Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
The
VOIDRUNNER'S CODEX
is coming! Explore new worlds, fight oppressive empires, fend off fearsome aliens, and wield deadly psionics with this comprehensive boxed set expansion for 5E and A5E!
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
Publishing Business & Licensing
Hello, I am lawyer with a PSA: almost everyone is wrong about the OGL and SRD. Clearing up confusion.
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="pemerton" data-source="post: 8920598" data-attributes="member: 42582"><p>Obviously, a licence can only be granted over copyrighted work if the work exists.</p><p></p><p>But the work does not become OGC - in any sense that has legal meaning - except by being the subject matter of a licensing agreement on the terms set out in the OGL v 1.0/1.0a.</p><p></p><p>In practical terms, if someone wants to read WotC's SRD page <<a href="https://media.wizards.com/2016/downloads/DND/SRD-OGL_V5.1.pdf" target="_blank">https://media.wizards.com/2016/downloads/DND/SRD-OGL_V5.1.pdf</a>> and say "Cool, there's all this OGC there that is free to use" no one is going to quibble. Everyone knows what that person means.</p><p></p><p>But the point of this thread is to understand the legal operation and effect of the OGL licensing regime, including what powers (if any) WotC might enjoy to shut it down. In that context, blurring the difference between (a) <em>an offer to license</em> that is constituted by some notices pointing to (i) some content and (ii) some licence terms, and (b) <em>an actual licence agreement expressed in those terms in respect of that content</em>, is just hopeless. Because that blurring makes it impossible to understand any of the legal reasons and legal arguments that are actually relevant to addressing the matters at hand.</p><p></p><p>Similarly: when one of my kids is unpacking the shopping and comments (say) that the butter is heavier than the container of olives I know what they mean; but that doesn't make it unreasonable, in relevant contexts, to point out that what they're really noticing is density rather than mass. Sometimes, precision and care with descriptions actually matters to explanation and understanding.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="pemerton, post: 8920598, member: 42582"] Obviously, a licence can only be granted over copyrighted work if the work exists. But the work does not become OGC - in any sense that has legal meaning - except by being the subject matter of a licensing agreement on the terms set out in the OGL v 1.0/1.0a. In practical terms, if someone wants to read WotC's SRD page <[URL]https://media.wizards.com/2016/downloads/DND/SRD-OGL_V5.1.pdf[/URL]> and say "Cool, there's all this OGC there that is free to use" no one is going to quibble. Everyone knows what that person means. But the point of this thread is to understand the legal operation and effect of the OGL licensing regime, including what powers (if any) WotC might enjoy to shut it down. In that context, blurring the difference between (a) [i]an offer to license[/i] that is constituted by some notices pointing to (i) some content and (ii) some licence terms, and (b) [i]an actual licence agreement expressed in those terms in respect of that content[/i], is just hopeless. Because that blurring makes it impossible to understand any of the legal reasons and legal arguments that are actually relevant to addressing the matters at hand. Similarly: when one of my kids is unpacking the shopping and comments (say) that the butter is heavier than the container of olives I know what they mean; but that doesn't make it unreasonable, in relevant contexts, to point out that what they're really noticing is density rather than mass. Sometimes, precision and care with descriptions actually matters to explanation and understanding. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
Publishing Business & Licensing
Hello, I am lawyer with a PSA: almost everyone is wrong about the OGL and SRD. Clearing up confusion.
Top