The CGL situation p3 Options

[Nath]

I was wondering what if freelancers withholding copyright became standard operating procedure for every book...

[Sengir]

I was wondering what if freelancers withholding copyright became standard operating procedure for every book...

If only half of what we've been told about CGL's habits is true, CGL would not manage to publish a single book.

[HappyDaze]

I was wondering what if freelancers withholding copyright became standard operating procedure for every book...

If the freelancers were to all unite and follow through with this solution, then the CGL counter would be to hire 'scab' writers that would be willing to go without such measures and cut out the current crop of freelancers. This may be happening even now to those that are independently holding out on copyrights.

[Shinobi Killfist]

So the two big options seem to be

CGL keeps the license, things eventually return to somewhat normal. Hopefully they get people who are better at writing rules and don't screw up the setting more than they already have.

New Company gets it: Here I guess they could pick up where they left off and all the freelancers holding onto good could pitch it to the new company. But I suspect we'd have a 5e coming up quickly in the production line, which would be fun since I am still waiting on my 4ALE(arriving soon as I understand)

[Lansdren]

This is all still very much up in the air and I think we could be here talking and ranting about points from today until the day we get the official nod on who has the license. This is all very draining to me as a fan much less anyone who has so much more tied into this game.

My best wishes go out to those who are suffering during this time

[knasser]

I'm going to shock a few of you. I agree just about 100% with everything Synner has said.

*Falls off chair*

[nylanfs]

Should't it be about time for a new thread?

[The Monk]

Trollman's last post is like Nero tuning his fiddle.

What drama! I would totally love it if I wasn't so saddened by it.

[Stahlseele]

Nero wasn't responsible for the fire and Nero did not fiddle while Rome was burning.
Nero was responsible for the rebuilding of the city after the fire.

[SecGuard]

*Falls off chair*

Thats not good mate.

[hermit]

Yes. Nero actually is a victm of slander by politically motivated historicans. And fiddles were unknown in Rome, anyway. Fiddle are a development of the late Middle Ages to Renaissance.

[kzt]

Oh, make no mistake, there ARE Unicorns in Shadowrun.
They are just not the nice Unicorns you think you know.
They are Carnivorous, Hunters. Predators.

Like police detectives?

[hermit]

Unicorns are rare and hard to breed. It makes no sense the Star uses them and not a proven biodrone horse.

I'd be fine with a couple vampire elite cops in France or Italy riding Bayards (superfast horses that turn to mist), though.

[Blade]

I was wondering what if freelancers withholding copyright became standard operating procedure for every book...

I'm no lawyer but IIRC copyright applies to a text but not to the ideas... Which means that anyone could rephrase the freelancer's text and get something they could legally publish.
It's more tricky with game mechanics, though.

[Khyron]

So.. no biodrone unicorns with move-by-wire3 and taserhorn?

[kzt]

I'm no lawyer but IIRC copyright applies to a text but not to the ideas... Which means that anyone could rephrase the freelancer's text and get something they could legally publish.
It's more tricky with game mechanics, though.

If you are producing a derivative work that would be bad. Copyright law is a morass that is best avoided - iirc to find out what the law really means on how one given work relates to another given work you need to get a judge to rule on it in an infringement suit, which is highly risky. If you give a new writer the original proposal and asked them to write the piece that might work, if you gave them the submitted piece and asked them to rewrite that would seem more likely to not work. But I didn't even stay at a Holiday Inn last night.

[Stahlseele]

So.. no biodrone unicorns with move-by-wire3 and taserhorn?

Well, there's retractable cyber-horn and a creative combination with the shock hand implant stuff. Or a cyber-implant-taser-gun.
A Unicorn shooting lightning from it's horn.

[Ol' Scratch]

I'd imagine they'd be interested in them more for their anti-magic capabilities than their looks. They're relatively cheap (moreso than Hell Hounds or Barghests, two very common paracritters used by security and law enforcement), too. The only problem is their allergy.

[Stahlseele]

Allergy to lead does not count, everything is allergic to lead if it's administered fast enough.

[Ol' Scratch]

They have a severe allergy to pollutants, not lead. What the hell entry are you reading, man? (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[Stahlseele]

i forgot the smiley, sorry ^^#
And yes, that's probably doubleplusnotgood in seattle or ANYWHERE ^^

[Pepsi Jedi]

Ok here's my question, and it may have come up before but not in the past 20-30 pages that I've read.

"One of the owners embezzled company money on a massive enough scale so that, a NUMBER of writers have not been paid and now books are being held and taken off shelves and offline.

Why isn't he in jail?"

It's not a small sum we're talking about here. It's more than a few 100 bucks 'misplaced'. We're talking about thousands if not tens of thousands of dollars.

Why isn't he in jail?

That amount of money isn't spent on staples and post-it notes. You might mistake a paycheck that's $100 or so over your norm, but not Thousands and thousands of dollars as described. This guy willingly took the money. Where'd it go? And... as it's gone and all these people are not getting paid for their work. He stole from the company and his employees. Why hasn't he been arrested?

People are talking about if the license and stuff are going to be picked up. I'm more curious as to why he hasn't been thrown in jail.

[Demonseed Elite]

Why isn't he in jail?

While I don't know anything specific on the timeline of this situation, generally that takes time. Especially in cases like these, where accountants would have to comb through financial records.

[Ancient History]

And where at least some of the other owners (like Randall Bills) are hoping to sweep the mess under the rug and pray the IRS doesn't notice it.

[Stahlseele]

Because stealing money is only a crime if there's someone who will go to court with it.
If nobody sues you, if everybody just forgives you, then nothing ever happened.