Will Bloomilk able to upload the digital format of the rule book, FAQs, Erratas after the the official SWM board gets shut down?

I think Bloomilk can't have it here right now for players to down load or look at it because of the copy right, but what about in the future? (Sorry, i don't know any things about the laws in U.S.)

It is always nice to have some back up when needed.

Thank you for answering (Did i put this in the wrong forum?)

Sithborg is correct. A company doesn't suddenly lose its rights to materials after they stop making something. An analogy: Can people suddenly start posting entire books online after they are not printed anymore? In some cases, yes, but that is only because the copyright is allowed to expire.

something written by "Us" for us...?

I think that could be pulled off with little or no reprecutions

I see what you're saying Lobo. I'm definitely no copyright expert. I'm just going based upon what I've seen companies freak out about before. I do think there is a difference between content being posted, so long as it is referenced, and an actual complete file being hosted. I think that other sites do take a big risk if they host complete files. It probably isn't going to be challenged and I think it would be silly to challenge it. But, I'm pretty risk averse when it comes to this. So, I'm of the opinion that regardless of whether one could "get away with it", the potential gains aren't worth the risk. So, I won't be hosting this. If someone else has and wants to continue to risk it, more power to them. ;)

Did not know that. Copyright is very tricky. I gues if it is already on gamers, than it is okay.

I mean i say this, we baught WOTC SWM's products so have access to all this data for free already, so i dont see us already having this stuff & if were not selling the stuff & are just sharing it amongst us, then it shouldnt be copywriting anything. So i dont see a problem with it.

According to the Terms of Use from the Wizards site itself (with a very strict interpretation): http://wizards.com/Company/About.aspx?x=wz_company_about_termsofuse&menu=Awards electronic public display of any "Site Content" is not allowed under copyright laws. They have a "fan website policy" which is some images for D&D and Magic and terms of use on personal sites for these images only. Strictly speaking, the policy reads as what the fan sites have done risk WotC pulling their rights to access their site and can force them to take down the content without expressed consent from WotC. Now, they haven't done anything about it for so many years and probably won't.

Also, the idea that you are not selling the information so you are OK is false. If the owner of the copyrighted information can prove in court that they were financially effected by your actions, you will lose. Disney once sued a grade school teacher / school for showing a film in the classroom since a few students had not seen the movie and claimed they would not buy the video having now seen it in class. The company was able to prove sales of their product was negatively effected even though the school was not charging admission or making a profit for themselves. This was more of setting a precedent and, as far as I know, has not been repeated, but the law is clear (for now) about that. The trouble is the laws are changing, but cannot keep up with the technology and so rulings can go either way depending on all the circumstances. I teach and try to keep up with "fair use" and copyright laws. I cannot cite the documentation behind this info above, but it came from a seminar I attended last fall about fair use and copyright laws in the schools. Not to scare anybody, but just passing on what I have learned over the years.

Also, Dean's post above is very true and should cover the fan sites from Wizards 'going after' anyone as common sense since the fan sites do promote their product and all contain many links back to the original source.

So i guess the answer is No.

Well, thank you for the input and research, guys.

Now i remember, like 5 years ago, MS & Apple had a copyright lawsuit war against each other and other companies. O, well a way to make BIG money...