Board Thread:Inclusion debates/@comment-31010985-20190928203157/@comment-6032121-20191014210058

I think you're mixing together two parts of T:VS:


 * the license needs to be a commercial license;
 * the release needs to be an official release.

But there's nothing about the release itself needing to be a commercial release. In fact, there are dozens of valid stories which have never been released commercially, but instead released for free for promotional purposes; they are officially released and commercially released, so they're valid. See: all Free Comic Book Day comic stories, nearly all webcasts ever. This is direct from T:VS:

"(…) if it's downloadable it's by definition officially released."

- T:VS

And this is from T:OFF REL: "(…) We consider something officially released when it is made available to the general public, in venues that are ordinarily and legally used for that particular medium."

- T:OFF REL

Nothing here about the release needing to be for profit. It just needs to be official (e.g. endorsed by the right-holders of the story).

So yes, RingoRoadAgain's understanding of the situation in the post you quoted was faulty, but so, it would appear, is yours. The Wylder crossovers are commercially licensed and officially released, so they fulfill the criteria of T:VS.

Also, none of this has anything to do with the works being self-published, so what is your point with that?