Goodman Games Releasing 4e Adventures Prior to October 1st

[Moon-Lancer]

He just negotiated a special license. GSL is if you want to do 4E D&D stuff for free, you can always negotiate a special license paying up royalties ( like you normally have to do for every other product in the market) for use of the IP/System.

I think this would be an interesting alternative my idea. I was worried that wizards was just going to have the gsl and not really negotiate anything else. If you are right, i would be glad to see other options then the gsl.

 

[Treebore]

No, Yes and No.

No, I'm not a lawyer. I'm a publisher who has fought such cases before, and an industry consultant who has been called in the past as an expert witness in IP lawsuits.

My opinions are based on my own experience, as well as the results of spending the past week in consultation with my lawyer regarding this specific topic.

Cool. If your willing, private PM or in a thread, I would like to know your over all opinion of the GSL and copyright law, and using one versus the other.

Personally I think I would go the copyright route, but that is only with about 3 hours of reading the laws and getting a couple of e-mails answered by copyright law professors.

 

[jmucchiello]

Or existing US Copyright law, supported by multiple verdicts in case law....

Which is what I thought. Question is are they also OGL?

 

[Treebore]

Which is what I thought. Question is are they also OGL?

Printing under copyright would not make them OGL. However I doubt anything would stop them from declaring their work as OGL, other than their wish to keep WOTC's hands off of it, or just the desire to keep their work theirs.

 

[Charwoman Gene]

Guys, I've looked at the Plaintiff in the most important cases, it was Hasbro over Monopoly. Hasbro's Lawyers KNOW they will lose cases, they allow the GSL/OGL hoodwinkery because it limits what people already have the right to do.

IANAL

 

[The Sigil]

Not sure how they are doing it, but Goodman Games is releasing four 4e adventures in early September. You can read about it here. And before anyone says this is a typo, Joseph Goodman confirmed it on their forum:

At first blush, I figured I knew the trick...

5.4 First On-Sale Date. Licensee will ensure that no Licensed Product is first on sale to consumers prior to October 1, 2008. Wizards may terminate this License immediately upon notice to Licensee in the event that any sale of a Licensed Product is made, by any individual or entity, to a consumer prior to October 1, 2008. Without limiting the foregoing, Licensee may produce, publish, and distribute (a) marketing and promotional materials for Licensed Products, and (b) non-commercial Licensed Products (i.e. free), in accordance with the terms of this License prior to October 1, 2008.

Emphasis mine.

On further review of their site, though, they have an MSRP of > 0, which suggests either (wild speculation follows) a special arrangement with WotC or possibly that they'll be giving them out free at GenCon. (end wild speculation)

 

[Agamon]

I'm planning on doing most stuff myself for my upcoming 4e game, but the products coming this summer look pretty snazzy, might have to check 'em out.

 

[Cadfan]

Contrary to what gamers might think, corporations are usually smart enough not to bring suit when the law is clearly against them, not to mention literally dozens of previously-ruled cases.

Usually, these things result in nastygrams, in the hopes that a less-than-informed small businessman will just fold. Actual suits are rare, and usually brought about in specific examples where they believe there are provisions in the case that lie outside of existing law.

Also, such things result in bitter business relations, and recriminations when the smaller company wants to play nice again. Makes me think that there's a negotiated license in use.

 

[Filcher]

On further review of their site, though, they have an MSRP of > 0, which suggests either (wild speculation follows) a special arrangement with WotC or possibly that they'll be giving them out free at GenCon. (end wild speculation)

I for one am entirely in favor of free Dungeon Crawl Classics!

 

[Ydars]

Has there been any word on how Goodman Games are releasing so early?

Do we know if it is a license or are they just going for it and daring WoTC to take them to court?