#RPGaDay Day 18: Best Innovation RPG Groups Could Benefit From



While there's a number of technical innovations possible, one innovation in the legal space I'd like to see is a revision of copyright law.

Currently US copyright law appears to be based around the proposition that "Steamboat Willie" can never enter the public domain. Though it'll never happen, I'd love to see a major reduction in copyright law. Once upon a time the term of a copyright maxed out at 28 years. If that were the case today, any RPG written prior to 1988 would be in the public domain. This wouldn't stop Wizards of the Coast from having a copyright to new incarnations of D&D but it would allow ancient versions to enter the public domain.

While that's a dream that'll never come true, hopefully copyright term will not be extended again as 2019 approaches (when the copyright extension act begins allowing works to enter the public domain). Moreover, the works of HP Lovecraft and Robert E. Howard have a fuzzy copyright status. Allowing some of these works, in copyright for nearly a century, to finally enter the public domain unambiguously would allow for some fascinating applications.

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