User:SOTO/Forum Archive/Inclusion debates/@comment-31010985-20190928203157/@comment-24894325-20191015215629

I have to admit that I did not remember of these stories, one of which I own. This is a good point. Perhaps, it merits a separate discussion because "exclusively sold" is the polar opposite to "made available to the general public" required by T:OFF REL. But discussing it here would be off topic.

However, and fortunately, there is no need for drastic measures. All three of these stories have been made commercially available to the general public, eventually. It is not the case, as stated in the above post, that the three stories "were exclusively sold at the San Diego Comic-Con". In addition, Selfie has been republished digitally: For all three stories, it was easy to find commercial releases through major providers of Doctor Who merchandise, such as Comixology/Amazon and.
 * Selfie can be purchased digitally right now at comixology;
 * The Long Con was at some point available to order through Forbidden Planet, as stated here (currently out of stock);
 * The Last Action Figure was also at some point available to order through Forbidden Planet, as stated here (currently out of stock).

As for the stories discussed in this thread, I believe we are still waiting for evidence that they have been sold commercially at conventions, let alone been made available to the general public through ordinary and legal channels for selling Doctor Who merchandise.

Independently of this, the problem of determining the existence of commercial license based solely on convention (and direct mailing) sales remains.

And this is the problem unique to Arcbeatle Press.
 * When Titan Comics created these exclusive convention stories, it has long been common knowledge that they have the general continuing license for publishing Doctor Who comics.
 * When Big Finish Productions posted free audios on its website, it has long been common knowledge that they have the general continuing license for producing Doctor Who audios.
 * When BBC posts free stories online, it is common knowledge that they own the rights to Doctor Who.
 * When Candy Jar Books distributed free stories, it was affirmed by them, Haisman Literary Estate and publicity in Doctor Who Magazine that they have the general continuing license for publishing Lethbridge-Stewart-related stories.

It only seems like no consideration was given to the copyright status of these stories. To prove that copyright vetting takes place (though, fortunately, rarely leads to visible actions) one should only remember how, shortly after the announcement of the current Doctor, Candy Jar Books distributed a story featuring the Thirteenth Doctor. Since it has also been common knowledge that Candy Jar Books do not have, in their own words, a permission to use the Doctor, the story was deleted from the wiki and remains in this state to this day.

It has been stated by the OP, "A commercial licence is definitely involved from the evidence that has been presented." Unfortunately, I see no evidence to support the existence of commercial license. The OP's claimed, "It is well-documented that Wylder has sold physical copies of these stories for profit at conventions and via direct mailing." But others struggled to confirm this. And, at the same time, as already explained above, it is quite common to sell merchandise through these channels without having a license. The releases available to the general public, the ones discussed in this thread, are not commercial. Let RingoRoadagain correct me again if I am wrong, but legal and ordinary distributors of Doctor Who merchandise have never sold any of these three stories. I personally know of exactly one place where it is explicitly claimed that a commercial license exists. And this claim is made by James Wylder, on his website.