Though it disappoints me, I feel that Wizards is well within their legal right to tell Magic-League to stop linking to Apprentice, which was made as an alternative to Magic Online. What really erks me, however, is that they feel the need to ask them to remove all references to Wizards' cards. Magic-League is a community, not just a way to not use Wizards' services.
A LOT of the decisions made by Wizards' as of late make me feel like I should stop playing Magic. I understand that they want to protect their trademark, and that's not bad in and of itself; however, based on the letter they sent to Magic-League, it seems they could shut down ANY Magic community, even this one. The scare tactics they're using, (cease and desist letters, suspending people who give out rumors, or worse...) make me scared. Scared of what might happen here.
Wizards has to be aware of the Internet backlash their efforts will create if they continue to shut down and attack communities. I play Magic because I'm a competitive person; I like to use decks that win, I like to study the metagame, I like to tune, I like to use powerful cards, and I like to hear other people's opinions of my ideas and suggestions. If they cripple the online communities I frequent, I won't play the game anymore; and I know for a fact that I'm not the only one.
This action might be "Defending Trademarks 101" but I a few reservations about it. Certainly one can see how WotC needs to protect its livelihood. But it has been through tools like MWS, not MTGO, that players have learned to trust online versions of Magic at all, since Wizards has been less than ideal at producing digital versions of their products. In a way, these alternate programs have kept online Magic afloat while we wait for Wizards to create a product that players actually enjoy and don't just tolerate.
The other issue is in the long delay for the trademark protection. It isn't like these websites just popped up. They have been around for a long time and Wizards have been aware of their existence for a long time, so I think their cease and desist doesn't quite have the teeth that it would if it occured as soon as Wizards actually found out about them. The fact is, the ball was dropped a long time ago, Hasbro just now noticed it, and so they are scrambling to regain control of their product.
I wouldn't be surprised if Hasbro effectively shuts down the sites then makes an effort to acquire them cheaply under legal pressure. That would be the corporate thing to do. I just hope that MTGO gets major improvement quickly to fill the void.
It would only take the league of pros to stand against this and it would stop.
I honestly believe that Wizards would do anything to keep these guys from striking. If all the best magic players in the world, (the top pros) stood up for Magic-League and decided to publicly announce their refusal to play Magic or support it, Then Wizards might just leave Magic-League alone.
It's a great site full of resources that help players become better. It's a fun community. Why Wizards would want to hurt the very people who support them is beyond me.
Hell, let's just call it what it would be. A Magic Union.
In the MWS world, for many players, winning also makes you a noob.
The same applies to:
-Knowing the rules.
-Netdecking.
-Not netdecking.
-Using old versions of a card (yeah, it has hapenned to me: "Ugh... ugly pic noob")
-Knowing English.
-Using phases.
-Countering spells.
<@MarkRosewater> THis is a secret we've carefully guarded but for this chat I'm going to spill the beans.
<@MarkRosewater> Some cards in Magic are better than others.
<@MarkRosewater> Ssh, don't tell anyone.
I'll bet the top 4 players in your own local FNM, wherever that may be, are all regular MODO users. MODO is the entry level requirement for competitive play.
I don't use MODO; I've only played at a competitive level for really less than a year (consistently, about 6 months or so...), and I would like to point out that of a group including about 40 or so different players, I am most likely top 4, if you go by records over that time... and I really only play on the weekends... you don't get a whole lot of down-time during the week if you are active duty...
Still, I see what you mean about MODO being the entry level requirement; however, not everyone needs it, or even has time for it.
The problem with MWS is that people are only using it for magic as of late. If we used it to its full extent, such as to make games, then this wouldn't have come up. Like how people made Mario games on Little Big Planet - they weren't smashed by Nintendo. I think that Magic League should at least expand beyond MTG to prevent this from happening, or just become a place for people to set up tournament. That would take them out of the glare of WotC.
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"If you don't wear your seatbelt, the police will shoot you in the head."
- To my youngest sister when she was 6.
Everyone knows that good luck and good game are such insincere terms that any man who does not connect his right hook with the offender's jaw on the very utterance of such a phrase is no man I would consider as such.
