The Magic Librarities

Apparently WOTC just announced a lawsuit against everybody's favorite rumor monger. If this actually gets to the point where R_E needs legal counsel, Id like to encourange everyone to support him in whatever way you can if you feel so inclined. This is some serious B.S.

http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=co ... /20060119a

I don't like his chances. They already know the outcome or they wouldn't sue him. I don't see a problem with the spoilers. Maybe some pre emptive move by WOTC to keep future projects under wraps.

I dislike spoilers. They really do cheapen the pre-release experience when 50 people show up already knowing what to hope for and what to trade for. The opening of Mirage at the Atlanta pro tour was a ton of fun, as a judge, because we were learning as we went about relative power. Playing with Alliances cards at PT LA1 for the first time was a blast too, even tho some accidental misreadings made Storm Elemental WAY overpowered...

People claim that having the spoilers out there really helps hype the sets. While true to an extent, WotC already does their own, calculated spoiling of the set, and the presence of a full spoiler greatly weakens their own efforts.

Plus, on a legal side, WotC has the right to divulge their Intellectual property at a rate that they want, not have someone illegally (assuming NDAs signed by the sources) leaking the information as they see fit.

I would say their reasons for going after MTGSalvation is to 1) scare others into not hosting such information and (more importantly) 2) find the leaks.

Gryfalia

I agree that early leaks of information have gotten way out of hand. It has gotten so bad it is expected or a staple part of the pre-release experience it seems. Think how much more fun it would be to show up to a pre-release with NO knowledge ahead of time and having to learn the new set and what is in it on the fly.

WOTC owns its intellectual property and has every legal right to protect it as they see fit. The suit claims that card protoypes were mentioned. Now this could mean everythig from a new style of layout, foiling process, card mechanic, etc. I have occassionally read MTGNews or Magic Salvation in the past, but found that it often cheapened the experience of the new set, and had thought that so much information leaked and WOTC has never done anything against them that it seemed corporately organized on WOTCs part. Well the lawsuit proves this not to be the case, and having seen how much information has leaked and in such detail, Magic Salvation may have numbered days.

This suit isnt about the spoilers.

R_E posted scans of some Coldsnap playtest cards a while back, they were quickly removed, but the damage was already done at that point.

R_E writes "I'm not worried" and he's done nothing illegal.

I bet he's singing a different tune by February.

random wrote:They already know the outcome or they wouldn't sue him.

Right, because no one ever loses lawsuits that they instigate, right?

WotC has about a 95% chance of winning this suit they are not so stupid as to go in blind they prepared and are keeping him on his toes so WotC had a huge upper hand.

phyconaut wrote:WotC has about a 95% chance of winning this suit they are not so stupid as to go in blind they prepared and are keeping him on his toes so WotC had a huge upper hand.

How do you know this? Wizards might win, they might lose, they'll probably settle out of court anyway, but since no one really has ANY idea what's going on with this unless you're rancored_elf or you work for Wizards, speculating that Wizards has this locked is somewhat fruitless.

well unless your as stupid as SCO is in sueing IBM. WotC is not that dumb as to charge in blindly and waste all of that money and settelling out of court will go in there favor also so its Win Win for WotC.

This suit isnt about the spoilers.

R_E posted scans of some Coldsnap playtest cards a while back, they were quickly removed, but the damage was already done at that point.

I'm pretty sure Wizards really can't hit R_E with the charges because they need to prove through "clear and convincing evidence" that R_E knew the playtest cards were obtained illegally, which is pretty hard to prove. What they really want to do is find the people who leaked the cards out. Anyone can be an R_E with the right sources, so the question is not about stopping the middleman, but the source.

Yeah, WOTC probably just sued him on a whim. They do it all the time.....

McDonalds effectively lost the McLibel suit, and it spent a fortune in time and money on that. You folks are giving Wizards way too much credit here, I think. They have to do a lot to get rancored_elf in trouble, and I don't think they can do it.

I'd guess that the average employee of WOTC is a little bit smarter than the average McDonalds employee. Where I'm going with this? I have no idea.
I just think R_elfboy's in some "deep" do do.
I wish him the best though. I'd like to see a bunch more people get sued like the counterfieters.

random wrote:I'd guess that the average employee of WOTC is a little bit smarter than the average McDonalds employee.

Magic cards taste better than McDonalds food, too.