Legal

Rules

• Scans are allowed with a maximum quality of 72 dpi.

Motivation

• Have scans of cards on the wiki to make visually appealing pages.

Legal request to Fantasy Flight

User:Psymia sent the following questions to the legal via the official link for legal questions at FFG.

Question 1:

Hello Fantasy Flight

I wrote this question already in your forum:
https://community.fantasyflightgames.com/topic/201823-ffg-legal-question-regarding-use-of-artwork/
In this thread someone suggested to write this question to this address.

Could someone (FFG?) clarify how we are allowed to use artwork from descent on fansites and/or wikipedia?
I'm editing pages on the wikia descent2e page [1].
I would like to make visually appealing templates to describe the various cards.

What i found so far is [2] which states that:
Quote
   You are not allowed to show scans of more than 72 dpi (FFG legal)
Does this mean it's ok to show whatever artwork by FFG as long as the scans are not above 72 dpi?

What about the graphics found in the news sections e.g. [3]
There are quite high quality images of the cards like [4]. Are we allowed to use these images on other sides?
If yes, under what kind of license? I should/need to specify a license when uploading something to a wiki.

I see there are in the delete-log [5] of the wiki a lot of entries which remove files with the remark "Copyright violation".
These images appear to have been scans of whole cards. There is/was a discussion on the descent2e wiki (i can't find it anymore),
which states that it is ok to use cropped images but not a scan of a whole card. Is this an official statement by FFG?
If yes, could i please get a source on this?

TL;DR:
What are the rules on using artwork by FFG.

Best regards
Matthias

[1]: http://descent2e.wikia.com/
[2]: http://www.descentinthedark.com/2nd/
[3]: https://www.fantasyflightgames.com/en/news/2014/5/20/forge-your-path/
[4]: https://images-cdn.fantasyflightgames.com/ffg_content/descent-second-ed/guest-articles/cards/solidarity.png
[5]: http://descent2e.wikia.com/wiki/Special:Log/delete

Response 1:

Dear Psymia,

We have not released an official statement or broad stance on copyright or trademark fair use or permissible use issues.
Uses are evaluated on a case by case basis, and any direction/permission given is for the individual requester only,
because there are so many varying factors for each case.
If you would like to ask a specific question about a specific anticipated use by yourself, I would be more than happy to assist. 

Question 2:

Hi Jacinda

Thank you for answering me.

Well then, the specific question i'm asking are:
1:
Can i take the various cards which are available on the fantasy flight page
(e.g. https://images-cdn.fantasyflightgames.com/ffg_content/descent-second-ed/guest-articles/cards/solidarity.png),
remove the text from them, and use them as a template on the descent2e wiki (e.g http://descent2e.wikia.com/wiki/Pit_Trap)?

2:
Is FFG willing to provide such a template which is of higher quality than me murking about with photoshop?

3:
On http://www.descentinthedark.com/2nd/ the person which runs this page writes:
You are not allowed to show scans of more than 72 dpi (FFG legal)
--> Am i allowed to upload scans of cards (not higher than 72 dpi) to the descent2e wiki?

4:
If yes to 3, under which license?
I need to specify a license when uploading something to a wiki.
Examples of what mediawiki provides regarding copyright attribution can be found here: https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Project:File_copyright_tags
Obviously i would have to create a new copyright tag for FFG.
Do you already have a copyright logo?

Thank you for your time.

Best regards
Matthias May 

Response 2:

1: We’d prefer that you made your own templates. 

2: We do not provide assets for such use.

3: Please note that Asmodee North America reserves the right to change any decision granting or prohibiting intellectual property use at any time. 

4: If we have provided the webmaster with specific direction regarding scans on his/her website, please follow his/her instruction.

Question 3:

Following this, User:Psymia contacted the Webmaster of descentinthedark.com

Heya
I'm in the process of updating the descent2e wiki on wiki (http://descent2e.wikia.com).
One open point of discussion was is it allowed to upload scans of the cards to the wiki.
I wrote to the legal department of FFG but didn't really get a yes or no.
I pointed them to the post you made here:
http://www.descentinthedark.com/2nd/looking-for-descent-fan-...
where you implicitly say that you are allowed to show scans of the cards but not above 72 dpi.

Did you ask FFG what you are allowed to show?

My contact at FFG is Jacinda Lohman (JLohman@AsmodeeNA.com) and she told me:
[quote]
If we have provided the webmaster with specific direction regarding scans on his/her website, please follow his/her instruction.
[/quote]

Could you tell me what information FFG provided to you?

Thank you for your time.

Best regards
Matthias May 

Response 3:

Hi Matthias,

It's been a long time, but I was contacted by the legal advisor of FFG back when the 2nd edition came out
and I started putting up scans of the conversion kit. I never contacted them myself.
They were afraid people would just download the scans, print them and not buy the conversion kit.
The name you mention is the person who contacted me back then.

I cannot find the email, but it was saying you :
- couldn't make any money off FFG products (Google Adwords or even a Donate button);
- needed a link to the official product page like I do to clearly say Descent belongs to FFG;
- couldn't upload good quality scans that could replace the original ones, so the limit was put to 72 dpi.
- couldn't give the scans if someone requested them (like "Hey, give me a huge ZIP file with all the scans),
probably to make it harder for people to make fake cards.

I had offered them to put grayscale versions of the scans but they didn't deemed it necessary.

I hope that answers your questions. My site will probably close in April as I haven't found someone worthy of taking over.

JS 

Sources

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