I am about to run a short MERP campaign, and whilst hunting for 2nd Edition Character Sheets, came across //www.merp.com, which, after registration, enables you full access to download virtually every ICE/MERP related product as you wish.
Has anyone else come across this, and is it legal to do so?
I am quite fortunate in that, apart from about 6 or so books, I own them all, so for me they would be useful as scratch copies.
Quoteis it legal to do so
The IP of ICE is hold by Aurigas Aldebaron LLC, an intellectual property ownership company. They even give out licenses, e.g. for Rolemaster.
The ICE's licence for Tolkien-related contend was revoked in 1997. The IP-Holder Tolkien Enterprises seems not to be really happy with what the guys at merp.com are doing, so no it is not legal.
Being unhappy is not the same as 'its not allowed', as much as various corporate interests may wish it so.
That being said, I'm not a lawyer AND I'm not truly clued in here but I suspect that Tolkien Enterprises does not actually own MERP, however, they DO own all copyrighted information in MERP. So I suspect the .com guys are, in fact, stomping alll over that IP. Of course, given that its all 50 years old and more, it all should have been public domain by now anyway. I mean: I know its not, which is something of a tragedy.