Off-line weyrs or fan clubs are permissible provided that you and your members follow the tenets of Pern(r). For example, the dragon colors must be only those that are found on Pern; there can be no other sport like Ruth; do not use any of my major characters, although referring to them is fine; neither Ruatha (tm) or Benden (tm) may be used as principle sites.
Any printed Fanzines you may produce should show my copyright notice in a prominent place, say, at the top of the first page (see below). The 'zines CANNOT be published on the Internet. Distributing a limited number of copies of the 'zine to a special group via regular -snail- mail is the norm. That way, a group does not infringe PUBLICLY on my copyright since the material goes to A LIMITED membership that can be controlled. I know that copyright infringement is difficult to understand but I have worked out ways whereby the dedicated Pern fan can enjoy fiddling with my work without breaking any laws. (I do not read them, by the way, as my publishers prefer that I don't inadvertently use an idea that someone else thought of first.) You and your members may write in any time line but please DON'T put your work online.
The copyright notice should read EXACTLY as follows:
All works written by Anne McCaffrey are protected by copyright and any reproduction, display, distribution or other use without the author's permission is a violation of the copyright laws.
Also, please take note that a trademark notice is required to be posted whenever the mark, THE DRAGONRIDERS OF PERN, is used. In other words, use of that title should appear with the following symbol - (r) - placed directly after the 'n' in the word Pern. Here's an example: THE DRAGONRIDERS OF PERN(r)
If you cannot, or do not want to, use the '(r)' symbol, one of the following notices will suffice instead: "Registered U.S. Patent and Trademark Office" or Reg U.S. Pat. & Tm Off."
If you're referring to any well-known Pern(r) site locations, such as Ruatha Hold and Benden Weyr, please place the '(tm)' symbol immediately after each name. Example: Ruatha Hold(tm) and Benden Weyr(tm).
Enjoy your writing but, again, please don't put it online.
Ciao now
A note from Brina at Anne's site
HI Linda
Brina from Anne site here. I took a look at your webpages and your Yahoo Groups! I got the email you sent to Alec and took a look.
Boy I love it when people do things right the first time!! Congrats!! I'm approving it. Looks like you took your time in planning this out, its one of the better sites I've had the pleasure of looking at! The only list we really worry about is the RP list, the OOC list is your business not ours... but thanks for including that too!!
Please post it to the Approved forum on the Kitchen Table bulletin board.and eventually it will be added to our links page on Anne's site.
Congrats and good luck with going PBeM!! *snugs*
Brina
KT/KTL Host
The Worlds of Anne McCaffrey
