I. Some Vocabulary

COPYRIGHT: Copyrights are the way that authors protect their creative efforts from being duplicated by others without permission. A copyright is indicated by the © mark. They can be bought, sold, rented, or abandoned. All Steve Jackson Games releases are protected by the copyright laws of the United States and some foreign countries.

TRADEMARK: Trademarks are names or symbols that identify a particular product or maker. They are designed in part to protect consumers from imitations. Most unique game-related terms (and all game names) used by Steve Jackson Games are trademarked (and some are registered trademarks). Trademarks are indicated by the ™ symbol. The name Steve Jackson Games, for example, is a trademark. When we use it to identify one of our products, it means not only that the game was produced by us, but that it is of the quality that you have come to expect from Steve Jackson Games . . . whatever that is. It is polite to place all trademarks in bold or italic type.

REGISTERED TRADEMARK: These are special cases: trademarks which have been specifically registered with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. They are always accompanied by the ® symbol. Several of Steve Jackson Games' marks are registered, including the Eye in the Pyramid logo. (Incidentally, the fact that a similar symbol appears on U.S. currency has nothing to do with our exclusive right to use it on games . . . ) Registered trademarks are protected by a special set of laws, here in the U.S. as well as many foreign countries. Among other things, these laws allow a trademark holder to lose his exclusive rights if he fails to protect them.

PATENT: Patents are for novel and unobvious inventions and are designed to protect the inventor and reward him for his work by preventing other people from using the invention without permission. Patents are unusual in the game hobby. No Steve Jackson Games products are protected by patents at this time.

TRADE SECRET: A Trade Secret is any information which a company has which gives it a competitive advantage over its rivals. Some examples could be lists of suppliers, information about customers, or a special manufacturing process. Steve Jackson Games may or may not own any Trade Secrets; we're not telling.

TRADE DRESS: The overall appearance of a product or product line. It can be very general (e.g., a court has ruled that the color pink, by itself, is protected trade dress for a manufacturer of insulation) or very specific. For example, the current trade dress of the GURPS line includes the GURPS logo at the top, and the SJ Games logo at the bottom, of a "frame" which holds the cover art.

LOGO: Short for "logotype," a word which nobody uses any more. A logo is a company or product name (which may itself be a trademark) in a distinctive typeface. A symbol may also be a logo. Steve Jackson Games' pyramid mark is a registered trademark and a company logo, and the words "Steve Jackson Games" in Microstyle Extended or a clone font, with the first two words bold, are its "text logo."

Intellectual Property: Intellectual Property is the "catch-all" term for certain types of non-tangible property, including (but not limited to) Trademarks, Copyrights, Patents, Trade Secrets, Trade Dress and Logos. For more information, see Brad Templeton's 10 Big Myths of Copyright Explained.

II. Some General Principles

Steve Jackson Games will allow fans and others to use its trademarks and game logos, if and only if certain conditions are met:

• They must be used in connection with discussions of the products they represent;
• They must be used in a manner that will enhance (that is, not damage) the reputation of the mark;
• They must be properly designated as trademarks or registered trademarks (™ or ® respectively) of Steve Jackson Games.
• Finally, the first use of a product logo on any page (and, preferably, all uses) must link back to our official page for that product, and any use of our company logo must link back to our home page.

Copyrighted text (like game rules and vignette text) may not be used without special permission of Steve Jackson Games. To get this permission, write to the Director of Licensing. You may use a reasonable amount of our art (no more than 10 pieces) on your web pages, convention program books, and similar "fan" applications, provided that the art is used in connection with the game that it is drawn from, and its use is appropriate, credits the artist, is legal, and otherwise complies with this policy. Again, please link back to our site.

In general, if you use any of our intellectual property online, you must mark it appropriately, and link back to either our home page or the web page of the game that the material is drawn from.

It is not necessary to mark each use of a trademark with the ®, or ™ symbol. If you're planning on using a trademark more than once, simply mark the first occurrence and put the appropriate line in your credits box. However, we do ask that you emphasize each trademark with bold, italic or colored type every time you use it . . . you should do this with any trademark, not just ours!

This permission does NOT extend to copying our trade dress. In general, if you make your material look like a SJ Games product, it's over the line. In particular, copying the "frame" appearance of a GURPS book cover is not allowed! Nobody who sees your page, downloads your PDFs, etc., should ever be confused into thinking that it is an official SJ Games release.

This policy, the permissions it gives, and any similar permissions given under other circumstances, are subject to change or withdrawal at any time without notice.

III. Fair Use

There is a principle of law called "fair use." It protects the press by expressly allowing writers to use a short amount of copyrighted material or a trademark in the course of review or commentary about the product. The copyright or trademark holder may not block this use, as long as the use is otherwise legal (that is, not libelous, for example).

IV. Notices and Disclaimers

Many people think that they can "borrow" any material they want, if they post some kind of a "disclaimer" saying, for instance, "No challenge to the rights of so-and-so is intended." However, that has no legal effect. Try publishing your own Star Wars novel, with a note in the front that you really love George Lucas' universe and no challenge to his rights is intended, and see how far you get.

Nevertheless, notices and disclaimers do have a purpose, and you should include appropriate ones in your site.

Disclaimers

The purpose of a disclaimer is to notify readers that your work is not "official" or produced under license (unless it is). An appropriate disclaimer for a fan page is:

"The material presented here is my original creation, intended for use with the GURPS system from Steve Jackson Games. This material is not official and is not endorsed by Steve Jackson Games."

