Has WotC ever enforced the OGL?

[DaveMage]

Didn't Anthony V. Himself have problems with his book of erotic fanasty (font size, etc)?

IIRC, the preview of the BoEF prompted some of the font restrictions in the d20 license. Anthony wanted to get the BoEF out before the "morality clause" went into effect (as he knew it was coming before he left WotC).

However, they did not get the book out in time, so it became an OGL book.

 

[trancejeremy]

Also one Troll Lord book sort of broke the rules. The authors inadvertantly used a few things out the official D&D spatbooks (which weren't OGL). I don't think WOTC did anything, I think Troll Lord caught the mistake themselves and issued an update and squared themselves with WOTC.

If WOTC wanted to enforce the OGL, they'd be pretty busy, because even to this day, some companies still forget to include the SRD in section 15. Or their own product.

Like for instance, the World's Largest Dungeon. Given it's such an expensive book, I was suprised to see that they didn't include an entry for itself. And even though the book is based on the revised srd (ie, 3.5), they cited the original instead.

Or Spycraft. It includes the Star Wars RPG in section 15 of the OGL.

And a couple companies I know have used stuff from the modern SRD, but either cited the original instead, or just didn't cite it, period.

 

[Mark CMG]

Does anyone have any knowledge of an instance in which WotC took action to enforce the OGL?

Are you including C&D letters or just court action?

 

[amethal]

I'm pretty sure Mastering Iron Heroes is not under the D20L.

Edit: Beat me to it.

My pdf of Mastering Iron Heroes has the d20 logo on the front and back covers. I thought you could only do that if you had a d20 licence.

 

[Paradigm]

I am not quite certain of what "enforcing the OGL" would entail. I am sure that each person's idea of enforcement would be distinct.

The simple fact is, the OGL has very little by way of requirements. I would expect that it is the D20 License that WotC would act to protect. Once a person/company puts something out as OGL, it is open content and cannot be closed afterwards. Also, a company cannot accidentally release somebody else's PI, any such attempt would fail as they lack the rights to do so.

Basically, the deal is that the section 15 of the Open Gaming License is supposed to reflect every open source in the books ancestry. Which is why we have a 2500 word license page in Magic of Arcanis (available Jan. 2 BTW!) .

The reality of the situation is that there are oversights constantly, everyone misses something sometimes. To add to this, the error will perpetuate itself onward from the original oversight as other companies reference a flawed section 15 to update the license of their own title. The most one should reasonably expect to get by way of correction is a public "oops, my bad" and a promise to correct it in future titles. I think WotC's 2 year example of a gentleman's agreement should set the tone for OGL behavior.

So I suppose the short answer would have been "no".

 

[Paradigm]

TO my knowledge, the only thing they've done to date are a bunch of Cease & Desist letters, as said over d20 issues. Most of it was in the early years (2001-2002) on the tail end of Ryan Dancey leaving and during the tenure of Anthony V.

The C&D letters that I know of all dealt with the D20 license and logo usage or the use of non-OGL material. Early on, many publisher made the mistake of using the PHB, DMG and MM to make their titles instead of the SRD. The SRD is the open content, the core books actually contain a large quantity of closed contect.

 

[Joshua Randall]

Does anyone have any knowledge of an instance in which WotC took action to enforce the OGL?

I am dying to know why philreed wants to know this. Hmm...!

 

[Voadam]

I remember hearing that the original AEG Evil books did not have the OGL stuff in them and so afte somebody from WotC saw the books at a convention and notified them they printed out stickers with the OGL to be put in the books.

 

[Breakdaddy]

I am dying to know why philreed wants to know this. Hmm...!

Maybe the "J" in Philip J. Reed stands for "Just wondering".

sorry, bad bad joke.

 

[JoeGKushner]

Basically, the deal is that the section 15 of the Open Gaming License is supposed to reflect every open source in the books ancestry. Which is why we have a 2500 word license page in Magic of Arcanis (available Jan. 2 BTW!) .

I was wondering what had happened to that sucker. If I knew it was going to be that long of a wait for it from Gen Con, I would've picked up one of the hardcovers there!