Once again, I will remind everyone that whether magic-league is actually beneficial to Wizards is completely irrelevant.
This.
The pissing off ~500 players on Magic League will not hurt Wizard's bottom line. Even if 100 are pissed off enough to stop paying for cards entirely and/or quit magic, that's at most, what? 10,000 a year gone for Wizards? More realistically, Wizards probably loses 1-2k.
It would cost them that much in man-hours to discuss it. Some guy just made a decision somewher. I doubt it was a "hard sell" or anything.
And anyway, it's a black decision if Wizards picks up even 10 players from all Magic-League to play Magic Online.
Nowhere else to say this, I guess, but: if Wizards printed older sets (back through unlimited or at least revised for dual lands), I'd definitely play MTGO. I don't know how many players are in my boat and how profitable it'd be, but I'm an avid Eternal fan, I'd definitely buy packs/draft old cards, and I'd definitely play in online drafts if I did MTGO anyway.
I think Wizards could easily make MTGO more profitable if they worked harder on MTGO.
The pissing off ~500 players on Magic League will not hurt Wizard's bottom line. Even if 100 are pissed off enough to stop paying for cards entirely and/or quit magic, that's at most, what? 10,000 a year gone for Wizards? More realistically, Wizards probably loses 1-2k.
It would cost them that much in man-hours to discuss it. Some guy just made a decision somewher. I doubt it was a "hard sell" or anything.
And anyway, it's a black decision if Wizards picks up even 10 players from all Magic-League to play Magic Online.
Nowhere else to say this, I guess, but: if Wizards printed older sets (back through unlimited or at least revised for dual lands), I'd definitely play MTGO. I don't know how many players are in my boat and how profitable it'd be, but I'm an avid Eternal fan, I'd definitely buy packs/draft old cards, and I'd definitely play in online drafts if I did MTGO anyway.
I think Wizards could easily make MTGO more profitable if they worked harder on MTGO.
It is getting the duals, and lots of old cards. Master's Edition 1 had Force of Will, ball lightning, etc, and Master's Edition 2 had the 5 allied duals and Necro and Mana Crypt. They're also releasing the sets between Mirage and Invasion, and are currently just kicking of the release events for Stronghold.
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^^
MTGO Writer and Epic Time-Waster.
If you have questions about MTGO PM me, I'm all up ons, as it were.
Check out my articles on http://puremtgo.com/ I'm the nerd you see there... wait, not that one. Nope, not that one either... yeah. That one.
I heard that Magic League is stationed outside of the US (the website). Unless Wizards has people in the Netherlands representing them, they legally cannot touch them, or MWS or Apprentice, because these are now on the internet, which is considered public domain.
Not much offense intended, Fluga, but you're completely and totally wrong about this. Did you just decide to post what you thought to be true without doing even cursory research? Copyright's online have been a major thing for over a decade. Perhaps you should look up the DMCA before you talk. Unfortunately, Magic League is in clear and flagrant violation.
Posting something to the internet does not make it Public Domain.
so what's next? are they gonna try to shut mtgsalvation down because it's not the official wizards boards? what a bunch of ********. plain and simple. magic league, apprentice, and magic workstation have been around for years and they wait until now to start throwing stones? wtf wotc? i mean seriously... how does that even make sense?
i don't play magic online because i can't justify paying money for "fake" cards. i'll be honest and say i'd much rather use the interface on magic online than magic workstation. i love how the rules are built into the software, things automatically stack, life totals automatically change, suspend counters automatically come off. i love playing magic online. when wotc makes it more like WoW and i can pay a once a month fee for unlimited magic online play w/ unlimited card selections, then i'll be the first in line. but paying hard earned cash for digital cards? nah.
wotc just lost a bunch of cool points. soon they'll shutdown magiccards.info for allowing users to print proxies. money grubbing bastards.
Jesus, hasn't Wizards learned anything from when they were able to buy out TSR? For those who don't remember, Wizards was able to buy the rights to D&D from TSR because alienated their fanbase. I hear that back then people would call them T$R.
Jesus, hasn't Wizards learned anything from when they were able to buy out TSR? For those who don't remember, Wizards was able to buy the rights to D&D from TSR because alienated their fanbase. I hear that back then people would call them T$R.
