Anyone a copyright lawyer?

A big stretch, but any of you happen to be copyright lawyers? I realized over the weekend that it's not enough to keep the TM in logos (which I always do, if it's in the original logo), but that you need to include copyright information. In fact, I don't really know where the line is, because I was just reading the Numenera fan use policy, and using the Numenera logo is not allowed. I suspect that's the same for other companies as well.

Now that GP is getting attention and growing, the last thing I'd want to do is have GP shut down because of legal issues. I admit, I've been scared of reaching this point. For example, if I had to take down the Numenera logo, it would be weird to have some character sheets with their logos, others without. Likewise, the systems page and games page contains logos, to make it easy to recognize the game you're looking for/playing.

Anyone have thoughts/suggestions, or know someone who may be able to give me a reasonably priced consult? Otherwise, I may have to save up some money for one, while I reach out to all the companies currently on GP, and hope they're not upset. I've already had to replace the Savage Worlds logo with one that says Savage Worlds Fan, which I found annoying/think looked weird, but it was their terms.

Or should I drop all the logos and try to figure something out?

My best suggestion would be to seek legal advice. Yeah, it will probably cost money, but it will probably be a lot more legally binding than what people will tell you here...

It could be possible he'll (the lawyer) suggest you to drop the logos, just to be on the safe side, until such time you can contact the various companies to ask them permission for the use of their logos on your online character sheets.

It's a tricky issue. Your not really profiting from the trademarked logos, but at the same time, it is covered under copyright law. If you made a 100 copies of paper character sheets and handed them out would you be infringing on copyright if you owned a brick and mortar store? It's kind of a weird one, but I would advise you err on the side of caution. I'm not a lawyer, but its a big part of my future career (librarian). I thin you're right to seek legal advice, and to be prepared to reach out to the individual publishers.

When I set up my game of The Strange here, I dropped a bunch of text on the system mechanics into a forum. However, I also sent a copy of the text to Monte Cook Games for their review as I knew that it bumped up against their stated usage rules. (I cc'd Keleth on that email.) I never did hear back from them about any concerns, but at the same time I recognized that the onus isn't necessarily on them. At the very least, I felt that informing them in advance made it less shady.

Probably a good idea to keep in mind if I ever make my modified version of the Undiscovered game here... Now, I'll have to figure out how to contact Adam D. Theriault even though his company Eilfin Publishing no longer exists... Hmm...