Rules Pertaining to Work Vs. Ideas
Definition of Work vs. Ideas
Works are actual projects: films, special effects sequence, images, audio files, novels, stories, dreams, and postcards.
Ideas are elements within a Work: a place, a character, a Government Agency, a weapon, a drug, etc.
Anyone who has signed a Contributor Agreement, with the associated legal understandings therein, shall be known as a “Contributor.” Contributors are part of the World of Depleted creative community and, while contributors own their own work, they agree to share their ideas with the Creative Community. Other Contributors can use the ideas found in these pieces, so long as they include attribution. (To read about the expected types of Attribution and the Master Works Utilized List you are to include with submission, read our Style Guide.)
Requirements
The following outlines the default requirements of World of Depleted contributors if no separate arrangements have been made between contributors. If separate arrangements have been made, then the submitting contributor will be expected to provide appropriately signed paperwork clearly stating this arrangement at the time of submission. Failure to provide this paperwork will result in the return to the default arrangement stated below:
Use of Ideas in a New Work.
Contributors are required to give attribution for any ideas they use. No other requirement is placed on the creator in this situation.
Use of a Work with a Single Contributor in a New Work.
If a piece (or the entirety) of an actual work by “Contributor A” is utilized in the creation of a new work by “Contributor B,” then attribution to Contributor B is still required, but, in the case of a work that earns money, either through Canonization or Apocrypha, Contributor A will be entitled to a share in the profits of Contributor B’s work. They will equally share in the profits with any other work Contributor B used and with Contributor B him or herself. Please review the Contributor Agreement for the details.
Use of a Work with Multiple Contributors in a New Work.
If a work created by “Contributor C” utilizes works by additional contributors (“Contributors R, L, & P,” for example) and “Contributor D” wishes to use part or all of Contributor C’s work, then Contributor D will be expected to treat each sub-contributor (R, L, & P) of the previous work as an equal contributor with Contributor C (as it applies to the Master Works Utilized List, which is denoted in the Submission Style Guide). An exception to this will occur if Contributor D obtains a signed statement from Contributor C which clearly shows which contributors were involved in the portion that Contributor D utilized. In this case, only the contributors that were involved in the piece utilized by Contributor D will be required to be on his Master Works Utilized List and will be involved in Revenue Share. For the specifics of the Revenue Share arrangement, please review the Contributor Agreement for the details.
To the extent that the “Requirements “ of the “Rules of Depleted” conflict with the Contributor Agreement, then the Contributor Agreement shall control.
Canon
If your submitted content is selected as Canon, it will become officially part of the mythology of Depleted. Under this is the following understanding:
- You have given us the non-exclusive right to license/sell your content as a standalone item or as part of a collection. Please see the Contributor Agreement for the details.
- You may sell copies of your content within the revenue sharing terms found in the Contributor Agreement, provided you use the official Canon badge that you were issued for your work by Viking Productions on any and all packaging, marketing, and website materials pertaining to this work.
- Once you have been issued your Official Canon Badge, you need to display it in the first area of the work that it has been issued for. (For novels, this would be on the first page of the book. For stories, this would be embedded with text wrapped around it on the first page of the story. For films, it would be the first screen of the film, before the official credits and sub-production companies. For graphics and artwork it would be marked in the lower or upper corner of the piece. The exception would be downloadable audio and music, where it would be displayed clearly on the page the music or audio that is associated with Depleted can be downloaded from.)
- Others will be allowed to use your canonical content (in part or in whole) as part of their new work and have a non-exclusive right to license/sell your content (as part of their new content) within the revenue sharing terms found in the Contributor Agreement.
You may decide to terminate the Contributor Agreement non-exclusive license at any time for any reason. Such termination shall become effective ten days after we receive notice of the termination and is subject to the following:
- From the time Viking Productions receives your notice of severance, they will have 48 hours to post a “Notice of Eminent Removal” on the World of Depleted website associated with your content.
- From the point that Viking’s “Notice of Eminent Removal” goes live, any content creators who have been using that content will have exactly two weeks, as shown by FTP timestamp, to upload any new content that utilizes your work.
- After that time, your work will be officially removed from the website and no additional content utilizing your work will be permitted under the original arrangement.
