Is it legal for a university sponsored club to own one copy of a pdf or book?

[Bofdm]

Our local gaming club is considering purchasing both the physical and pdf copy of Pathfinder RPG to be available for our members to check out and use periodically. So before we do this we weren't sure if it was legal to own a single copy of the pdf for example and have that be open to all members of the club or not.

Thoughts?

-concerned fan

[Devlin "Dusk" Valerian]

Bofdm wrote:

Our local gaming club is considering purchasing both the physical and pdf copy of Pathfinder RPG to be available for our members to check out and use periodically. So before we do this we weren't sure if it was legal to own a single copy of the pdf for example and have that be open to all members of the club or not.

Thoughts?

-concerned fan

I don't think that this would spell a problem with Paizo, as long as no duplicates are sold or placed for download (anywhere). (See other posts on this site regarding the distribution of copied pdf print outs to players of ones group).

To be on the safe side (in order to prevent misuse) I would not allow a printed pdf to be taken home, at least not as a whole). It might be debatable if one should give away segments (all pages regarding one or two specific classes...in order to make a character at home)....

But to be on the sure side.... only take official statements of the owner (Paizo) for granted.

But........A PDF costs only 10 bucks...........

Be a nice Gaming Club, and have your members buy those PDf individually .....That way the club (as an entity) will not be made reliable for any misuse AND you will help your favorite publisher.

10$ ain't that expensive!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (2 visits less at McD or other fast Food temples)

[Sharoth]

Bofdm wrote:

Our local gaming club is considering purchasing both the physical and pdf copy of Pathfinder RPG to be available for our members to check out and use periodically. So before we do this we weren't sure if it was legal to own a single copy of the pdf for example and have that be open to all members of the club or not.

Thoughts?

-concerned fan

My suggestion is to advise everyone to spend the $10 to get the PDF of the PF RPG. Yes, it is money that they will have to spend, but it is well worth the price.

[CourtFool]

I do not see a problem with the hard copy being loaned out. I would stay clear of the PDF altogether. As others have pointed out, let club members purchase their own copy of the PDF if they want.

[Carnivorous_Bean]

Well, the book is legally your property other than for copying and distribution, so there's not much to worry about there. I can loan out my Audubon Field Guides to anyone I please, as long as I don't start printing 'em up and selling them, and the same goes for a Pathfinder book. Otherwise, you'd be hearing about police raids on libraries and used book stores all the time. ;)

The PDF, I'm guessing would be something to steer clear of. I'm not an expert on the subject, but electronic stuff seems to be a lot touchier than physical stuff in the loan department.

[Vic Wertz]

We'd prefer you don't share our PDFs, especially watermarked PDFs that we're selling.

And frankly, even when it comes to free PDFs, we'd prefer you provide interested parties with a link to the PDF on our site so they can come get their own copy from us directly.

[DM_aka_Dudemeister]

Vic Wertz wrote:

We'd prefer you don't share our PDFs, especially watermarked PDFs that we're selling.

And frankly, even when it comes to free PDFs, we'd prefer you provide interested parties with a link to the PDF on our site so they can come get their own copy from us directly.

That seems curious, is there any specific reason for the preference regarding free stuff?

[Paul Ryan]

I asked about that. It lets them keep track of the interest in the products, and allows customer notification when there are updates.

[StanC]

Paul Ryan wrote:

I asked about that. It lets them keep track of the interest in the products, and allows customer notification when there are updates.

My guess would be to gage the interest in such a product. They probably judge the interest in it by the number of times that it is downloaded.

[Carnivorous_Bean]

PDFs and other electronic files are still quite a bit clumsier than books, IMO. You've got to have a computer to look at them, with electricity, which limits the spots you can use them right away.

Even more than that, once you get them, they're pretty much tied to you forever. You can't lend them out, you can't resell them if you decide you don't want them any more, you can't give them directly as gifts, and you can't buy a legitimate copy of them once they're out of print. And, they're still a lot harder to read, despite a lot of improved utilities.

Don't get me wrong, I'm a huge fan of computers and the Internet. It's just that I'm also a fan of physical books, and can see that there's a need for them that will never be supplanted totally by the electronic format. IMO, of course.

[Stebehil]

Carnivorous_Bean wrote:

Don't get me wrong, I'm a huge fan of computers and the Internet. It's just that I'm also a fan of physical books, and can see that there's a need for them that will never be supplanted totally by the electronic format. IMO, of course.

My view exactly. I´m not going to carry the PC outside on a sunny day. I don´t own a laptop, and reading anything on the screen is hard anyway if you are sitting in the sun. Furthermore, reading on any kind of screen is more tiring that reading a book.

Stefan

[gigglestick]

I like both. the Physical books are good for heavy use days, but the PDFs are good when you nee to refer to something obscure quickly.

(Like if you're playing part4 of an adventure path and want to quickly look up something from adventure 1...)

So, I get both when possible.

I love how Paizo is including free PDFs with some of the Subscriptions to books...

[Cpt_kirstov]

Stebehil wrote:

Carnivorous_Bean wrote:

Don't get me wrong, I'm a huge fan of computers and the Internet. It's just that I'm also a fan of physical books, and can see that there's a need for them that will never be supplanted totally by the electronic format. IMO, of course.

My view exactly. I´m not going to carry the PC outside on a sunny day. I don´t own a laptop, and reading anything on the screen is hard anyway if you are sitting in the sun. Furthermore, reading on any kind of screen is more tiring that reading a book.

Stefan

The first 6 times I played second edition, all were at Boy Scout summer camp which is a week long, and there is no power at the camp site. we would have drained a laptop battery at least 2 times per session and we did 5-7 sessions that week. with the books we could just keep playing on