Legality of HQ card scans

by **kudit** » 02 Mar 2015, 06:33

I've been reading about the legal issues MTG software and sites have had and I was wondering if this site ever had issues with scanning and sharing high quality card images? Is that not in violation of WotC copyright? Or is the fact that their copyright is visible in the image enough to get by? What about sites like magiccards.info?

by **Goblin Hero** » 02 Mar 2015, 07:25

It's absolutely legal if the images are distributed freely and not modified. I've asked WotC about it personally years ago.

BRU custserv to me
More options 18 Oct (2 days ago)

Hello,

As long as you don't change artwork etc. and use the copyright then it
is no problem for a fan based site.

Kind Regards,

Joery Van Nevel
DCI Data & CS Coordinator
Wizards of the Coast / Hasbro

by **skibulk** » 10 Mar 2015, 19:38

Wizards just shut down another site: http://mtgimage.com/

The thing is that MTGImage DID provide a coypright notice, DIDN'T alter the images, and DIDN'T even leverage fees or advertising on the site.

by **woogerboy21** » 10 Mar 2015, 20:16

skibulk wrote:Wizards just shut down another site: http://mtgimage.com/

The thing is that MTGImage DID provide a coypright notice, DIDN'T alter the images, and DIDN'T even leverage fees or advertising on the site.

The difference I see here is that GH asked if he could and they said sure.
I don't believe mtgimage.com did that.

Edit:
Of course, looking into who responded he appears to no longer be employed with wizards as of 2013.

by **skibulk** » 12 Mar 2015, 18:59

I think it helps that our images are distributed via remote media sharing services, rather than downloaded directly from SlightlyMagic. Maybe we should add a disclaimer and copyright notice to all of our releases? Any recommendations / a rough draft?

by **Miraika** » 15 Mar 2015, 04:58

Comparing the response to GoblinHero with the DMCA takedown notice, the difference seems to be in "fair use" (see en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fair_use). As noted in the letter, mtgimage was providing images clearly intended for being used in Forge or similar unauthorized games. Maybe WOTC would have sent a scary letter even if it were clearly fair use, but they do seem to have a point.

More important than acknowledging copyrights, I think, is to say that the HQ images are for historical reference (showing how the cards appeared in print in high detail, rather than the LQ digital representations on Gatherer) and that they are ONLY to be used in accordance with fair use or as authorized by WOTC / copyright holders. We can't be held responsible for unauthorized use, etc.

by **skibulk** » 15 Mar 2015, 15:31

I think we should include a disclaimer with each of our releases. Here's a draft; Please suggest any edits:

FAIR USE DISCLAIMER

This site contains materials that are copyrighted by Wizards of the Coast. We are making such material available in our efforts to create a historic digital archive for the general public. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included materials for research and educational purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. For more information go to: http://www.copyright.gov/title17/92chap1.html#107.

by **Huggybaby** » 28 Mar 2015, 00:38

A boilerplate disclaimer makes no difference.
It is pointless to speculate on the differences between MTGImage and anyone else.
I've contacted the MTGImage owner twice with no response.

I solved this problem years ago, but everyone feel free to keep trying a different way. 1/100th of the work that goes into any site like MTGImage could have updated a real torrent numerous times.

by **bevryde** » 18 Apr 2015, 06:01

I'm waiting for the day where Wizards themselves sell perfect card images for all cards in existence, directly from the image files, different resolutions, perfect directory structure. They should give me a 10 GB download and I'd happily pay them... like 100 EUR

And always update if theres a new set.
Oh I was just dreaming, this will never happen.

The mtgimage story made me sad. It was so well done.

by **danfly** » 08 Jan 2016, 15:26

I would suggets, make clones of this site, on at least 3 different servers around the world. Maybe today this site has no problems with Wizards of the Coast, but maybe tomorrow will have.

Also I'm totally agreed with this disclaimer. Put it in every card's folders distributed here.

skibulk wrote:I think we should include a disclaimer with each of our releases. Here's a draft; Please suggest any edits:

FAIR USE DISCLAIMER

This site contains materials that are copyrighted by Wizards of the Coast. We are making such material available in our efforts to create a historic digital archive for the general public. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included materials for research and educational purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. For more information go to: http://www.copyright.gov/title17/92chap1.html#107.

by **skibulk** » 09 Jan 2016, 01:57

Would it be a good idea to choose a Free License for the images. Can we do that? Which is most appropriate?

MIT, Creative Commons, GNU, etc.

Maybe something that is for "private use" aligns better with our "free use" disclaimer.

Maybe Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial?

by **horseoftroy** » 03 Feb 2016, 14:35

Cockatrice Shutdown
http://www.cockatrice.de/

Plus some people made a YouTube videos about Slightly Magic games , I don't think they had get any permssion from the developers , which is unresponsibile work

Forge
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=EAKsHMxCNyA
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=wRiCS2aUS_Q

The uploader made a page about Forge
mark.tvk.rwth-aachen.de/software/forge/

Manalink 3.0
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=sVrL4d29YNI

XMAGE
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=O2agdX5OZTc

BotArena
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=n6Udzddn4Vo

Magearena
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=gnqwFqhR3hs
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=A7_UV3YcQjQ

Which is too dangerous on our games

Some uploaders are mentioned about Slightly Magic

And may be there are more

All those videos must be removed

There is no need to open WOTC eyes on this forums

by **dodnyjv** » 04 Feb 2016, 12:55

Maybe the real trouble will start when/if Forge and others stop being just training tools for a single player and start to support fully functional multiplayer. Perhaps, multiplayer should not be implemented to avoid this.

by **JohnnyTH** » 04 Feb 2016, 16:35

horseoftroy wrote:There is no need to open WOTC eyes on this forums

I am pretty sure WOTC is NOT aware of this forum, otherwise they would have made a move already. One year ago I was chatting with some employee of WOTC and he asked me directly where would I get high resolution images of the cards, and obviously i replied i didn't know.

I myself had gone quite some extensive search to find out about this forum, at the time it was not easy to find through google search.

by **Huggybaby** » 05 Feb 2016, 21:41

Just don't google "HQ Card Pics".

Personally, I'm surprised we're hard to find.