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<blockquote data-quote="deinol" data-source="post: 5513222" data-attributes="member: 62536">The thing to remember is that Clark was a lawyer and is now a judge. He takes a conservative view of licenses. He wanted to support 4E and the GSL. But as a lawyer, he couldn't sign the GSL because it gave away too many of his rights.As a lawyer, he wouldn't support retro-clones because he felt the risk was too high. The risk is using the OGL and SRD and combining it with ideas that are part of someone else's copyrighted material. Even if it could be defended in court, a retro-clone has enough doubt that a small company would be bancrupted in legal fees if Wizards decided to contest it. That's not a risk he is ever willing to take. That's the sort of thinking that probably makes him an excellent judge.Pathfinder is not a retro-clone. It is building on the SRD using the OGL. The only copyrighted material it uses is clearly legal from the SRD. The other old-school material they use is either public domain mythology stuff, or other clearly OGL material like Tome of Horrors. Paizo is very careful not to come even close to infringement. As a lawyer, Clark sees no grounds for Wizards to bring suit against Paizo. I see no contradiction in this.Clark also hasn't said he's starting a new company. He said he's going to do some writing. He's busy with his day job, but has a creative itch. I wouldn't be surprised to see a module he writes published either by Paizo or Frog God Games. Just as Monte cook retired the Malhavoc imprint but still wrote an adventure in the Pathfinder Modules line.I look forward to seeing what he does. Just as I look forward to the Complete Tome of Horrors from Frog God.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="deinol, post: 5513222, member: 62536"] The thing to remember is that Clark was a lawyer and is now a judge. He takes a conservative view of licenses. He wanted to support 4E and the GSL. But as a lawyer, he couldn't sign the GSL because it gave away too many of his rights. As a lawyer, he wouldn't support retro-clones because he felt the risk was too high. The risk is using the OGL and SRD and combining it with ideas that are part of someone else's copyrighted material. Even if it could be defended in court, a retro-clone has enough doubt that a small company would be bancrupted in legal fees if Wizards decided to contest it. That's not a risk he is ever willing to take. That's the sort of thinking that probably makes him an excellent judge. Pathfinder is not a retro-clone. It is building on the SRD using the OGL. The only copyrighted material it uses is clearly legal from the SRD. The other old-school material they use is either public domain mythology stuff, or other clearly OGL material like Tome of Horrors. Paizo is very careful not to come even close to infringement. As a lawyer, Clark sees no grounds for Wizards to bring suit against Paizo. I see no contradiction in this. Clark also hasn't said he's starting a new company. He said he's going to do some writing. He's busy with his day job, but has a creative itch. I wouldn't be surprised to see a module he writes published either by Paizo or Frog God Games. Just as Monte cook retired the Malhavoc imprint but still wrote an adventure in the Pathfinder Modules line. I look forward to seeing what he does. Just as I look forward to the Complete Tome of Horrors from Frog God. [/QUOTE]

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