I'm in Law School, so take what I'm saying with a Grain of Salt (i'm not out yet
).
In re: Pixelgeek's contention about the cards.
1) You can't Copywrite a series of numbers.
-True, if those numbers are otherwise meaningless. In this case though, the numbers have a specific meaning, in regard to VaC, numbers which Mongoose went to considerable expense to generate through research and playtesting. I havn't taken any IP classes, but this sounds like Intellectual Property to me. No court in the world would rule that the specific statistics generated by Mongoose were not protected intellectual property.
2) Mongoose would not be able to publish official stat-cards if user-made free ones where available.
-False. Since Mongoose makes the game, thier cards would be Official, and many consumers prefer an official product to a (admittedly) free user-made one. It would also allow Mongoose to cheaply release new ships in packs of stat-cards, in place of full new books.
General Rule - Intellectual Property isn't protected if the user-made object is made for free, and does not purport itself to be official. The originator of the IP is the only one capable of making money off of the item in question.
1)Mongoose COULD contract to allow someone else to produce the cards for money. But only Mongoose has the right to do that.
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ALSO: I made my ship sheets in excell, and break them up by class. DD, CA, BC/BB, CV and then use a pen to fill in the appropriate stats and then put them in protector sheets so I can make marks with a dry erase marker. It works very welll, though it isn't as pretty as the others I've seen.