- Termination (Section 9, “Termination” in the World of Depleted Contributor Agreement) will not affect any of the rights you have granted to your content under the Creative Commons License. Such rights are irrevocable and survive Termination for any reason, and we may continue to exercise any and all rights regarding or concerning your content in accordance with the Creative Commons License and in accordance with the World of Depleted Contributor Agreement. Further, all rights, waivers, consents and covenants that you granted in your content under the World of Depleted Contributor Agreement that was granted prior to the effective date of termination shall survive with respect to any commercialization or agreements to commercialize such Work that have been submitted to Viking for negotiation with third parties, or are being negotiated with third parties or have been commenced or entered into prior to the effective date of termination. Viking will continue to pay any and all license fees, if any, owed to you under the Contributor Agreement for any such commercialization. **
To the extent that “Canon” of the “Rules of Depleted” actually conflict with the Contributor Agreement (i.e., if the Contributor Agreement does not address an issue or term then it is not considered an actual conflict), then the Contributor Agreement shall control.
Apocrypha
If your work has story or content flaws that prevent it from being Canon, but it still reveals a well told story, it may be selected as Apocrypha. If it is chosen as Apocrypha, it will not directly effect the World of Depleted or its mythology, but will, instead, occupy a role similar to “Fan Fiction” in other worlds. Unlike Fan Fiction, however, officially recognized Apocrypha will be permitted to share in revenue (provided it does not conflict with the copyright of other Intellectual Properties for which you do not own the rights), under the following understanding:
- You have given us the non-exclusive right to license/sell your content as a standalone item or as part of a collection. Please see the Contributor Agreement for the details.
- You may sell copies of your content within the revenue sharing terms found in the Contributor Agreement, provided you use the official Apocrypha badge that you were issued for your work by Viking Productions on any and all packaging, marketing, and website materials pertaining to this work.
- Once you have been issued your Official Apocrypha Badge, you need to display it in the first area of the work that it has been issued for, if possible. (For novels, this would be on the first page of the book. For stories, this would be embedded with text wrapped around it on the first page of the story. For films, it would be the first screen of the film, before the official credits and sub-production companies. For graphics and artwork it would be marked in the lower or upper corner of the piece. The exception would be downloadable audio and music, where it would be displayed clearly on the page the music or audio that is associated with Depleted can be downloaded from.)
- Others will be allowed to use your canonical content (in part or in whole) as part of their new work and have a non-exclusive right to license/sell your content (as part of their new content) within the revenue sharing terms found in the Contributor Agreement.
You may decide to terminate the Contributor Agreement non-exclusive license at any time for any reason. Such termination shall become effective ten days after we receive notice of the termination and is subject to the following:
- From the time Viking Productions receives your notice of severance, they will have 48 hours to post a “Notice of Eminent Removal” on the World of Depleted website associated with your content.
- From the point that Viking’s “Notice of Eminent Removal” goes live, any content creators who have been using that content will have exactly two weeks, as shown by FTP timestamp, to upload any new content that utilizes your work.
- After that time, your work will be officially removed from the website and no additional content utilizing your work will be permitted to be released under the original arrangement.
- Termination (Section 9, “Termination” in the World of Depleted Contributor Agreement) will not affect any of the rights you have granted to your content under the Creative Commons License. Such rights are irrevocable and survive Termination for any reason, and we may continue to exercise any and all rights regarding or concerning your content in accordance with the Creative Commons License and in accordance with the World of Depleted Contributor Agreement. Further, all rights, waivers, consents and covenants that you granted in your content under the World of Depleted Contributor Agreement that was granted prior to the effective date of termination shall survive with respect to any commercialization or agreements to commercialize such Work that have been submitted to Viking for negotiation with third parties, or are being negotiated with third parties or have been commenced or entered into prior to the effective date of termination. Viking will continue to pay any and all license fees, if any, owed to you under the Contributor Agreement for any such commercialization. **
To the extent that “Apocrypha” of the “Rules of Depleted” actually conflict with the Contributor Agreement (i.e., if the Contributor Agreement does not address an issue or term then it is not considered an actual conflict), then the Contributor Agreement shall control.
**Please note, if you terminate the non-exclusive license, it does not terminate the Creative Commons agreement which will allow users of The World of Depleted website to continue to use the content for non-commercial purposes so long as they otherwise comply with the terms of the Creative Commons license.