(Of course, you would change out the GURPS name to whatever was appropriate.) Note also that both the game name and "Steve Jackson Games" contain embedded links to our site. Please include this feature in your disclaimer!

Notices

The purpose of a notice is to tell your readers who the trademarks, copyrights, etc., belong to. An appropriate notice for a fan site is:

"GURPS is a registered trademark of Steve Jackson Games, and the art here is copyrighted by Steve Jackson Games. All rights are reserved by SJ Games. This material is used here in accordance with the SJ Games online policy."

Note again that the game name contains a link to our site, and the mention of the online policy links to this page . . . so your readers can easily see the policy for themselves. Please include these links in your disclaimer!

V. So, does that mean that I can . . .

Put some of your art on my home page or other web page?

Yes, as long as its use complies with the terms of this policy (that is, links back to us, is used tastefully, and so on).

Use the logos and art on the website for my retail store or distribution company?

Yes, as long as you are a bona fide retailer or distributor and you are actually selling the products in question.

Reprint some of your products that are out of print (like Awful Green Things from Outer Space)?

NO. Absolutely not. These games might be out of print, but they still belong to us, and we have to protect our rights and the rights of the creators. And it's quite likely that they might come back into print some day, in some form. (In fact, this was a trick question, because Awful Green Things *is* coming back soon as this is written!

If you find one of our games online, in any format (PDF, HTML, text, or anything else), please notify our online enforcement team and we'll deal with it. We have never had to actually sue anybody to protect our rights online . . . dozens of people have infringed us, most have stopped when notified, and a small remainder (mostly people who didn't post contact info) have had their free web pages taken down by the provider. A lawsuit would be the last resort, but yes, we'd do it if we had to. Hopefully, we'll never have to.

Post (or make available for download) forms, charts, tables and text from one of your games?

No; that is a violation of copyright. We understand that it is convenient to gamers if some forms and charts are online, and we have already posted many of them ourselves. You should look at our page for the game you are interested in, to see if perhaps we have already posted the material you want. But we can't give permission to put more and more of each game on the web . . . eventually the whole text would be online, for free, and we couldn't sell any books . . .

Create a fan page about your games?

Yes. We love it! Just follow the policies outlined here.

Write my own adventure, scenario or fiction?

Maybe. It has to do with whether or not the adventure is an extension to the game line, or a restatement of the copyrighted rules. If you've got GURPS character stats and an original plotline, and you're not selling it, you're fine. Otherwise, ask us.

Post GURPS rules for a book, movie or TV show?

Be careful here. Even if what you do is completely within these guidelines and does not infringe Steve Jackson Games, you're probably infringing the copyright of the creator of the book/movie/TV show. They have the right to decide what use gets made of their intellectual property, too. The better known the property, the more likely you are to get a letter from a lawyer. But even with something obscure, courtesy dictates that you get the permission of the creator first. Then, if you have any doubts about your use of OUR material, ask us.

Create my own MUD, MUSH or computer game based on a SJ Games property?

In general, no. These conflict with our licensing program. If you are a professional game developer and want to talk about licenses, write to the Director of Licensing.

The exception to this rule has to do with the In Nomine background. You can get permission to run a M*, IRC channel, or other Online Roleplaying Community (ORC) for In Nomine. The details are right here.

Run a game of GURPS, Toon or In Nomine on an online chat system, with a Game Master?

Yes; as we see it now, that's really no different from running a game for your friends in your living room. However, you can't put character-creation or other game-aid tools online without separate permission; see below. Anything more than chat is a problem, because at that point it's not just like a game in your living room; it's more like a "computer game."

Create a character generator or other game aid?

Yes, if you have a specific game aid license or (within the limits of the ORC license) an official In Nomine ORC. These are easy to get. Learn more about them by clicking here. See the ones that we have already licensed and approved here.

Put a logo or art on a t-shirt or hat?

Nope. This, too, conflicts with our licensing program. AADA chapters are a special case, in that they have permission to use the AADA logo. We have been known to give permission to game conventions and gaming clubs to use our logos on limited runs of certain items (t-shirts, hats, folders, etc.). If you're interested in this program, contact the Marketing Director. Everybody else should wait for our licensees to do the products they're looking for. If you have a suggestion for a product, or if you would like to become a Steve Jackson Games licensee, contact the Director of Licensing.

Use some of your art as wallpaper or icons on my desktop?

Sure. Just don't distribute it without permission. If you feel that you've come up with a great set of wallpaper and icons (like a complete Windows Desktop Theme), send it to us. Some of us around the office would like those, and other fans might like to use them.

VI. The Most Common Misconception

You may have noticed that none of these provisions discuss money. That is at the heart of the biggest misconception about licensing. Many people believe that if no money changes hands it's legal to violate others' intellectual property rights. This is, at best, wrong. At worst, it's a crime.

Copyrights, trademarks, and patents are not about money. They are about the creators' right to control their creations. Federal law give us not only the right, but also the obligation, to prevent people from misusing our intellectual property, whether or not we're being paid. Don't violate our rights and we can all stay friends.

VII. A Nice Thing to Do

If you have a Steve Jackson Games related page, please register it here. We'll check it out; if we think that your original content is especially interesting, we may add links from the appropriate pages on our site. We can't link to EVERY site that mentions our games, but we do try to showcase some of the best ones!

VIII. The Final Words

Use your head. If you don't think we'd allow it, we probably won't. When in doubt, ask.