them with it.
>>47749007
Both subtly absorb lifeforce through their religious practices
Both are led by a council of selfish spirits
Come on, you're going to keep telling me most of the Orzhov in the card art don't look like that Prior that was trying to be missionary on Earth and showed up at other times and that none of the Orzhov and priors resemble each other at all?
The fact that white in Orzhov doesn't make any sense and it seems the only reason the white-black guild acts that way is because it appeared to work with the Ori.
None of these are anywhere close to copyright infringement. You just don't get intellectual property law.
>>47755474
>White in Orzhov doesn't make any sense
White is the color of Order and Law. Orzhov might want to enslave your soul, but they're going to do it after you've signed a massive contract and gotten yourself into a big pile of debt. They don't just randomly siphon off of their worshippers.
>>47755612
White is also the color of zealotry and religious orthodoxy. See: Jihad, Army of Allah.
>>47747742
The people who worked on Magic had no idea what Cthulu was for fuck's sake, how do you expect them to rip of shit even more obscure than that?
>>47756082
Pretty much OP is retarded, thinks Magic sets only take a couple weeks to a month to design, and sees random ass vague resemblence as plagiarism.
>>47758091
How dare two things based in mythology end up being similar?
>>47748734
>we live in a world where people don't realize TMNT was a lawsuit-avoiding parody of Daredevil and the X-Men
>>47759098
>Daredevil was created when a van spilled toxic waste in the eyes. TMNT were created when a van spilled toxic waste into a sewer.
>Daredevil fights bad guys called The Hand. TMNT fight The Foot.
>Daredevil was trained by Stick. TMNT were trained by Splinter.
The whole thing is great.
>>47755631
And the Orzhov have the largest army in Ravnica.
Selesnya may think they're legion but Orzhov has all of their enforcers, hordes of the dead and most of the Boros in their payroll.
How on earth does the origin block symbol look like a Stargate?
>>47747742
>Zendikar JUST HAPPENS TO be out near peoples' interest in Attack on Titan
You wot? Zendikar came out right when the Attack on Titan manga was just getting started, well before it had any huge international following, and predated the anime adaptation and its associated hype by years. You're talking out your ass.
>>47753875
Ok you definitely don't understand how copyright work. Let me explain it to you so you know why everything you just said and have been saying makes you look like a fucking moron.
A copyright grants the creator of a work exclusive rights to its use. If something is copyrighted then it can't be reproduced without the copyright holders permission and it must acknowledge the copyright holder as the actual owner of the work, hence. However a copyright only applies to the work as a whole, you can't copyright a name, idea, phrase, style, scene, or concept. Essentially it stops people from copy/pasting your creation making a few small tweaks and selling it as their own work. The copyright holder has exclusive rights to the copy and distribution of their work, hence the name, copy-right. A copyright does not prevent ripoffs, clones, reinterpretations, follow the leader, or paint by numbers versions of the work so long as they aren't literal photocopies of it.
>>47753875
>>47764893
Now that we understand how copyright works lets go down your list of claims.
First off the name Hobbit isn't an IP and doesn't qualify for copyright. The book "The Hobbit" is copyrighted, the name Hobbit is trademarked, and the concept of small, jolly, and peaceful humanoids with furry feet is neither. A trademark is basically claiming ownership of a specific name, phrase, or picture like Kleenex or the Pepsi logo. A trademark does not give you ownership of the concept behind that symbol though, which is why there are tissues other than Kleenex and why DnD can have Halflings. For MTG in particular they are called Kithkin and so don't violate the Hobbit trademark.
Moving on, Orcs likewise don't qualify for copyright and aren't trademarked by Tolkien or anyone else so there's no issues there. I don't remember MTG ripping off any scenes from LotR but even if they did the copyright only applies to the work as a whole, it does not prevent people from copying individual scenes or interactions from the book. As for He-Man, the character may have looked like He-Man but unless he was literally He-Man or people were somehow confusing him with He-Man the trademark hasn't been violated. It's not illegal to be inspired by someone work or base things of other peoples ideas. Wizards also never violated any TSR trademarks because elves, wizards, magic, and other generic fantasy elements can't be copyrighted or trademarked either because they don't qualify or because they're too old. Finally the Orzhov in no way even come close to being copies of the Ori, shared themes and a couple visual similarities do not qualify as copyright infringement and implying that they do is absolutely retarded.
So as you can see none of what you think are copyright infringements are actually copyright infringements. Congratulations, you're a little less stupid than you were before, now please kindly fuck off.
>>47762029
Not even close. It depends how exactly you count guild members, but Selesnya and Boros are both way ahead. Golgari are also a strong contender, but that's because they cheat and count every insect. Even they have more ranks of undead than Orzhov though.
Further, if the Orzhov are bribing the Boros, they're doing a shitty job. All the guilds know eachother fairly well, and are competing as often as cooperating. Boros are also notoriously hotheaded and obsessed with justice. They're basically an entire army of that one cop who doesn't play by the rules but gets results, and you think they take bribes?
Orzhov retains power by using law and contracts to keep themselves safe. They use their contracts to get funds and bodies to shore up their forces, which they then use to safeguard their wealth and shake down people who try and get out of their contracts. It feeds into itself, but it doesn't provide massive numbers, at least not the sort that can be fielded in a massive army.
Boros, for contrast, has all of their soldiers defending their forts, responding to crimes, mapping the undercity, conducting investigations, taking out rampaging monsters, and any number of other tasks they have to do on a daily basis. They cover much more ground than the Orzhov do and they do it with more manpower.
Honestly, saying Orzhov has the largest army by counting Boros is one of the dumbest things I've ever heard. The only Guilds I'd put under Orzhov for numbers are the Blue ones. Simic and Izzet are mostly just researchers. Azorius has their own enforcers, but seemingly even less than Orzhov. Heck, you could even argue Dimir has more numbers than Orzhov, because they have spies and sleeper agents everywhere. That'd be stupid to try and claim that most of the Boros legion was secretly Dimir spies and thus they had the largest army though, right?
>>47747366
>/tg/-related companies can rip-off intellectual properties left and right
Can you give me a specific example of this?
as >>47747396 said you can't trademark elves and dragons.
