Website Permissions
This page documents the ongoing saga in my attempt to get a semi-official blessing from Wizards of the Coast to use the Star Frontiers theme on the website. While I believe most of what I want to do doesn't present any difficulties, it would be nice to have a letter in hand to explicitly granting permission.
May 23, 2008 – I sent this e-mail to the corporateinfo@wizards.com e-mail address listed on the WOTC website:
Subject: ATTN: Licencing Director - Use of Star Frontiers material on web site
Hi,
I'm not sure who to direct this
to so hopefully this can be directed to the correct person.
I'm
in the process of building a fan community website based on the old
80's role-playing game Star Frontiers that you acquired from TSR
several years ago. It is intended to be a sister site to the
starfrontiers.com
and starfrontiers.org
site as well as the starfrontiers.us
site. The primary focus of the site will be hosting of on-line
Star Frontiers games. In addition, I'd like to host resources
for development of Star Frontiers and general RPG gaming related
software and other materials (stories, adventures, art, etc).
I'm
not looking to post in complete form any of the original material. it
is all available by permission at starfrontiers.com.
In the interest of getting the proper permission in advance so as to
avoid difficulties later, I'm asking for permission to do the
following:
1) Use images and text excerpts from the original
Star Frontiers material (of which I own at least one copy of almost
everything) on the website to give it the Star Frontiers theme.
2)
Host game fan development of Star Frontiers themed software and
distribute said software. Assuming, of course, that the
software is distributed as freeware or shareware. If the author
of the software wants any other distribution model, they must discuss
the issue with Wizards of the Coast directly. And who knows,
maybe we'll develop something WOTC likes and we can work out some
arrangements between WOTC and the developers to market the
software.
3) Host fan developed art, articles, stories, and other
material based on the Star Frontiers theme. Again, these would
be freely distributed on the web.
Permissions to do items 1 &
3 have recently been granted to the starfrontiers.us
site so I don't see these as being a major issue. Hopefully
item 2 won't be either as Star Frontiers is not a brand currently
marketed by WOTC and you always retain the option of asking us to
stop or working with us to develop the software further into a
marketable product. I believe all of these permissions fall
with the Fair Use rules as long as fans don't use your trademarks and
copyrights for commercial purposes but I just want to make sure
things are okay before the site goes live.
The website will
mostly likely launch as starfrontiers.homelinux.net.
I am trying to get the starfrontiers.net
domain from it's current owner who has had the domain since 2000 but
not done anything with the site. The current, basically empty,
webpage has not been modified since Jan 2002. If I can acquire
that domain the site will be hosted at that address.
Please
contact me so that we can discuss these permissions. Thank you
for your time.
Sincerely,
Tom Stephens
May 24, 2008 (the next day) - I received the following reply:
Dear Tom,
Thank you for your email.
I have forwarded this onto the licensing manager for consideration.
Best regards,
Pat
Corporate Information
June 18, 2008 - I never heard back from the Licensing Manager so I sent this e-mail on June 18, 2008
Subject: RE: ATTN: Licensing Director - Use of Star Frontiers material on web site
Thanks Pat. It's been over three weeks now and I haven't heard a word. Would it be possible to give me the Licensing Manager's name and e-mail so that I could contact them directly? Thanks.
- Tom
I received no response at all to this e-mail (maybe Pat was on vacation?).
June 30, 2008 – I got tired of waiting and launched the website.
July 30, 2008 – I tried once more via e-mail, sending this to the corporateinfo@wizards.com address again:
Subject: ATTN: Licensing Manager - Requesting permission for use of Star Frontiers material on web site
Hello,
I
sent the e-mail included below just over two months ago (May 23,
2008). I got a short reply back from Pat the next day saying
that it had been sent on to the licensing manager (but wasn't told
who that was). However, I have never heard back from anyone
since then. I sent a follow up response on June 18, 2008 which
did not elicit any response either so I am trying once more.
I
have since launched the website (at the end of June) and it is live
if you wish to browse through it. Pending word from you I have
kept the use of Star Frontiers material to a minimum using only the
name and a simple black and white copy of the Star Frontiers logo.
The site also displays text stating that WOTC and Hasbro hold the
copyright and trademarks for the Star Frontiers brand.
I look
forward to hearing from you soon, hopefully explicitly granting the
requested permissions. Until I hear otherwise, or in the case of no
further response, I will assume implicit permission has been granted
on all three points effective Monday, August 4, 2008. Again
thank you for your time.
Sincerely,
Tom Stephens
---------- Forwarded
message ----------
From: Tom
Stephens
<thomas.stephens@gmail.com>
Date:
Fri, May 23, 2008 at 7:10 PM
Subject: ATTN: Licencing Director -
Use of Star Frontiers material on web site
To:
corporateinfo@wizards.com
Hi,
I'm
not sure who to direct this to so hopefully this can be directed to
the correct person.
I'm in the process of building a fan
community website based on the old 80's role-playing game Star
Frontiers that you acquired from TSR several years ago. It is
intended to be a sister site to the starfrontiers.com
and starfrontiers.org
site as well as the starfrontiers.us
site. The primary focus of the site will be hosting of on-line
Star Frontiers games. In addition, I'd like to host resources
for development of Star Frontiers and general RPG gaming related
software and other materials (stories, adventures, art, etc).
I'm
not looking to post in complete form any of the original material. it
is all available by permission at starfrontiers.com.
In the interest of getting the proper permission in advance so as to
avoid difficulties later, I'm asking for permission to do the
following:
1) Use images and text excerpts from the original
Star Frontiers material (of which I own at least one copy of almost
everything) on the website to give it the Star Frontiers theme.