It would rock to see Magic sold off to an independent studio and away from Hasbro. I can't help but think a lot of the bad decisions originate there.
I don't think this letter is much of a big deal (granted a pain in the arse for the guys at the league) - I hope it doesn't impact folks putting together the DB for MWS - cause I love that proggie and it does piss me off Wizards expects me to pay for two playsets of the cards to enjoy it with friends who live far away.
I'd be all for the subscription idea - $20 a month to play with the whole gambit of cards on MTGO (I know full well it'll never happen) - but they'd have to fix all the problems it has - or offer users a way to play connected to each other in lieu of using their junk server infrastructure.
It'd be fun to see what their bean counters estimates are on revenues lost to this. Those are always a hoot.
so what's next? are they gonna try to shut mtgsalvation down because it's not the official wizards boards?
They could. By abusing legal leverage, they could "demand" that salvation remove all names of magic cards and images of magic trademarks, essentially ruining the site.
And yet, some random douche would jump up barking "Its thar lagle right and oblation!!1"
Back to the letter from wizards (I underlined the words that concern me)
"On behalf of Wizards, we therefore demand that you immediately cease and desist from any further use of Wizards’ MAGIC: THE GATHERING® copyrights and trademarks, remove and/or remove the links to, the infringing Apprentice and Magic Workstation software and MAGIC: THE GATHERING® cards from your website, and assure us that you will make no future unauthorized use of Wizards’ intellectual property."
Anyone automatically conceding to the fact that magic-league.com will be shut down has simply not done their reading.
§ 501. Infringement of copyright
(a) Anyone who violates any of the exclusive rights of the copyright owner as provided by sections 106 through 122 or of the author as provided in section 106A (a), or who imports copies or phonorecords into the United States in violation of section 602, is an infringer of the copyright or right of the author, as the case may be. For purposes of this chapter (other than section 506), any reference to copyright shall be deemed to include the rights conferred by section 106A (a). As used in this subsection, the term “anyone” includes any State, any instrumentality of a State, and any officer or employee of a State or instrumentality of a State acting in his or her official capacity. Any State, and any such instrumentality, officer, or employee, shall be subject to the provisions of this title in the same manner and to the same extent as any nongovernmental entity.
§ 106. Exclusive rights in copyrighted works
Subject to sections 107 through 122, the owner of copyright under this title has the exclusive rights to do and to authorize any of the following:
(1) to reproduce the copyrighted work in copies or phonorecords;
(2) to prepare derivative works based upon the copyrighted work;
(3) to distribute copies or phonorecords of the copyrighted work to the public by sale or other transfer of ownership, or by rental, lease, or lending;
§ 107. Limitations on exclusive rights: Fair use
Notwithstanding the provisions of sections 106 and 106A, the fair use of a copyrighted work, including such use by reproduction in copies or phonorecords or by any other means specified by that section, for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship, or research, is not an infringement of copyright. In determining whether the use made of a work in any particular case is a fair use the factors to be considered shall include—
(1) the purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of a commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes;
(2) the nature of the copyrighted work;
(3) the amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole; and
(4) the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work.
The fact that a work is unpublished shall not itself bar a finding of fair use if such finding is made upon consideration of all the above factors.
Magic-league.com is a non profit organization, and one could quite convincingly argue that mws and appr are "research" tools. Magic-league will not have to shut down, obviously. this is a scare tactic of wotc.
Also, wotc cannot copyright the term "magic" because its too broad. Mark Rosewater outlines this in an article on wizards.com.
A quote from the article:
Magic was almost not called Magic. In fact, when the first solicitation for the game was sent out the game was called Mana Clash. The reason for this is as follows. Richard (Garfield, of course) called the game Magic when he originally designed it. All through the original playtests the game was called Magic. Then when they went to officially name it, they got a lawyer involved who informed them that Magic was too broad of a word to ever be able to copyright. So they started looking for alternatives. Mana Clash was the name they liked best from that search and thus they used it on the solicitation. But everyone playing the game (Richard, the playtesters and the people at Wizards) still called the game Magic. The name just seemed too perfect. They went back to the lawyer and asked what they could do to call it Magic. The lawyer told them they needed to add something else unique and "ownable" onto it that allowing them to copyright the name as a whole. That is how "The Gathering" was added.
