Is it legal for me to grant my pdfs to my descendants via a will or trust?
Do you mean pdfs that exist on your computer? If that's the case . . . why don't you just make a copy? ("Joela1.pdf" and "Joela2 for my son.pdf")
Or are you talking about the stuff that Paizo (and others) keep in your "account" for you to download any time?
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Is it legal for me to grant my pdfs to my descendants via a will or trust?Do you mean pdfs that exist on your computer? If that's the case . . . why don't you just make a copy? ("Joela1.pdf" and "Joela2 for my son.pdf")
Or are you talking about the stuff that Paizo (and others) keep in your "account" for you to download any time?
The former. But the latter's a good point, too. I assume I cannot grant my descendants access to those on the server.
Okay, so here's the usual disclaimer: I am not a lawyer. Do not base legal decisions on anything I write. Estate laws vary by state. The long response is an attempt to explain my thinking, and perhaps allow you to clarify an assumption I got wrong.
That said, wills are used to disperse your assets to your heirs. Upon your death, all assets are placed into an estate. First claim upon that estate are your creditors. All your debts get paid before your heirs get any money. After that, whatever is left is distributed.
Now, in my mind pdfs are worthless assets, like family photos. Yes, they're nice, but only to you. And pdfs can be recreated with a click-and-drag. You could leave them to someone, but how would you know that the executor of your estate didn't make a copy for himself?
Plus, pdfs are not tangible things. Leaving your gaming buddy your pdfs that exist on your computer that you left to your brother makes the exchange kinda hard. "I leave my cousin my computer game collection" is a lot different from "I leave Joe all the Adventure Path pdfs on my computer."
A much better option would be to create an external storage area and leave that entire device to the heir you wish. My wife gets the computer, because it's her computer, too, but my buddy Josh gets the red external hard drive labeled "Game Stuff."
As for trusts, those exist really to keep financial stuff held "in trust" for someone. I've never heard of someone placing their game collection "in trust" until his son reaches 19 years of age, for instance. Trusts aren't generally a good idea unless there's significant assets being disbursed. Giving $1 million to a 15 year old isn't a good idea, so I'd direct that money into a trust until the kid is something like 30. But, I'm not going to do that for my wife, because that money won't ruin her future like it would a teenager.
So, in closing a long winded explanation, it seems like you could, but it would be more trouble than it's worth.
Because I'm really curious, are you willing to give details? This is probably one of the weirdest questions I've ever seen posted. No worries if not; it's none of my business.
Cheers!
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Plus, pdfs are not tangible things. Leaving your gaming buddy your pdfs that exist on your computer that you left to your brother makes the exchange kinda hard. "I leave my cousin my computer game collection" is a lot different from "I leave Joe all the Adventure Path pdfs on my computer."
:) This is not legal advice. I am not a lawyer. But leaving a pdf should be easy peasy. And it will also depends on where you live.
Last Will
1. This is the last Will of me, Jimmy Smith, of 75 Nelson Street, Nanaimo, British Columbia.
Revocation of prior wills
2. I revoke all my prior wills and codicils.
Executor and Trustee
3. I appoint my spouse, Jane Dough (“Jane”) to be my Trustee. If Jane is unwilling or unable to act or
to continue to act as my Trustee, I appoint Jimbo Sampson (“Jimbo”) to be my Trustee. If neither Jane
nor Jimbo is willing or able to act or continue to act as my Trustee, I appoint Sally Steves to be my
Trustee
4. I direct my Trustee to hold that property on the following trusts:
Debts to Be Paid from My Estate
5. (a) to pay out of my estate:
(i) my debts, including income taxes payable up to and including the date of my
death;
(ii) my funeral and other expenses related to this Will and my death; and
(iii) all estate, gift, inheritance, succession, and other death taxes or duties payable in
respect of all property passing upon my death;
My PDFs
6. to deliver my Paizo Adventure Path PDFs to my son, Jimmy Jr., if he survives me for 30 days;
Residue of the Estate
7. to divide the residue of my estate into as many equal shares as I have children who are alive at my death. If any of my children has died before me and one or more of his or her
children are alive at my death, that deceased child will be considered alive for the purposes
of the division. The share created for a deceased child will be divided into as many equal
portions as there are of those children of that deceased child,
Execution
8. I have signed this Will on [month, day, year].
Signature
Attestation:
We were both present, at the
request of Jimmy Smith, when
he signed this Will. We
then signed as witnesses in
his presence and in the
presence of each other.