2)
Host game fan development of Star Frontiers themed software and
distribute said software. Assuming, of course, that the
software is distributed as freeware or shareware. If the author
of the software wants any other distribution model, they must discuss
the issue with Wizards of the Coast directly. And who knows,
maybe we'll develop something WOTC likes and we can work out some
arrangements between WOTC and the developers to market the
software.
3) Host fan developed art, articles, stories, and other
material based on the Star Frontiers theme. Again, these would
be freely distributed on the web.
Permissions to do items 1 &
3 have recently been granted to the starfrontiers.us
site so I don't see these as being a major issue. Hopefully
item 2 won't be either as Star Frontiers is not a brand currently
marketed by WOTC and you always retain the option of asking us to
stop or working with us to develop the software further into a
marketable product. I believe all of these permissions fall
with the Fair Use rules as long as fans don't use your trademarks and
copyrights for commercial purposes but I just want to make sure
things are okay before the site goes live.
The website will
mostly likely launch as starfrontiers.homelinux.net.
I am trying to get the starfrontiers.net
domain from it's current owner who has had the domain since 2000 but
not done anything with the site. The current, basically empty,
webpage has not been modified since Jan 2002. If I can acquire
that domain the site will be hosted at that address.
Please
contact me so that we can discuss these permissions. Thank you
for your time.
Sincerely,
Tom
Stephens
August 1, 2008 – Two days later I got this response from Pat:
Dear Tom,
I have sent your email to our licensing manager again for assistance.
I’m sorry that you have never been contacted.
Please let me know if you do not get a reply within a business week.
Best regards and apologies.
Pat
I failed to follow up on this one.
September 29, 2008 – I responded to Pat's e-mail
Pat,
I failed to follow up on your
e-mail from the 1st of August, but I've never heard anything from the
Licensing Manager. I think I'll try getting in contact with
them the old fashioned way and send a letter tomorrow. Is there
someone specific I should address it to or just to the Licensing
Manager? Thanks for your help
- Tom
October 10, 2008 - So I was lazy and didn't get it off on the 30th Instead it went out on the 10th. Here is the letter I'm sending. It is basically a rehash of the original two e-mails
ATTN: Licensing Manager
Wizards of the Coast, Inc.
PO Box 707
Renton, WA 98057
Dear Licensing Manager:
I'm in the process of building a fan
community website based on the old 80's role-playing game Star
Frontiers that you acquired from TSR several years ago. It is
intended to be a sister site to the http://starfrontiers.com
and http://starfrontiers.org site as well as the
https://starfrontiers.us site. The primary focus of the
site will be hosting of on-line, play-by-post Star Frontiers games.
In addition, I'd like to host resources for development of Star
Frontiers and general RPG gaming related software and other materials
(stories, adventures, art, etc).
I have attempted several times over the past few months (starting in May) to contact you via e-mail using the corporateinfo@wizards.com address available on the WOTC website. Unfortunately, I have not yet received any response indicating that my e-mails were successfully delivered although Pat had responded saying that they had been forwarded to the appropriate person. I've attached copies of the two previous e-mails with this letter.
I'm not looking to post in
complete form any of the original material. It is all available by
permission at http://starfrontiers.com and
in a remastered format at http://starfrontiersman.com.
While I had hopped to get the proper permissions in advance
so as to avoid difficulties later, I've since launched the site in a
limited manner under the assumption that there wouldn't be any
problems. If you'd like to view the site, it can be found at
http://starfrontiers.homelinux.net. I'm attempting to
get the starfrontiers.net domain but to date have been
unsuccessful. If I do manage to acquire that domain, the site will
move there.
I'm asking for permission to do the
following:
1) Use images and text excerpts from the original Star
Frontiers material (of which I own at least one copy of almost
everything) on the website to give it the Star Frontiers theme.
2)
Host fan developed art, articles, stories, and other material based
on the Star Frontiers theme. Again, these would be freely
distributed on the web.
3) Host fan development of Star Frontiers
themed software and distribute said software. Assuming, of course,
that the software is distributed as freeware or shareware. If the
author of the software wants any other distribution model, they must
discuss the issue with Wizards of the Coast directly. (Who knows,
maybe we'll develop something WOTC likes and we can work out some
arrangements between WOTC and the developers to market the software.)
Permissions to do items 1 & 2
have recently (over a year ago now) been granted to the
https://starfrontiers.us site so I don't see these as being a major
issue. Hopefully item 3 won't be either as Star Frontiers has been
out of print for over two decades and is not a brand currently
marketed by WOTC, Additionally, you always retain the option of
asking us to stop or working with us to develop the software further
into a marketable product. I believe most of these permissions fall
with the Fair Use rules as long as fans don't use your trademarks and
copyrights for commercial purposes but I just want to make sure
things are okay.
Pending word from you I have kept the
use of Star Frontiers material to a minimum using only the name and a
simple black and white copy of the Star Frontiers logo. The site
also displays text stating that WOTC and Hasbro hold the copyright
and trademarks for the Star Frontiers brand.
I look forward
to hearing from you soon, hopefully explicitly granting the requested
permissions. Until then I will continue to operate under the
assumption of implicit permission. We have several on-line games
running on the site, one fully under way and two others just starting
up. I look forward to hearing from you so that we can discuss these
permissions. You can either contact me by mail or via e-mail at
thomas.stephens@gmail.com. Thank you for your time.
Sincerely,
Thomas Stephens
We'll see what happens. Until then, enjoy the site.
January 27, 2009 - Update: Well, I've never heard any response from WotC so I guess we are good to go.