It would only take the league of pros to stand against this and it would stop.
I honestly believe that Wizards would do anything to keep these guys from striking. If all the best magic players in the world, (the top pros) stood up for Magic-League and decided to publicly announce their refusal to play Magic or support it, Then Wizards might just leave Magic-League alone.
It's a great site full of resources that help players become better. It's a fun community. Why Wizards would want to hurt the very people who support them is beyond me.
Hell, let's just call it what it would be. A Magic Union.
The pros won't care enough about some small sub-set dudes getting hulk smashed by wizards, unless it was them, to consciously get off of the gravy train. Even then, with the loss of a pro tour and payout changes, they still didn't leave in droves. There's still gold in them thar hills.
Hell, I'm sure most of them have access to accounts with all the cards on MODO.
I am also surprised this didn't happen even sooner.
Although, I feel as though they are now targeting Magic League because it's a major hub for the promotion of Apprentice and MWS. I can understand why WotC would go for that with all that legalese.
Quite a few of their requests, though, seem detrimental to any form of media discussing MTG. WotC does seem to believe that Magic League has been presented as appearing to be affiliated with MTG.
I'll be interested to see what happens here, but I think that removing a few links will make everything okay to them.
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Waiting patiently for MTGO Leagues to become a priority again. It's been 4 years :sick:.
Drop by my Helpdesk if you have any questions/concerns on the Limited forum.
Excited for M13 Limited? What do you think the format will look like? Head over to the limited forum and let us know what you think.
If MWS play (or a variant) becomes impossible, I'll stop playing constructed.
I am not going to pay twice for playing the same cards and the same decks (1 paper, 1 MtgO). It's as simple as that.
Besides, MtgO plays rather different than paper Magic. Everything triggers automatically, you don't have to worry about forgetting something. In real life Magic, that is important.
i don't play magic online because i can't justify paying money for "fake" cards. i'll be honest and say i'd much rather use the interface on magic online than magic workstation. i love how the rules are built into the software, things automatically stack, life totals automatically change, suspend counters automatically come off. i love playing magic online. when wotc makes it more like WoW and i can pay a once a month fee for unlimited magic online play w/ unlimited card selections, then i'll be the first in line. but paying hard earned cash for digital cards? nah.
calibretto
This is SO dam true... Make it monthly fee for unlimited magic unlimited cards I am right behind you. I mean if they are SOO intent of stick to paper they could go the Yougioh rought or NEopets rough of simply having a code in one of the cards in a pack that gives you a copy of the pack online. I think that would keep both sides happy!
Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't MtGO limited in the cards available? Such as Eternal format staples? Cutting down MWS/Apprentice would essentially kill any Eternal community outside of the few tournaments that get hosted.
I hope they don't decide to go after the people here who use MWS/App to set up informal online tournaments.
I mean if they are SOO intent of stick to paper they could go the Yougioh rought or NEopets rough of simply having a code in one of the cards in a pack that gives you a copy of the pack online. I think that would keep both sides happy!
You forget that Hasbro is collecting raw profit off every booster pack sold to online customers - giving that up won't keep them happy. That's the whole intent of shutting down any competition.
(Admittedly this is my dream as well - I mean, they already put the codes on the packs now....)
I've read here that Wizards will lose out on 10-15k for a hundred players that stop playing in year. That person went on to say they (Money-grubbers-r-us) do not care. OF COURSE THEY DO. It's a corporation. It's all about money grubbing. While I desperately want a corporation that is good-aligned (be it fiction or real!), the truth is just that they want to make profit.
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[I was permabanned and all I got to show for it was .... well, nothing.]
It would only take the league of pros to stand against this and it would stop.
I honestly believe that Wizards would do anything to keep these guys from striking. If all the best magic players in the world, (the top pros) stood up for Magic-League and decided to publicly announce their refusal to play Magic or support it, Then Wizards might just leave Magic-League alone.
