Contributor Licence

DRAFT — not reviewed by legal counsel and not legal advice. This text describes the intended arrangement and must be reviewed by a qualified lawyer (Quebec and Canada) before launch.

1. Plain-language summary

• You keep the copyright in what you write. Submitting a contribution does not transfer ownership of your work to us.
• You give us a broad licence to use it. So that the universe can grow, be adapted and eventually be published in other forms, you allow us to use, change, combine, translate, publish and commercially exploit your contribution, and to let others do so, without paying you.
• Canon is never guaranteed. We decide, at our sole discretion, whether any contribution becomes part of the official universe.
• No payment is promised. Unless a separate written agreement says otherwise, you will not receive royalties or other compensation.
• Your work must be yours. Only submit material you created or have the right to submit.

2. Who this applies to

This Contributor Licence ("Licence") is an agreement between you and [Operator legal name] ("we", "us"), the operator of this website and owner of the original fictional universe it hosts (the "Universe"). It applies to everything you submit to the website for publication, including stories, character backgrounds, histories, explanations, theories and comments ("Contributions").

You must accept this Licence when you create an account. You will also be reminded of it each time you publish a Contribution.

3. What remains yours, and what remains ours

• Your Contribution. As between you and us, you keep the copyright in your Contribution.
• The Universe. We own (or are licensed to use) the original setting, characters, lore, names, artwork and other material we publish as the foundation of the Universe, including official canon text. Writing within the Universe does not give you rights in our material beyond what our Terms of Service allow.
• Shared elements. Your Contribution may use elements of the Universe, and other members may build on elements you introduce. This Licence is what allows that shared world to function.

4. The licence you grant

To the extent permitted by law, you grant us a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free, perpetual, irrevocable (where irrevocability is legally enforceable), transferable and sublicensable licence to:

1. reproduce, publish, display, distribute and communicate your Contribution to the public, on this website and elsewhere, in any medium now known or later developed;
2. edit, adapt, translate, abridge, expand and otherwise modify it;
3. combine it with other contributions and with our own material;
4. incorporate it, in whole or in part, into the official canon of the Universe;
5. create derivative works based on it, including novels, comics, games, films, television, audio productions, merchandise and other media;
6. license or assign any of these rights to third parties (for example publishers or producers); and
7. exploit any of the above commercially.

This Licence does not require us to use your Contribution, credit it in any particular way beyond section 6, or keep it available.

Counsel to review: enforceability of "perpetual" and "irrevocable" under the Civil Code of Québec; whether a non-exclusive licence is sufficient for intended commercial uses; formal requirements for licences under the Copyright Act (Canada), s. 13(4).

5. Moral rights

Canadian law gives authors moral rights (to be associated with a work and to its integrity). Moral rights cannot be assigned, but they can be waived.

To the extent permitted by law, you agree not to assert your moral rights against us, our licensees or our successors in connection with the uses described in section 4, including uses where your Contribution is modified, combined with other material, or published without your name.

Counsel to review: scope and enforceability of a moral-rights waiver given by click-through acceptance.

6. Attribution

While your Contribution appears on this website as community content, it will be shown under your username or display name. For accepted canon, we intend to keep a record of original authorship and to credit contributors where reasonably practicable. However, adaptations in other media may not credit individual contributors.

7. Your promises

By submitting a Contribution you confirm that:

• you created it, or you have all rights needed to grant this Licence;
• it does not knowingly infringe anyone's copyright, trademark, privacy or other rights;
• it is not material from another franchise or protected work presented as your own original creation;
• you understand that accepted material may be changed, adapted or incorporated into the Universe; and
• you understand that canon selection is discretionary and that no compensation is promised unless agreed separately in writing.

8. Canon selection

We may, but are never obliged to, select a Contribution for the official canon. Community votes, comments or popularity do not decide canon. If a Contribution is accepted, we preserve the accepted version; later edits you make to your community post do not change the official canon.

9. Separate agreements

Some uses (for example, publishing a book that features your Contribution prominently) may lead us to ask for a separate, signed agreement, such as an assignment of copyright or a compensation arrangement. Nothing in this Licence obliges either of us to enter into such an agreement, and checking a box on this website does not by itself assign your copyright to us.

10. Withdrawal and deletion

You may delete or withdraw your Contributions as described in our Terms of Service. Because this Licence is intended to be irrevocable where the law allows, withdrawal does not cancel rights we have already been granted, in particular for Contributions accepted into canon or already incorporated into other works.

11. Changes to this Licence

We may update this Licence. If we make a material change, we will ask you to accept the new version before you submit further Contributions. Contributions submitted under an earlier version remain governed by that version unless you agree otherwise.

12. Age

You must meet the minimum age stated during registration to accept this Licence.

13. Governing law

This Licence is governed by the laws of the Province of Quebec and the federal laws of Canada applicable there. [Venue clause to be confirmed by counsel; consumer-protection rules may limit the choice of forum.]

14. Contact

Questions about this Licence: [contact email].