[SCA-AE] Copyright and scrolls

[Tim Button]

Greetings from Tigranes,

I has been years since I was an active scribe in the Kingdom, but the recent
thread on scrolls piqued my interest.

When I produced a scroll for an award, I considered it to be a gift.  When I
give a gift to someone, it belongs to them, and they are entitled to do with
it whatever pleases them.  For me this goes for any gift, and I extend the
philosophy to the scrolls I produced.

I realize that copyright law probably says otherwise, but *in my opinion*
copyright law shouldn't enter into the equation.  (Again, in my opinion), If
I am offered a scroll assignment from Signet, I understand that my work is
going to be given with an award, as a gift (the gift part is particularly
apt, as many have pointed out a scroll is not guaranteed with each award),
and I should expect no payment or other gain for my services.  If the
recipient of the scroll decides to scan it, post it on the web, use it as
wallpaper for a website, or sell, trade, give it away or line the birdcage
with it, I have not been harmed.  Even if that person uses the image for a
commercial enterprise that nets millions of dollars, I still have not been
harmed, since I could have refused the assignment but instead agreed to GIVE
the product of my work away.  That is the spirit in which I worked when I
was producing scrolls.

That said, I'll add that award scrolls that I have received are displayed in
my home with pride and appreciation.  The only copies I have made of any of
them were to display at demos, so as not to risk damage to the originals.

Please note again that I am expressing my personal opinion.  I know next to
nothing about copyright law.  I respect the fact that others' opinions may
differ from mine, and that my opinion is not superior to anyone else's.

Very Sincerely,
Baron Tigranes of Bezabde
Endless Hills

GOLD is for the mistress-silver for the maid-
Copper for the craftsman cunning at his trade."
"Good!" said the Baron, sitting in his hall,
"But Iron-Cold Iron-is master of them all."
----Rudyard Kipling