Midian Open Content License Lost Souls Charityware License Public Domain DFCS Trademarks Logos In brief
Midian's Copywrong uses a dual-license structure. That is, you have options, depending on what you want to do. You can use the Midian Open Content License for personal and free use. That is, for non-commercial and share-alike purposes. Or you can the Lost Souls Charityware License for commercial & proprietary uses. In other words, everything is free & shared, unless you give to charity (in order to keep it to yourself or to make a profit). There is also a Public Domain text you can utilise instead. The full Copywrong consists of the dual-licenses, provisions for trademark use, and disclaimers about patents, author's rights, and the Public Domain Dark Fantasy Core Set. The following two paragraphs—regarding the Midian Open Content License and the Lost Souls Charityware License—each constitute the full text of their appropriate licenses.
Midian Open Content License
The Midian Open Content License is the Creative Commons (SA NC 3.0) license with additional provisions for the use of trademarks and as noted below. For most purposes, uses will fall under the Creative Commons license and are automatically Open Content. This is considered the default. Content submitted and posted to the Lost Souls website is assumed to utilise this license unless it is explicitly stated to use the Lost Souls Charityware License along with the accompanying act of charity. A notice should accompany the work, stating "Copywrong", "Utilising the MOCL", or similar. The SA NC 3.0 Commons license covers most of the legal details, and this paragraph is largely explanatory. This allows you to print out your own copies, add or change anything, use pieces of the game somewhere else, or make your own Midian website. Any changes you make are yours. You don't need special permission from Lost Souls Publishing, and don't have to sign any license agreements—it's automatic. The catch is that you can't make any money off of it, and anything you add or change, you have to let other people share under this same license. Recouping expenses only is allowable under this license, or you can give things away for free. Sampling is also allowed. That is, you can take small pieces of the text and remix them for another purpose, but attribution must be given. You are always completely free to use Midian for "public performance", i.e. you don't need special permission from us to play the game, ever. Public performance is allowed without restriction: you can play Midian wherever and whenever you like or even just read the books in front of a crowd. Note that this sharing must be open sharing. That is, you cannot use drm (digital rights management) or other methods in an attempt to circumvent this free sharing unless a non-digitally-managed version is also made available. The goal of this license is not to limit moneymaking endeavours to only ourselves (Lost Souls Publishing is a non-profit group), but to encourage both the free exchange of gaming ideas and being charitable towards one another. Unpublished works created under this license may be retained for personal use without restriction. All commercial works cannot use this license and must follow the Lost Souls Charityware License. A notable exception to this is a commercial organisation that is willing to create free and share-alike content. Please note that the non-commercial nature of this license does not prohibit incidental commercial use, such as an advertising banner on a website containing Midian Open Content, other publishers creating free product as an incentive for other purchases, a gaming venue charging admission or renting table space. The use of this license in no way prohibits one from donating time or other resources to a worthwhile charity, and we encourage everyone to do so. Works derived from Open Content are themselves automatically Open Content. Permission is granted to utilise the Midian Open Content License name and distinctive logos on works published under this license. The Midian Open Content License is Copywrong Lost Souls Publishing.
Lost Souls Charityware License
Commercial uses of the Midian game have an alternative to the Midian Open Content License: the Lost Souls Charityware License. This is a charityware or careware license, and here means donations to a cause are manditory if this licensing option is utilised. Using this license involves two steps: you have to give away either time or money, and you have to contact us with the details. Suggested donations to charity are 5% of net profits or 20 hours of time. Further donations may of course be given. Some communal good must be done to utilise this license, even if it is a small community; for example, a game & hobby store may print out & sell Midian books if they provide free space for gamers to play. The Lost Souls Charityware License grants full copyright and proprietary use as a derivative work. Additions or alterations made using this license are themselves the property of their creator, even as the original Midian text remains Open Content. This means that you are allowed to sell your product and are not required to use any viral form of copyleft license in doing so. You retain full rights for those sections you add or alter. A notice should accompany the work, stating "Copywrong", "Published under the LSCL", or similar. This notice should also include the act of charity. Use of trademarks follows these provisions as noted in the appropriate section of the Copywrong page on the Lost Souls & Midian website. Those found in violation of this license, such as those who fail to contribute to charity or fail to make due effort to inform Lost Souls Publishing, will be in violation of their local &/or national copyright laws and international treaties. Any commercial or proprietary content created will automatically be construed to be the provence of this license. Commercial organisations that wish to create free and share-alike content similar to that released under the Midian Open Content License may do so, and this shall fulfill the donation requirement of this Charityware license. Commercial publications that also include separate Open Content should make such clearly marked. The nature of this license is that the works created using it are under no obligation to be made share-alike, but we suggest such works be released under a separate copyleft in the spirit of openness and shared gaming. Those wishing to use this license for works that are not of a commercial or proprietary nature may do so voluntarily. We encourage everyone to donate their time and resources to a worthy cause. The goal of this license is not to limit moneymaking endeavours to only ourselves (Lost Souls Publishing is a non-profit group), but to encourage both the free exchange of gaming ideas and being charitable towards one another. Permission is granted to utilise the Lost Souls Charityware License name and distinctive logos on works published under this license. The Lost Souls Charityware License is Copywrong Lost Souls Publishing.
