Credits Copyright & Tome of Horrors Q

[bitonti]

Howdy all,

I have a legal/copyright/OGL question with regards to the
recently published Tome of Horrors, by Necromancer Games.

A disclaimer: I am a software engineer, not a lawyer. I am
presenting a question within the framework of my layman's
understanding of copyright law. This note is not intended to
be legal advice, nor should it be taken as such.

That being said, what's with the limitation on using the 'Credits'
sections in the Tome, because of copyright issues?. I can
understand that the actual text of each credit being copyright, meaning, one cannot include the credit verbatim, however, I do
not understand that one cannot include the factual content of
the . My understanding is that simple facts are not subject to
copyright. (For example, one can present the ongoing score of
a professional sports match without infringing on a copyright.)

(As an aside, when the text of the credit is something simple, such
as 'A monster named XXX first appeared in Dragon #32,' where
there are few efficient alternatives to the text, my presumption is
that the verbatim text may not be subject to copyright, although
I cannot specify exactly the reasons that I believe this to be the
case, aside from vague musings on issues of novelty and
commercial value.)

Thx,
T Bitonti

 

[EricNoah]

I don't know why specifically they chose to do that in this particular work, but in general....

... when you publish under the OGL or the d20 license, you're agreeing to be bound by agreements that are more restrictive than copyright law normally is.

Edit: Ah, I think I just realized what's going on here...

Necromancer Games made a special arrangement with WotC to use these creatures, and likely they made special arrangements re: the credits. Normally you can't reference by name any D&D product other than the PHB. That's one of the restrictions you agree to when you publish under these agreements. So I think they're trying to make it clear that just because Necromancer Games got away with saying "Fiend Folio" or "Dragon magazine," that doesn't mean the next publisher using the open content of the Tome of Horrors is allowed to do that as well.