It's a great site full of resources that help players become better. It's a fun community. Why Wizards would want to hurt the very people who support them is beyond me.
Hell, let's just call it what it would be. A Magic Union.
You mean like the Magic Players' Union, the endeavor whose website is now apparently defunct? Just over a year ago the Pros banded together to complain about the loss of yet another Pro Tour and the sudden changes to the Pro Player Club. If I recall, Raphael Levy and Frank Karsten spear-headed this project. Evan Erwin may have also been involved, or at least he reported on its progress.
You may see Paulo Vitor stand up for Magic-League. Or he may just sell out and get into MTGO.
Well Wizards, way to ruin online magic for me. My meager job can't handle getting good paper and online rares. I don't want to have to pay for a copy of a deck, just so I can play my friends who moved a few states over every weekend.
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My signature was created by Zaphod of High~Light Studios. He's brilliant.
You forget that Hasbro is collecting raw profit off every booster pack sold to online customers - giving that up won't keep them happy. That's the whole intent of shutting down any competition.
(Admittedly this is my dream as well - I mean, they already put the codes on the packs now....)
your missing my idea do both but make it so that your real boosters can be used as well. with that inplace more people will play online leading to more people buying what WOTC Really makes money with mtgo Tickets. People always have to buy more tickets as the game doesn't give them out as prizes and they are required to play any sanctioned play.
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A LOT of the decisions made by Wizards' as of late make me feel like I should stop playing Magic. I understand that they want to protect their trademark, and that's not bad in and of itself; however, based on the letter they sent to Magic-League, it seems they could shut down ANY Magic community, even this one. The scare tactics they're using, (cease and desist letters, suspending people who give out rumors, or worse...) make me scared. Scared of what might happen here.
Wizards has to be aware of the Internet backlash their efforts will create if they continue to shut down and attack communities. I play Magic because I'm a competitive person; I like to use decks that win, I like to study the metagame, I like to tune, I like to use powerful cards, and I like to hear other people's opinions of my ideas and suggestions. If they cripple the online communities I frequent, I won't play the game anymore; and I know for a fact that I'm not the only one.
The other issue is in the long delay for the trademark protection. It isn't like these websites just popped up. They have been around for a long time and Wizards have been aware of their existence for a long time, so I think their cease and desist doesn't quite have the teeth that it would if it occured as soon as Wizards actually found out about them. The fact is, the ball was dropped a long time ago, Hasbro just now noticed it, and so they are scrambling to regain control of their product.
I wouldn't be surprised if Hasbro effectively shuts down the sites then makes an effort to acquire them cheaply under legal pressure. That would be the corporate thing to do. I just hope that MTGO gets major improvement quickly to fill the void.
I honestly believe that Wizards would do anything to keep these guys from striking. If all the best magic players in the world, (the top pros) stood up for Magic-League and decided to publicly announce their refusal to play Magic or support it, Then Wizards might just leave Magic-League alone.
It's a great site full of resources that help players become better. It's a fun community. Why Wizards would want to hurt the very people who support them is beyond me.
Hell, let's just call it what it would be. A Magic Union.
I don't use MODO; I've only played at a competitive level for really less than a year (consistently, about 6 months or so...), and I would like to point out that of a group including about 40 or so different players, I am most likely top 4, if you go by records over that time... and I really only play on the weekends... you don't get a whole lot of down-time during the week if you are active duty...
Still, I see what you mean about MODO being the entry level requirement; however, not everyone needs it, or even has time for it.
Go Team Snipers on Bicycles!
- To my youngest sister when she was 6.
This.
The pissing off ~500 players on Magic League will not hurt Wizard's bottom line. Even if 100 are pissed off enough to stop paying for cards entirely and/or quit magic, that's at most, what? 10,000 a year gone for Wizards? More realistically, Wizards probably loses 1-2k.
It would cost them that much in man-hours to discuss it. Some guy just made a decision somewher. I doubt it was a "hard sell" or anything.
And anyway, it's a black decision if Wizards picks up even 10 players from all Magic-League to play Magic Online.
