At the end of every televised NFL game, even the Superbowl, they spout off this legalese that goes a little something like this, in A flat, to a sort of samba downtempo - anda 1, anda 2, anda 3:

"This broadcast is the sole property of the National Football League. Any re-transmission of this broadcast for commerical or personal use without the expressed written consent of the National Football League is strictly prohibited."

Catchy huh? You're all pumped after an awesome spectacle of 'roid-induced sportsmanship, and you get to listen to a lawyer do the "Stay Away from My Stuff" Shuffle. Ever wonder why?

Because if there were no laws about this poodoo, people would just take all the hard work put into an NFL broadcast, slap it on a VHS tape, go down to their local bar and charge $5 for people to watch it. Heck, they could easily say "this is really the NFL's, but you want it, you get it from me." They could package up their own "Bob's Superbowl XXXIV" tapes and sell them on the Internet. No one would buy the NFL's stuff for $10 bucks, nicely produced on DVD's with quality images and graphics, when they can buy Bob's crappy VHS for a 5-spot. Plus shipping and handling.

It doesn't have to do with giving credit to the owner. Even if Bob gave full credit to the NFL, he still had no right to re-distribute their product. Everyone in the US would know that the Superbowl game was owned and operated by the NFL. The real point is - they OWN it. As such, they can say exactly what they want to do with it, and exactly what they don't want to do with it.

This is the same with anything Lucasfilm makes. They own it. They worked on it. They toiled and perspired, they wrangled their creative demons, they duked it out over drafting tables, they endured late nights and rancid coffee and creative differences to bring you some of the best entertainment you've ever seen in your life. And they sure didn't do that so Bob could slap it on a VHS and sell it for 5 bucks. They certainly didn't do it for Bob to give it away for free.

This is the same, likewise, with our Lucasfilm Licensed authors and artists. Recently, Halagad penned a good illustration of plagiarism here in his blog titled "Plagiarism: An Explanation for the Uninitiated".

As you read it, you start to realize there are at least 2 types of Plagiarism - 1) in your face, pre-meditated, I'm trying to get away with it Plagiarism and 2) unwitting, overzealous Plagiarism. The first is just creative laziness, pure and simple. It goes beyond inconsideration. It's willful stealing.

The second is more insidious, however. Sometimes, people will enjoy something so much, they want to share it everyone else. There are some really attractive, super-friggin-cool resources of information out there, especially for Star Wars stuff - encyclopedias, articles, EU, official timelines, etc etc. Some people like them so much, they put together what they think is some sort of "book report", when in fact they have simply re-printed, nearly word for word, someone else's works. That's not a book report, nor is it a review. That is copying the product of someone's livelyhood, putting your name on it and implying, willfully or not, that you had anything to do with making it, which you didn't.

Now, that's not to say there aren't people that do it right, without copying. Some people compile information, in a sort of summary. Sompeetalay's blog is a good example of a "Source Blog". He compiles information from various publications and puts them in lists. That's cool. And it's not just copying, word for word, someone's work.

And in regard to copy on this website, sometimes it's acceptable to do a very short excerpt, if you say where you got it. If, for instance, you're having a debate as to if 3P0's primary function is language or protocol, you can say "Look, the Databank on SW.com says this:..." and take a couple of lines of pertinent info out to demonstrate your point. But that's just applicable to discussions on this website.

There is something else that may be just as important, and that's the issue of creative control. Re-printing someone's works, or copying them in any way into another format, but with essentially the same information, undermines the artist's preferred venue to present their work. They may prefer to present their information only in their blogs, or only in magazines they have contracts with, or in leather-bound books or on the backs of milk cartons - it doesn't matter - it's their work. It's their say. By taking that away, and allowing someone to read that article without purchasing that magazine or leather-bound book or wherever, is to attempt to usurp the rights of the artist.

In LFL's case, that might also include the prohibited re-printing of Hyperspace exclusive material in an open area, readable for everyone, defeating the purpose for all those people that spend money to have Hyperspace to view that premium content. In the end, it makes far more enemies than it does friends. And enemies that have spent money are worse than friends who are free-loaders. Free-loaders rarely have the wherewithall to bail you out of deep poodoo. People that spent their hard-earned cash only to have you waste it have plenty of reason to keep you there.

So, end analysis - don't do it. If you're not sure of the author's, owner's, or distributor's rights, definitely don't do it. Do you really want to be your own lawyer in asking complex copyright questions such as "Am I compiling, or copying?" or "Am I using sources to write my own work, or using other people's work and saying it's mine?" and other such not-so-obvious Q's & no A's? Intellectual property, proprietary materials, whatever you want to call it - do you know, absolutely, what you're allowed to take away from the table, and what you have to leave behind? Are you willing to take the risk of getting penalized for it? Doing so without knowing for sure what all of the in's and out's of copyright law and plagiarism just doesn't seem like a worthwhile risk. You could be mildly smacked for a transgression, or you could be on the wrong end of a very expensive legal atomic wedgie.

If you like someone else's work, write about it. Talk about it. Don't try to present it again, in whole or large part. Don't even re-word it - the original ideas came from them and you'd stll be held accountable. If you liked it as much as that, then it stands to reason it was presented just fine the first time, from the person authorized to do so. Just tell people where they can find a legitimate copy of it.

So there ya go. Don't be sloppy. Don't copy.

"The preceeding message was brought to you by the Dark Moose Committee for the Re-Election of Non-Stupid People. This message was approved by Dark Moose. This blog entry is the sole property of the Flannelled One. Any re-transmission of this blog entry for commerical or personal use without the expressed written consent of the Flannelled One is strictly prohibited."

Or not. I dunno. I'm just a moose. All I know is what can get you banned, and possibly antlers up your backside.

All me luve,
DM out