GSL: Necromancer Games SOL?

[The Little Raven]

So if I just took the 4e core books, rewrote the whole thing (no reusing quotes, tables, etc), and snipped out those few trademarked monsters and names, I could publish it and the WotC lawyers would have a hell of a time stopping me.

If this was true, then Palladium's lawsuit against the Primal Order (for merely referencing one of their games, rather than copying it) would have been thrown out of court, instead of Wizards settling (and burying the game) to avoid drawn-out litigation.

I don't think stealing someone else's work, rewording it, and slapping your own name on it is as easy as you think.

 

[Merlin the Tuna]

I'd argue that the OGL ended up working out to WotCs advantage.

That... was the idea, yes.

 

[ZombieRoboNinja]

If this was true, then Palladium's lawsuit against the Primal Order (for merely referencing one of their games, rather than copying it) would have been thrown out of court, instead of Wizards settling (and burying the game) to avoid drawn-out litigation.

I don't think stealing someone else's work, rewording it, and slapping your own name on it is as easy as you think.

At the time WotC's lawyers said they weren't breaking any laws when they published that book, and if they'd actually gone to court they may well have won. But back then WotC was the little guy and couldn't afford a huge court battle.

Necromancer is probably in a similar situation. They COULD tell WotC to go suck an egg and just publish, and if they actually went to court with it they might well win in the end. But as I also said in my previous post, that might well be more trouble than it's worth for them.

 

[TwinBahamut]

If this was true, then Palladium's lawsuit against the Primal Order (for merely referencing one of their games, rather than copying it) would have been thrown out of court, instead of Wizards settling (and burying the game) to avoid drawn-out litigation.

I don't think stealing someone else's work, rewording it, and slapping your own name on it is as easy as you think.

Very true. I am no legal expert, but I am certain that copyright law goes far beyond just the specific wording of a book. For any book, games rules or not, just taking the text and rewording everything, but keeping the general content the same, is copyright infringement.

For example, if someone tried to make a film that took the plot from the Lord of the Rings books, but swapped out every name, used different phrasing for the dialog, replaced the One Ring with the Prime Necklace and maybe made a few minor changes to setting, then the Tolkien estate could easily sue for copyright infringement.

 

[MerricB]

All of this information (with the exception of clarifications by Le Rouse and Lidda [whose real name I don't want to risk misspelling ]) is available from their OGL Conference Call announcement.

Lidda = Linae Foster.

Cheers!

 

[cerberus2112]

So if I just took the 4e core books, rewrote the whole thing (no reusing quotes, tables, etc), and snipped out those few trademarked monsters and names,

You've just described flagrant plagiarism.

According to the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, to "plagiarize" means
1. to steal and pass off (the ideas or words of another) as one's own
2. to use (another's production) without crediting the source
3. to commit literary theft
4. to present as new and original an idea or product derived from an existing source.

Note #4. The site goes on to say that it is fraud, and further more, has a section on things which are violations of U.S. copyright law, including:

copying so many words or ideas from a source that it makes up the majority of your work, whether you give credit or not (see our section on "fair use" rules)

However, there is a way to avoid plagiarism:

Most cases of plagiarism can be avoided, however, by citing sources. Simply acknowledging that certain material has been borrowed, and providing your audience with the information necessary to find that source, is usually enough to prevent plagiarism.

 

[catsclaw227]

I have a question....

For those that signed the NDA to view the GSL, does it violate the NDA to simply state that you have finally received the GSL?

i.e. will we even know when the publishers that signed the NDA to view the GSL (to decide to pony up the $5K) receive the GSL in the first place?

(after 4 reads of my last sentence, I leave it for you to figure out what I meant)

 

[The Little Raven]

Necromancer is probably in a similar situation. They COULD tell WotC to go suck an egg and just publish, and if they actually went to court with it they might well win in the end. But as I also said in my previous post, that might well be more trouble than it's worth for them.

As noted above, it's still plagiarism. Sure, there's the "cite your sources" angle to avoid plagiarism, but that might not apply in a situation where you're "citing" another game in order to completely rip it off and produce a competitive product based solely on another person's work. The citation clause is primarily for being able to draw on other's research, so you don't have to reinvent the wheel. Wholesale citation of an entire product is much shadier, as I don't think anyone could get away with reprinting an entire novel under their own name using this "citation" clause without being sued into poverty.

 

[ZombieRoboNinja]

As noted above, it's still plagiarism. Sure, there's the "cite your sources" angle to avoid plagiarism, but that might not apply in a situation where you're "citing" another game in order to completely rip it off and produce a competitive product based solely on another person's work. The citation clause is primarily for being able to draw on other's research, so you don't have to reinvent the wheel. Wholesale citation of an entire product is much shadier, as I don't think anyone could get away with reprinting an entire novel under their own name using this "citation" clause without being sued into poverty.

Oh, it's definitely plagiarism. Rewording the PHB and printing it for profit would be highly immoral (IMO). But plagiarism isn't (always) a crime. As a trivial example, I could write "A Story of Two Metropolises" ripping off Dickens, but nobody would sue me, because Dickens is no longer protected under copyright.

I'll admit to being very unsure how far copyright extends, though. It's kind of an academic question anyway, because any blatant idea-theft is going to result in Hasbro lawyers knocking on someone's door, and no matter where the law stands specifically, you'd end up losing more money than you stand to earn by the time THAT court case was over.

 

[Darrin Drader]

That... was the idea, yes.

I don't think it was WotC's idea to put the OGL out there so that people would reject the competition who were trying to design material that was compatible with their system. Yes, it was their idea for it to help with sales, but not in the way that it ended up helping.