Question on Fair Use Policy and 3rd Party Publishers


Website Feedback


This is mostly a hypothetical question, but it occurred to me today that I wasn't sure how this would be handled.

If a 3rd Party Publisher put together a PDF adventure module and gave it away for free through the Paizo store, would they be able to use the Golarion campaign setting IP (names and places within the Inner Sea, etc)?

Sczarni

I don't think so, because you can't put other lisenses or restrictions on the community use policy.


Wayfinder has brief adventures and Golarion setting material, but I don't know if that's a special deal they've worked out with Paizo or not.


An amateur could produce such a thing using the Community Use Policy (although I did ask once about listing such things on paizo.com and I seem to remember the answer was "not at this time').

However a genuine 3PP wont be able to use the community use policy as it is strictly for non-commercial use. That means more than just not being charged for:

"If Paizo believes that you are in the publishing business, you are considered to be a commercial user, and you are not granted any right to use any Paizo Material under this Policy."

If a publisher wanted to do such a thing, they'd need to get a specific, individual license/permission from Paizo outside of the PFRPG Compatibility License or the Community Use Policy.


Interesting. Wayfinder was exactly the example I was thinking of regarding this, as I know they're largely a community-based effort utilizing talent from fans and 3PP authors.

So from a strictly fan-constructed origin it would be possible, provided they were not in the "publishing business." I wonder if it would be possible to get something else like Wayfinder that is strictly a fan-created adventure module released for free through Paizo.com?

Community / Forums / Paizo / Website Feedback / Question on Fair Use Policy and 3rd Party Publishers All Messageboards

Want to post a reply? Sign in.
Recent threads in Website Feedback