DreamLyrics™ Play-by-Post Forums Front of House Information Centre Legal Notices

The official legal notices regarding copyright and privacy policy for DreamLyrics Play-by-Post.

Copyrights

DreamLyrics Play-by-Post does not own copyright on DreamLyrics texts or graphics, except trademarked DreamLyrics logos and logotypes.

If you contribute to DreamLyrics you hold the copyright to the material if you produced it yourself. Bear in mind, all works are copyrighted unless either they fall into the public domain or their copyright is explicitly disclaimed.

Copyrighted work may be used on DreamLyrics under "fair dealing".

Such non-free or copyrighted content should only be used in very specific and as few cases as possible.

It should only be used for purposes that cannot be fulfilled by free material and there should be a valid rationale behind why its usage would be considered fair dealing within United Kingdom law.

It is also perfectly legal to recreate the concepts in other's work in your own intimate style, and submit it to DreamLyrics Message Gaming, as long as you don't parallel it too closely.

In a great many instances DreamLyrics' policy means that copyright notices would be complex and multi-sectioned, and impossible for a DreamLyrics contributor to compile as they do not have the legal qualification to do so.

Example

DreamLyrics member XYZ wishes to run a play-by-post game based on the computer game, Star Wars: Knight of the Old Republic (LucasArts, 2003), using the Star Wars Roleplaying Game: Saga Edition (Wizards of the Coast, 2007).

Copyright for elements of these works (including trademarks and registered trademarks) is shared between BioWare, LucasArts, Wizards of the Coast, and Lucasfilm.

Whilst there exists no compiled copyright notice, neither DreamLyrics or the contributor lay claim to any copyrighted material related to either of the source works.

In the course of running the game, XYZ and other contributors playing the game, might discuss Star Wars, they might discuss scenes in the computer game or rules in the published RPG.

On a rare occasion XYZ may post a screenshot from the game or post a small extract from the published RPG (whereas under most circumstances he would paraphrase).

Apart from this rare exemption XYZ's play-by-post game can be considered a work of "fan fiction".

Note that DreamLyrics Play-by-Post is classed as a social activities club and is a non-profit organisation.

Game Forum Images

Game forums on DreamLyrics Play-by-Post can be distinguished by an image, viewable in the main forum list. This image represents the setting in which that forum's message game takes place.

In those cases where the setting is a copyrighted work with existing iconography (logos and logotypes), this iconography may be used in the forum image to identify the message game and its setting. It is intended as homage to the works which DreamLyrics hold in high regard and comes under the policy on fair dealing. DreamLyrics does not own copyright on game forum images.

Creative Commons Attribution Licence

Apart from the exceptions for non-free and copyrighted materials, contributions ("posts") to DreamLyrics Play-by-Post are made under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Licence.

In short, this states that licensees may copy, distribute, display and perform the work and make derivative works based on it only if they give the author or licensor the credit in the manner specified by them.

This licence does not modify the rights allowed by fair dealing or impose restrictions which violate copyright exceptions.

Privacy Policy

DreamLyrics Play-by-Post is an Unincorporated Association owned and operated by the Proprietor.

No more information on users and other visitors browsing DreamLyrics is collected than is typically collected in server logs by web sites. Aside from the above raw log data collected for general purposes, page visits do not expose a visitor's identity publicly. Sampled raw log data may include the IP address of any user, but it is not reproduced publicly.

Users registered with DreamLyrics are required to provide a valid email address. They are given a unique username and the option to customise their own user profile. Users must take responsibility for what, if any, data they store in their profile. Once created, user accounts will not be removed nor can usernames be changed except on request.

Our web host may keep raw logs of server transactions, but these will not be published or used to track legitimate users.

DreamLyrics Message Gaming is run by volunteers. Some dedicated users may be chosen by their peers to be sysops and given privileged user access.

Other users who may have access to private identifiable information include, but are not limited to our web host employees, site developers and others with high level server access.

It should be assumed that contributions ("posts") to the DreamLyrics forums are generally retained forever, either in publically available threads or privately held archives. The site confidentially stores IP information related to each contribution, which can be seen by the developers and users granted sysop access. Posts to the shoutbox may be stored in server logs.

The site sets a temporary session cookie on a visitor's computer whenever a page is visted. Readers who do not intend to log in or edit may deny this cookie; it will be deleted at the end of the browser session. More cookies may be set when one logs in to maintain logged-in status. Browser settings may also allow usernames and passwords to be stored within the browser. Users must take responsibility for their own browser settings and other third-party applications insofar as they're able. Contributors using a public machine should clear all private data, including cookies, after use.

Personally identifiable data collected in the server logs, or through records in the database, or through other non-publicly-available methods, may be released by the Proprietor, in any of the following situations:

1. In response to a compulsory request from the courts,
2. With permission of the affected user,
3. Where it is reasonably necessary to protect the rights, property or safety of the Proprietor or DreamLyrics Mesage Gaming, its users or the public.

Except as described above, this policy does not permit distribution of personally identifiable information under any circumstances. DreamLyrics Play-by-Post will not distribute users' email addresses, even for profit, nor will they be used except in the process of operating DreamLyrics Play-by-Post.

Disclaimer

DreamLyrics Play-by-Post believes it is vitally important to maintain and preserve the privacy of user data. Nonetheless, the company cannot guarantee that user information will remain private. It acknowledges that, in spite of its best efforts to protect private user information, determined individuals may still develop data-mining and other methods to uncover such information and disclose it. Because of this, DreamLyrics Play-by-Post can make no guarantee against unauthorized access to information provided in the course of participating in the site.

Any changes we may made to this privacy policy in the future will be posted on this page and, where appropriate, sent to users by email.