Whatever you bring into this story, play here, use here and create here, stays here (be it Characters, storylines, channels/locations), unless and until you have cleared your slate with an ST.

Putting a character or story into play is automatically agreeing to this policy. If you cannot handle this policy, then please don't bother to submit a character here. 

We are not out to steal people's ideas or characters. Having characters and venues suddenly and inexplicably pop in and out IC, simply because OOC the player leaves, is highly disruptive to the story, especially any parts directly tied to other people's characters. 

When players just leave suddenly, and their PC's had no IC reason to, it screws up the game for everyone else. All we ask is you clear out your business with an ST before you go. If you do not, the ST's reserve the right to decide the dispensation of your PC. 

Copyright law protects unique works only (characters are not unique works), and only protect you if you actually apply to get, and are granted, said copyright from the US Copyright Office in Washington, DC. 

To all of the whiners and bad sports who have been hounding us about the above rule [A] violating your "copywrite" [sic], the laws which prove we are correct are clearly stated at: http://www.loc.gov/copyright/ . Shut up and read them.

White Wolf owns all legal rights to this universe, just as you can't copyright something you did in Star Trek, Star Wars, or anything else made in a world someone else owns, without the owner's expressed consent to allow you to hold it. White Wolf grants exceptions for approved authors who write White Wolf novels, for example, but players do not fall under the aegis of any such law. 

A PC for this game is impossible to be a unique work, as it cannot be expressed or played without using terminology and formatting that White Wolf owns; therefore, the Copyright Office would never grant you rights to own it in its complete state. And, what you would retain after removing every snip that White Wolf owns, wouldn't be much information at all. Pretty much just a concept. No stats, no powers, nothing.

We have on file emails from White Wolf staff, stating that they personally  consider such things as a PC, or a Character Sheet & Bio, as legally a "Derivative Work," but only for their own purposes regarding whether or not White Wolf would sue players for infringements. By actual US Copyright Law, a PC does not even legally qualify as a derivative work, according to the criterion set forth by these laws. It is simply White Wolf being nice about it to sow goodwill within their fan base, but that doesn't make it a law. It just makes it a rescindable option.

As quoted verbatim directly from the WW Web site on the matter:

"You may list a personal copyright for your characters or graphics you have created for your site, but keep in mind anything that is derivative from our works is still owned by us. Two simple examples: If you make a character from clan Gangrel, that is not your character and could never be used without our permission. If you make a logo that has a clan symbol as a portion of it, you could never publish that piece of art without our permission. Even without this copyright on your homepage, that law still applies, so make it easy on both of us and post it :-)" 

 

(From  http://www.white-wolf.com/darkspiral/signup.html )

So to repeat, in closing; there is no such law or White Wolf policy that precludes our rules above.

White Wolf staff have, in fact, fully endorsed and encouraged our policy (of "what plays here, stays here"), in writing.  

The only entity that owns anything in the eyes of the courts, in this game, is White Wolf. 

All players submitting a PC here agree to this policy. As stated in other places on the web site, if you don't like it, don't play here. We are simply protecting game continuity, nothing more. Deal with it.