D&amp;D Manual Copyright
<p>I'm working on a program for D&amp;D enthusiasts that helps dungeon masters keep track of their characters and streamline battles. I want to transcribe the all the monster data in the Monster Manual so my program can automatically deal damage and so players could look up monster data within the program itself. Would that be violating copyright law if I did that?</p>
<p>Edit 1: To clarify, I'm not planning on making any money off of this(Ad revenue or otherwise).</p>

<h2>Let’s work it through</h2>
<blockquote>
<p>Is the work copyright?</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Yes.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Are you making a copy or a derivative work?</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Yes.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Do you have permission?</p>
</blockquote>
<p>No.</p>
<p>At this point, it is <em>prima facie</em> copyright violation. However, various copyright laws have defences for breach. You don’t say where you are but as the USA is the most permissive in this regard we’ll use the USA. If it’s not legal there, it’s not legal anywhere. If it is legal there, it’s still likely to be not legal everywhere else.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>is it <a href="https://copyright.gov/fair-use/more-info.html" rel="noreferrer">fair use</a>?</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Almost certainly not.</p>
<p>Wizards of the Coast (the copyright owner) already do this. While this service is free for creatures from the Monster Manual, it does drive traffic to their web site where they sell stuff. They also licence (presumably for money) others to do the same. Your usage would negatively affect the copyright owners market. This counts against fair use.</p>
<p>Because it’s already being done, your work has virtually nil transformative value. This counts against fair use.</p>
<p>You are copying a substantial part of the work. This counts against fair use.</p>
<p>You are not using it commercially but neither is it for educational use. This is unlikely to matter.</p>
<p>On balance: not fair use.</p>
<h2>TL;DR</h2>
<p>This is copyright violation.</p>

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