The beginnings of a scenario

[Inspector Javert]

I have an idea for a scenario but I am planning on using that idea for a story I plan to write. My knowledge of copyright law and IP is limited but would I be ok to create a scenario based on my story and not worry about people stealing the idea? Not that I don't trust you guys but I'm paranoid.

The basic idea is that the scenario will be set after a major civil war where the US broke up into numerous other factions.

Moderator Action: Moved to main C&C as this is a more appropriate place for the topic.

 

[AW Arcaeca]

First of all: This is very much the wrong forum to be posting this in. New Civilizations is for completed new civilizations, and you have a request... about a scenario. So I've asked the mods to move this thread to the main C&C forum, where all requests go.

Secondly: There really is no reason to bring in copyright law for stealing ideas, as no one here that I'm aware of patents their modding plans, if I'm understanding you correctly.

Third: I've never actually seen anyone steal each others' plans on this forum, so I wouldn't worry about that. I can assure you that I will not, however, because:
a) I have no idea what the scenario is about, other than the brief description you gave
b) I don't know how to make scenarios, and
c) I don't really want to make a scenario. Yet.

 

[Nutty]

I don't think the risk is high, but unfortunately, it's hard to enforce a copyright on a "story" in the loose sense you're talking about (rather than the actual text of the narrative and dialogue) unless you've got a lot more lawyers than the other guy has.

To the extent it helps, make sure you have the prominent notice "(c)2014 Inspector Javert. All rights reserved." If you're really paranoid, you can put all the text together and register it for $35 when it's finished (or near-finished).

And I'm pretty sure you sign everything away if you put it on the Steam Workshop.

 

[JFD]

Secondly: There really is no reason to bring in copyright law for stealing ideas, as no one here that I'm aware of patents their modding plans, if I'm understanding you correctly.

In the Commonwealth, original material is automatically patented.

I don't think the risk is high, but unfortunately, it's hard to enforce a copyright on a "story" in the loose sense you're talking about (rather than the actual text of the narrative and dialogue) unless you've got a lot more lawyers than the other guy has.

To the extent it helps, make sure you have the prominent notice "(c)2014 Inspector Javert. All rights reserved." If you're really paranoid, you can put all the text together and register it for $35 when it's finished (or near-finished).

It really does depend from where the OP hails.

And I'm pretty sure you sign everything away if you put it on the Steam Workshop.

Nope. It doesn't matter what the legal agreement says, your agreement does not override your country's copyright laws. Steam owns less than what it claims of your uploaded content.

I have an idea for a scenario but I am planning on using that idea for a story I plan to write. My knowledge of copyright law and IP is limited but would I be ok to create a scenario based on my story and not worry about people stealing the idea? Not that I don't trust you guys but I'm paranoid.

The basic idea is that the scenario will be set after a major civil war where the US broke up into numerous other factions.

It really depends upon the specificity of the ideas that you share, and what laws protect your original work. If you make your scenario, and then someone publishes a book some years later with material that you can prove comes from your ideas, then the law will generally be on your side, and, at the most extreme end, you could seek reparations. On the other hand, there's a fine line between "inspired by" and "ripped-off," so like with all other legal matters, it would be at the discretion of your circumstances.

 

[whoward69]

And I'm pretty sure you sign everything away if you put it on the Steam Workshop.

IIRC Firaxis claim to own mods as well - as they've been developed with their tools (ModBuddy, WorldBuilder, etc), to their specs and built on their ideas (IPR - Intellectual Property Rights) and software (copyright material) - which you actually don't own but have bought a non-transferrable right to use.

Also, if you upload anything here, it's automatically open-source (see http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=473030)

Now, as to whether you could enforce any of those claims will come down to who has the best lawyers and adopts the most threatening stance.

So, if you want to protect the IPR (ideas) do not discuss them in a public place. If you want to discuss them in private, you'll need an NDA (Non-Disclosure Agreement) with whomever you discuss them with. Once the material is written you're into copyright laws, at which point you'll need to be able to prove that it's an original work - very hard to do if the ideas were discussed in public as anyone involved in the discussion can claim ownership of their input.

Edit: Which is pretty much what JFD just posted.

But you need to weigh all of that against the likelihood that anyone else will have the time and/or interest to take your ideas and use them to produce a similar work - from what I've seen on these forums, pretty unlikely.

 

[JFD]

IIRC Firaxis claim to own mods as well - as they've been developed with their tools (ModBuddy, WorldBuilder, etc), to their specs and built on their ideas (IPR - Intellectual Property Rights) and software (copyright material) - which you actually don't own but have bought a non-transferrable right to use.

Now, as to whether you could enforce any of those claims will come down to who has the best lawyers and adopts the most threatening stance.

They do. But that doesn't stand up in a national court; in NZ, and I expect other Common Law courts, the "you didn't actually buy the good, rather the right to use it" doesn't stand up.

But yes, there's also the Modiquette to consider.

But you need to weigh all of that against the likelihood that anyone else will have the time and/or interest to take your ideas and use them to produce a similar work - from what I've seen on these forums, pretty unlikely.

Lel. That sounds so dry.

 

[LeeS]

I have an idea for a scenario but I am planning on using that idea for a story I plan to write. My knowledge of copyright law and IP is limited but would I be ok to create a scenario based on my story and not worry about people stealing the idea? Not that I don't trust you guys but I'm paranoid.

The basic idea is that the scenario will be set after a major civil war where the US broke up into numerous other factions.

Base your scenario ideas on your story, but leave out specific items such as faction (country) names, leader names (characters in your story, whether small or major), character names (whether small or major). By leave out I mean change them to something different.

The basic notion of your scenario and story (US breaks up into smaller nations after a civil war or some other event) is not going to be copyright-able anyway in just about every jurisdiction everywhere because (a) it's not original enough, and (b), it's been done about 8 kajillion times already by mainstream and Science Fiction authors. The specifics of your story (the plot, character names and character story-arcs, nation names and the like, the specific set of circumstances that led to the US break-apart, the specific set of conditions resulting from the break-up) will be protected in just about every jurisdiction that recognizes the concept of a copyright or an IP.

But one thing to note is that except in limited circumstances (see John Scalzi as an example) publishers aren't interested in anything that's already been made available on the internet (even when it includes a copyright statement and is fully copyright protected) because they generally will consider that the target audience of such a work has already been reached. Therefore there's no money to be made publishing such a work. And publishing is such a teeny tiny margins industry in all cases except the most runaway national (or worldwide) bestsellers that even a difference of 1000 copies sold can make or break a possible story, so far as publishing it as a novel goes. In the past 5-10 years in the US there have been only a handful or so of authors who have gone from self-published (or fanfic published) authors making their work available through the internet to authors being published with major publishers. And in almost all such cases they were picked up by the major publisher as part of a contract where the author was to supply new stuff they had not yet written, or which had not yet been 'published' on the internet.