This dual-license structure applies to the Midian Codex (the main set of guidelines) and to the Books of the Apocalypse. Other works may have different legal schemes applying. Ceekay's Osterre supplement is under regular copyright, but permission for non-commercial derivative works has been granted by the original author under the Immersive Game World service mark. Contents of the forums are inherently public domain. That's not my rule, sorry. Legally, those are the equivalent of conversations on the street & aren't protected under copyright. Forum & chat conversations that end up as part of your netbooks or other compilations are so protected, however. Specific sections that do not use the Copywrong will be specified in their appropriate books where those sections appear.
For those whom neither of these licenses will apply, we have a third option: the Dark Fantasy Core Set. This is a stripped-down version of the Midian guidelines & is released into the Public Domain. Any distinctive names & trademarks have been removed, as has anything not contributed by a member of the Lost Souls Publishing staff. There are no trademarks or use of someone else's copyrights to worry about with the DFCS. Legally, this is a separate document, and does not fall under either of the above licenses. As the Dark Fantasy Core Set is in the Public Domain, there are no restrictions on its use whatsoever. The DFCS logo is also in the Public Domain, and no trademark is claimed on either the name nor distinctive likeness of the logo. A version more legible when viewing online is found here: DFCS-screen.txt.
Under the Copywrong license scheme you are allowed to use the Midian trademarks: names, logos, and likenesses, as long as it is clear that these are being used in their proper context. Trademarks are not surrendered, but broad freedom is granted to utilise them in the original and correct form as a special addendum to either the Open Content or Charityware licenses. As long as you say somewhere, "This is [for/from/compatible with] the Midian DFRPG by Lost Souls Publishing" or words to that effect, then you're pretty much covered. The reason for this section of the Copywrong is that trademarks are usually treated as a separate set of laws unrelated to copyright in most jurisdictions. Permission is granted to use the Midian DFRPG name and logos, and the names and likenesses of distinct people, items, places, concepts, and game mechanics for use in the following instances:
The Copywrong logo may be used with either the Midian Open Content License or the Lost Souls Charityware License. If only the Copywrong logo is used, the work so tagged will be assumed to be Open Content. Additionally, the Copywrong logo may be used for works utilising the Dark Fantasy Core Set, if such derivative works utilise this Copywrong. The logos for Copywrong, Midian Open Content License, and Lost Souls Charityware License, are all Open Content under Copywrong. The Dark Fantasy Core Set logo has been released to the Public Domain. The CC By SA NC 3.0 and Public Domain (PD) logos are copyright CreativeCommons.org. The Charityware logo is copyright Charityware.org.
The game mechanics of the Midian DFRPG are not patented. Game mechanics and concepts may be used in whole or in part in a derivative work. The names, images, and likenesses are trademarked, and the specific text expression of the game is under copyright, but the concepts and game mechanics themselves are not—and cannot—be legally protected under patent laws. The Dark Fantasy Core Set was created with just the game mechanics & setting brief, and has been placed in the Public Domain. This further removes restrictions on using the game's system. Permission is granted to create parodies, compatible systems and other similar works, and even harshly disparaging works. Such must still adhere to either Fair Use / Fair Dealing guidelines or with the above listed provisions for copyright and trademark. Droit d'auteur or moral rights are not in any other way affected by this Copywrong. As such, you are always to be credited with your work.
You have the freedom to use, study, copy, sample, redistribute, and improve upon anything covered under the Copywrong. These freedoms apply regardless of whether you use the Charityware or Open Content licenses.
Kinslayer's editorial note: Please note that this is not the original Midian Copywrong, but any works created under that scheme are not retroactively altered. I personally rather liked the previous arrangement, but got tired of people who couldn't grasp the idea of a very flexible copyright license that offered a great deal of freedom, but was also quite simple. It had two entire sentences. No, it won't be repeated here. Thus, we're re-releasing Midian (with updates, corrections, & additions) under this new license scheme. If you were working on something for use under the original Copywrong, and this new setup isn't going to work for some reason, just let us know. We'll work out a special deal for you where you can use the original. At no time will any licensing scheme be retroactive and affect works already released under a previous option (I find this distasteful, appalling, and inexcusable barring an accident involving time travel). If you have a prior copy of the Midian DFRPG it is still under the original Copywrong.
You can:
Very short version: if you want to make money or don't want to share, use the Charityware license; everyone else can use the Open Content license.
In essence, we're mandating that everyone share. Either you share your ideas, or you share what you earn off of our game. We're not making any money off of this, we just want to share it with everyone.