Witness name
Signature
Witness name
signature
See, in my state that isn't a valid will.
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Up here in British Columbia, there are only a couple of formalities to be observed and you are good to go. Has to be in writing with a signature and two witnesses in the right order. And capacity of course.
Anything you own can be devised by will. Anything you own or have a legal right to can be put in a trust.
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A much better option would be to create an external storage area and leave that entire device to the heir you wish. My wife gets the computer, because it's her computer, too, but my buddy Josh gets the red external hard drive labeled "Game Stuff."
Understood. But I'm allowed, for example, multiple pdf copies of my purchases from drivethrurpg. (I think 5 each). What happens to those copies? (I assume my Paizo accounts are off limits to my heirs.)
Understood. But I'm allowed, for example, multiple pdf copies of my purchases from drivethrurpg. (I think 5 each). What happens to those copies? (I assume my Paizo accounts are off limits to my heirs.)
You can do with them what you wish. They are your "property." Although the spirit (I believe) was to allow you to have an online back-up in case something happened to your hard drive, I can't see where drivethrurpg.com would care who you leave the copies to.
Now, if you left a copy to each person in the State of California, I suspect that someone would have a problem with that, since that quite clearly is out of the (implied) license agreement.
As for the account, I'd agree. I seem to remember something in the past about a yahoo email account where the husband died, and yahoo didn't allow the wife access to the account. Similar case law would likely apply.
Your best bet is to contact an attorney in the state/province/whatever you live in and ask them.
Quite a few are willing to help, especially if you go to them to have the will crafted.
Always have an attorney craft the will for you. No matter how well you think you wrote it or how good the form is that you found, the courts of the land are -filled- and I do mean -filled- with failed wills from deceased folk who thought they could do it better. They can't.
I know they sound expensive, but its usually worth the expense. Especially given what the cost becomes if you do the will incorrectly.
-S
Always have an attorney craft the will for you. No matter how well you think you wrote it or how good the form is that you found, the courts of the land are -filled- and I do mean -filled- with failed wills from deceased folk who thought they could do it better. They can't.
Yes.
Although there are a couple on-line places that have state-specific legal documents, including wills, that the do-it-yourselfer can use. As long as things aren't complicated, $30 is fine. But once you have a real estate and real assets, spend a couple hundred and get it done right.
Far too many people think "Well I wrote this out on a napkin and had a witness, so I'm good." Not in this life. Better safe than sorry.
Chief Technical Officer
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You can do with them what you wish. They are your "property."
Understood. But I'm allowed, for example, multiple pdf copies of my purchases from drivethrurpg. (I think 5 each). What happens to those copies? (I assume my Paizo accounts are off limits to my heirs.)
I'm also no lawyer, but I can tell you that it's not as simple as "They are your property." Most PDFs contain copyrighted material, and the owner of the copyright maintains the exclusive right to copy that material (with a handful of exceptions, largely for "Fair Use").
It's pretty clear that if you have purchased a CD of copyrighted music, you can leave that CD to one of your heirs, but you cannot legally make a copy of that CD for each of your heirs. You own the original copy, but not the copyright.
When it comes to PDFs, where there's not really a definitive original copy you've purchased, it's a bit less clear, but still, the fact that it's easier to copy a PDF than a CD doesn't make it any more legal to do so....
...unless the courts would rule that a PDF is a "computer program,"* in which case it would be subject to the provisions of Section 117, which allows for archival copies to be made by the user... but which also specifies that any such copies may be transferred only with the authorization of the copyright owner.
But again... not a lawyer.
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It's pretty clear that if you have purchased a CD of copyrighted music, you can leave that CD to one of your heirs, but you cannot legally make a copy of that CD for each of your heirs. You own the original copy, but not the copyright.
Understood, Vic. But, going back to the drivethrurpg example, I could leave instructions for my estate executor to download the five pdfs onto separate thumb drives and give one each to my heirs.
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Chief Technical Officer
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It's pretty clear that if you have purchased a CD of copyrighted music, you can leave that CD to one of your heirs, but you cannot legally make a copy of that CD for each of your heirs. You own the original copy, but not the copyright.
For more on that, I refer you to Section 109, which explicitly addresses this in paragraph (1):
"...the owner of a particular copy or phonorecord lawfully made under this title, or any person authorized by such owner, is entitled, without the authority of the copyright owner, to sell or otherwise dispose of the possession of that copy or phonorecord."
