Hi, just wondering the ramifications of animating some of the artwork that we see in the books for personal website use. The examples that I was considering using were the screen designs that are in the companion(sr3) and survival of the fittest.
Should I just have some sort of disclaimer, saying that im using it with no challenge to the original artist(s) work etc?...
The reason i'm wanting to use them is to make a website for my website course im doing and im using the "shadowrun" genre for a basis for the site. I intend to make the screens have flash insertions in them, with moving pictures, just like real screens. (oh yeah, does anyone know how to do that? I don't know how to use flash as of yet).
Any help or constructive critcism welcome.

Thanks
runner139

Define "screen designs"? We'll need to know what exactly you're looking to do before we'll have an idea how copyright will apply.

~J

I believe he is talking about the orders and surrounds designed to look like a computer interface.

As far as my understanding of copyright goes the only safe option is to make something with a similar them but not the same and think of it as a different software manufacturer from the 6th world.

Wether you get in trouble for copying the design shown in the books would depend on how original it was to start with and how narky the owners of the copyright get for your using it.

Edward

Well, I'm thinking of using one of the pieces of art in the books, colouring it in(its black and white) and making it an interface for a website(s)....
I'm just hoping that whether I change it or not enough to make it look similar , but not identical to the original, whats my chances of copyright going to "hunt me out and gut me" going to be. I have no intentions of using the "said" artwork for profit, just for practice mainly for assignment work for my university course. Its mainly beacause i like the genre of Shadowrun interfaces in their book, and i'd like to keep the theme going throughout my uni studies, if possible. Would an email to WizKids be of any use?

http://www.shadowrunrpg.com/legal.shtml has your answers.

Also, don't bother emailing WizKids, as when I did on a similar issue I was told (nicely but unequivocally) that they do not allow alterations of their intellectual property.

~J

This from the same people that brought you the sr4 cover.

Really? 'Cause I don't remember WizKids having anything to do with Shadowrun as a role-playing game beyond owning the intellectual property and licensing it to FanPro.

~J

Runner, this is gonna tickle you pink.

FanPro, WizKids, FASA, et al, can't do a goddamned thing.

Educational purposes trump Copyright and Intelectual Property. So long as you don't like, post it out where everyone can get at it, you're fine.

Excuse me? "Educational purposes" is clearly restricted to handouts for classroom use, so unless Runner is an educational institution (which just covers copying, not alteration) he's SOL.

~J

Kage, this came up in my computers class last semester.

If he's using someone else's © or ™ or IP, but only to prove his skills to his teach, it's cool.

Besides, nobody's going to notice, unless you like, post it out on the wide intarweb.

Ah, well, that would fall under Fair Use (though there's nothing particularly special about it being in an educational setting—I suspect the only reason it's mentioned in the section is because it's a place where tangible economic benefit is gained by applying Fair Use). Either way, though, given that he wants this for his website I'm guessing that distribution will be a teensy bit higher than what's covered there.

~J

Depends. If it's just going to be posted to his school's ethernet for his teacher and peer review, that won't be a killer.

I get the impression that the desired web sit was to show the world at large what runner thinks of SR. you wont get it threw under educational uses unless it is only available to the educational institution or short lived on the net at large (once the assessment is concluded its no longer educational).

Your best bet is to design something similar, you know how similar Mack OS windows and gnome are, or how similar Netscape, IE and maxilla are. Go for that level of difference.

Edward