Nowhere else to say this, I guess, but: if Wizards printed older sets (back through unlimited or at least revised for dual lands), I'd definitely play MTGO. I don't know how many players are in my boat and how profitable it'd be, but I'm an avid Eternal fan, I'd definitely buy packs/draft old cards, and I'd definitely play in online drafts if I did MTGO anyway.
I think Wizards could easily make MTGO more profitable if they worked harder on MTGO.
It is getting the duals, and lots of old cards. Master's Edition 1 had Force of Will, ball lightning, etc, and Master's Edition 2 had the 5 allied duals and Necro and Mana Crypt. They're also releasing the sets between Mirage and Invasion, and are currently just kicking of the release events for Stronghold.
MTGO Writer and Epic Time-Waster.
If you have questions about MTGO PM me, I'm all up ons, as it were.
Check out my articles on http://puremtgo.com/ I'm the nerd you see there... wait, not that one. Nope, not that one either... yeah. That one.
Not much offense intended, Fluga, but you're completely and totally wrong about this. Did you just decide to post what you thought to be true without doing even cursory research? Copyright's online have been a major thing for over a decade. Perhaps you should look up the DMCA before you talk. Unfortunately, Magic League is in clear and flagrant violation.
Posting something to the internet does not make it Public Domain.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_Millennium_Copyright_Act
i don't play magic online because i can't justify paying money for "fake" cards. i'll be honest and say i'd much rather use the interface on magic online than magic workstation. i love how the rules are built into the software, things automatically stack, life totals automatically change, suspend counters automatically come off. i love playing magic online. when wotc makes it more like WoW and i can pay a once a month fee for unlimited magic online play w/ unlimited card selections, then i'll be the first in line. but paying hard earned cash for digital cards? nah.
wotc just lost a bunch of cool points. soon they'll shutdown magiccards.info for allowing users to print proxies. money grubbing bastards.
calibretto
MTGS Average Peasant Cube 2023 Edition
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It would rock to see Magic sold off to an independent studio and away from Hasbro. I can't help but think a lot of the bad decisions originate there.
I don't think this letter is much of a big deal (granted a pain in the arse for the guys at the league) - I hope it doesn't impact folks putting together the DB for MWS - cause I love that proggie and it does piss me off Wizards expects me to pay for two playsets of the cards to enjoy it with friends who live far away.
I'd be all for the subscription idea - $20 a month to play with the whole gambit of cards on MTGO (I know full well it'll never happen) - but they'd have to fix all the problems it has - or offer users a way to play connected to each other in lieu of using their junk server infrastructure.
It'd be fun to see what their bean counters estimates are on revenues lost to this. Those are always a hoot.
They could. By abusing legal leverage, they could "demand" that salvation remove all names of magic cards and images of magic trademarks, essentially ruining the site.
And yet, some random douche would jump up barking "Its thar lagle right and oblation!!1"
Back to the letter from wizards (I underlined the words that concern me)
"On behalf of Wizards, we therefore demand that you immediately cease and desist from any further use of Wizards’ MAGIC: THE GATHERING® copyrights and trademarks, remove and/or remove the links to, the infringing Apprentice and Magic Workstation software and MAGIC: THE GATHERING® cards from your website, and assure us that you will make no future unauthorized use of Wizards’ intellectual property."
§ 501. Infringement of copyright
(a) Anyone who violates any of the exclusive rights of the copyright owner as provided by sections 106 through 122 or of the author as provided in section 106A (a), or who imports copies or phonorecords into the United States in violation of section 602, is an infringer of the copyright or right of the author, as the case may be. For purposes of this chapter (other than section 506), any reference to copyright shall be deemed to include the rights conferred by section 106A (a). As used in this subsection, the term “anyone” includes any State, any instrumentality of a State, and any officer or employee of a State or instrumentality of a State acting in his or her official capacity. Any State, and any such instrumentality, officer, or employee, shall be subject to the provisions of this title in the same manner and to the same extent as any nongovernmental entity.