Note that that section talks specifically about copies and phonorecords, but specifically does not address computer programs. (Copies are defined as material objects, and are distinguished from computer programs.)
....and towards the end of that section, you get paragraph (4): "Any person who distributes a phonorecord or a copy of a computer program (including any tape, disk, or other medium embodying such program) in violation of paragraph (1) is an infringer of copyright under section 501 of this title and is subject to the remedies set forth in sections 502, 503, 504, and 505,. Such violation shall not be a criminal offense under section 506 or cause such person to be subject to the criminal penalties set forth in section 2319 of title 18."
So I'd say that if "computer programs" were included in paragraph (1), you could give the "original" copy away, but the fact that "computer programs" are left out of (1) suggests that (4) is the applicable section, and thus it's an infringement of copyright.
But I'm still not a lawyer.
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Chief Technical Officer
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Understood, Vic. But, going back to the drivethrurpg example, I could leave instructions for my estate executor to download the five pdfs onto separate thumb drives and give one each to my heirs.
It's pretty clear that if you have purchased a CD of copyrighted music, you can leave that CD to one of your heirs, but you cannot legally make a copy of that CD for each of your heirs. You own the original copy, but not the copyright.
I can't speak for Drivethru, but here at paizo.com, we allow you *infinite* downloads. That doesn't mean you can distribute infinite copies.
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I can't speak for Drivethru, but we allow you *infinite* downloads. That doesn't mean you can distribute infinite copies.
Of course not. What I'll probably do with my Paizo account is have the executor verify there's a copy of my Paizo pdfs for one, then close my account. The designated heir then gets the pdfs, most likely on thumb drive.
I'm also no lawyer, but I can tell you that it's not as simple as "They are your property." Most PDFs contain copyrighted material, and the owner of the copyright maintains the exclusive right to copy that material (with a handful of exceptions, largely for "Fair Use").
It's pretty clear that if you have purchased a CD of copyrighted music, you can leave that CD to one of your heirs, but you cannot legally make a copy of that CD for each of your heirs. You own the original copy, but not the copyright.
So the answer, Joela, is "Talk to a real lawyer."
There's lots of undefined areas that our legal system hasn't quite grappled with yet. (For example, what about a Kindle? One could pass it on to an heir, but what about the books stored on it?)
Thanks for adding the info, Vic!
EDIT: Keep in mind that estate lawyers are not necessarily familiar with copyright laws. They may have to take some time to talk with an appropriate resource.
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Chief Technical Officer
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if "computer programs" were included in paragraph (1), you could give the "original" copy away, but the fact that "computer programs" are left out of (1) suggests that (4) is the applicable sectionOr more likely it suggest that, as usual, laws and particularly those dealing with copyrights and/or technology (and particularly both) are woefully behind the times and the state of the technology.
Hopefully, by the time this comes up for joela, there will be a whole bunch of legal precedents (probably driven by iTunes Music Store purchases). And that we're also talking far enough in the future that his heirs wouldn't even know what a "thumb drive" or a "PDF" is, and he's instead wondering how to get his Pathfinder MegaBook Crystal to interface with their LiquidHoloComp Viewer.
Or from his iBrainPlug.
Or from his iBrainPlug.
I think this is the first time I'm happy WOTC removed all their prior edition stuff.
"Yes, your license ran out, so we're going to remove that file from your memory."
"But, I'm using my brain!"
"We understand, sir, but we've decided that with the increase in pirated body parts, we cannot take the risk that our intellectual property be passed to another user. Prepare for your lobotomy."
I jest, but only a little.
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Hopefully, by the time this comes up for joela, there will be a whole bunch of legal precedents (probably driven by iTunes Music Store purchases). And that we're also talking far enough in the future that his heirs wouldn't even know what a "thumb drive" or a "PDF" is, and he's instead wondering how to get his Pathfinder MegaBook Crystal to interface with their LiquidHoloComp Viewer.
+1.
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Hopefully, by the time this comes up for joela, there will be a whole bunch of legal precedents (probably driven by iTunes Music Store purchases). And that we're also talking far enough in the future that his heirs wouldn't even know what a "thumb drive" or a "PDF" is, and he's instead wondering how to get his Pathfinder MegaBook Crystal to interface with their LiquidHoloComp Viewer.
Epic post Vic ! +1