MMP Roundtable Discussion

Hutch

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I mentioned the banning of the artwork only as an example in response to Robin's statement regarding the threatening of the official publisher. Copyright Laws being what they may. I don't feel the ban was to stop the publishing of counters, and yes there are great styles of counters available.
 

Robin Reeve

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Coloured counters are fine for MMC, but for vehicles, they make them very hard to distinguish one from the other.
Often, they look like identical brownish rectangles, where the sober silhouette of the original design works better.
There needs to find a good balance between aesthetics and practical necessity.
I do like to play with colourized infantry, but stick to the original counters for vehicles.
YMMV
 

dlazov

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I am pretty sure you can't copyright the counter art exactly. For example Avalon Hill first produced Afrika Korps and used "NATO" symbols for infantry, armor and in Battle of the Bulge artillery and mechanized units. That was in 1964 and 1965. Later in 1969 SPI was born and they expanded the art work to include motorized infantry and such. Later still GDW exploded with the Europa series and standardized and expanded the "NATO" symbols for just about everything.

So AH and hence MMP can say that the black and white artwork used for the counters is copyrighted but if an artist painted his own color versions (much like what CH, BFP, and LFT have done), then there is no copyright violation.

I think its like artwork. If I look at a mountain and paint it one way you can't come along and paint a mountain your way and then I scream copyright violations. I don't think the art world works like that.

Now if I just blatantly copy your painting and call it my own and sell then yeah I'd be a scumbag, but if I hand painted it myself I don't see any issue.
 

Hutch

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I think it was more the use of the counter artwork and design of the scenario cards by others that was and still is the issue.
 
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