D&D General Trademarking "THE WORLD’S GREATEST ROLEPLAYING GAME™"

[darjr]

I thought we were talking about D&D, not Palladium?

Me too. I mean TSR is no more.

 

[Vaalingrade]

Well, there was that whole affair with "The Book of Erotic Fantasy", though I don't think it went to court so much as got yanked after a fashion.

IIRC, they changed the OGL to exclude them and they quietly walked away.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

Well, there was that whole affair with "The Book of Erotic Fantasy", though I don't think it went to court so much as got yanked after a fashion.

I just checked and it still seems to for sale and listed as OGL on Drivethru, so presumably they stopped books like that going forwards or something?

 

[Staffan]

IIRC, they changed the OGL to exclude them and they quietly walked away.

Not the OGL, but the d20 STL. It got changed to include some "community standards" clause about nudity and such.

 

[soviet]

They’ll have to remove the phrase or add a note about it being a WotC trademark in future printings.

I don't think that's true.

Note also that this appears to just be Wizards saying it's a trademark. If it was a registered trademark it would be signified by an 'R'. Unregistered trademarks have a lot less weight.

 

[Clint_L]

I haven't heard of another instance of it. I think the reason this and some of the other news has people on edge, is what happened with TSR in the late 90s. One thing wizards did right when they started, was go in a totally opposite direction from that, including doing things like the OGL. So I think this, the OGL 1.1 announcement and the statement about D&D being under-monetized has folks wondering where this will go. Mostly all speculation at this point of course.

I really think folks are over-analyzing the "under-monetized" comment. It was given in the context of D&D having 10/10 brand recognition but not doing enough with it, in contrast with brands like Marvel, etc.. To me, the implication was that they needed to start looking beyond just selling to gamers.

 

[Smackpixi]

Okay, well, they've definitely "gone legal" so far as sending C&Ds is concerned. This one comes with a lot of legal discussion about the copyrightability of game mechanics and the OGL. Pinging @Frylock in case he's still around.

Unless you were talking about legal action pertaining specifically to a trademark claim. Anyway, too late, I feel free now.

I can’t find any copy of what WoTC sent him. Just him being crabby about it, and going on long tangents on what he thinks is copyrightable. I give Zero crap about his legal opinions, but would like to see what claims WoTC made.

 

[Greg Benage]

I can’t find any copy of what WoTC sent him. Just him being crabby about it, and going on long tangents on what he thinks is copyrightable. I give Zero crap about his legal opinions, but would like to see what claims WoTC made.

As far as I can tell, he never shared the email from "the paralegal."

 

[Smackpixi]

Other than NuTSR has WotC ever actually gone legal at anybody over D&D?

I would also be curious about this. They seem remarkably passive. Like EVERYTHING they’ve published is available in .pdf with just no more effort than a Google search. I’m sure there are obstacles with doing something about that on server locations and boarders and what not, but just seems like they don’t try all that hard. I won’t say it’s cause they’re ”nice” but I will say they’re pretty tolerant of fans doing what they like.

As far as I can tell, he never shared the email from "the paralegal."

Yeah, and that’s cause I suspect if he got a message, it was not as hostile as he claims, really, they can’t say please in a legal demand. And far from insulting his intelligence, it asked him to do something his pages of explanation lead him to believe he doesn’t have to do. Some guy ranting about a message he doesn’t share leads me to believe he’s the weirdo in this encounter.

There’s a lot of paranoia and hostility towards WoTC for things they haven’t done. They do make legal manouvers to secure their rights, and perhaps in the future capture some more money from those profiting off their game. I don’t know why anyone would be angry about this. There are so many ways you can share anything you’ve done with their game, and so many ways you can monetize it. It’s an incredibly open ecosystem that’d be hard for them to close if they wanted to. But the hostility towards way out numbers the appreciation of it.

They are not litigious towards the community. They like their fans. Doesn’t matter if it’s cause they have to or want to. All the bitching about corporations and jokes about them doing things they don’t actually do makes the community look worse than its corporate overlord. I hate being an apologist, but…some people need to chill

 

[Vaalingrade]

Not the OGL, but the d20 STL. It got changed to include some "community standards" clause about nudity and such.

From the company that made the Book of Exalted Deed and Book of Vile Darkness, 'community standards' is rich.