§ 106. Exclusive rights in copyrighted works
Subject to sections 107 through 122, the owner of copyright under this title has the exclusive rights to do and to authorize any of the following:
(1) to reproduce the copyrighted work in copies or phonorecords;
(2) to prepare derivative works based upon the copyrighted work;
(3) to distribute copies or phonorecords of the copyrighted work to the public by sale or other transfer of ownership, or by rental, lease, or lending;
§ 107. Limitations on exclusive rights: Fair use
Notwithstanding the provisions of sections 106 and 106A, the fair use of a copyrighted work, including such use by reproduction in copies or phonorecords or by any other means specified by that section, for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship, or research, is not an infringement of copyright. In determining whether the use made of a work in any particular case is a fair use the factors to be considered shall include—
(1) the purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of a commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes;
(2) the nature of the copyrighted work;
(3) the amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole; and
(4) the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work.
The fact that a work is unpublished shall not itself bar a finding of fair use if such finding is made upon consideration of all the above factors.
Magic-league.com is a non profit organization, and one could quite convincingly argue that mws and appr are "research" tools. Magic-league will not have to shut down, obviously. this is a scare tactic of wotc.
Also, wotc cannot copyright the term "magic" because its too broad. Mark Rosewater outlines this in an article on wizards.com.
A quote from the article:
Magic was almost not called Magic. In fact, when the first solicitation for the game was sent out the game was called Mana Clash. The reason for this is as follows. Richard (Garfield, of course) called the game Magic when he originally designed it. All through the original playtests the game was called Magic. Then when they went to officially name it, they got a lawyer involved who informed them that Magic was too broad of a word to ever be able to copyright. So they started looking for alternatives. Mana Clash was the name they liked best from that search and thus they used it on the solicitation. But everyone playing the game (Richard, the playtesters and the people at Wizards) still called the game Magic. The name just seemed too perfect. They went back to the lawyer and asked what they could do to call it Magic. The lawyer told them they needed to add something else unique and "ownable" onto it that allowing them to copyright the name as a whole. That is how "The Gathering" was added.
The pros won't care enough about some small sub-set dudes getting hulk smashed by wizards, unless it was them, to consciously get off of the gravy train. Even then, with the loss of a pro tour and payout changes, they still didn't leave in droves. There's still gold in them thar hills.
Hell, I'm sure most of them have access to accounts with all the cards on MODO.
.
Although, I feel as though they are now targeting Magic League because it's a major hub for the promotion of Apprentice and MWS. I can understand why WotC would go for that with all that legalese.
Quite a few of their requests, though, seem detrimental to any form of media discussing MTG. WotC does seem to believe that Magic League has been presented as appearing to be affiliated with MTG.
I'll be interested to see what happens here, but I think that removing a few links will make everything okay to them.
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I am not going to pay twice for playing the same cards and the same decks (1 paper, 1 MtgO). It's as simple as that.
Besides, MtgO plays rather different than paper Magic. Everything triggers automatically, you don't have to worry about forgetting something. In real life Magic, that is important.
This is SO dam true... Make it monthly fee for unlimited magic unlimited cards I am right behind you. I mean if they are SOO intent of stick to paper they could go the Yougioh rought or NEopets rough of simply having a code in one of the cards in a pack that gives you a copy of the pack online. I think that would keep both sides happy!
I hope they don't decide to go after the people here who use MWS/App to set up informal online tournaments.
(Siggy adapted, DarkHunter1357 (deviantART))
You forget that Hasbro is collecting raw profit off every booster pack sold to online customers - giving that up won't keep them happy. That's the whole intent of shutting down any competition.
(Admittedly this is my dream as well - I mean, they already put the codes on the packs now....)
You mean like the Magic Players' Union, the endeavor whose website is now apparently defunct? Just over a year ago the Pros banded together to complain about the loss of yet another Pro Tour and the sudden changes to the Pro Player Club. If I recall, Raphael Levy and Frank Karsten spear-headed this project. Evan Erwin may have also been involved, or at least he reported on its progress.
You may see Paulo Vitor stand up for Magic-League. Or he may just sell out and get into MTGO.
your missing my idea do both but make it so that your real boosters can be used as well. with that inplace more people will play online leading to more people buying what WOTC Really makes money with mtgo Tickets. People always have to buy more tickets as the game doesn't give them out as prizes and they are required to play any sanctioned play.