But wouldn’t the market correct for this? If WotC frivolously forces someone to pull their products, there will be a pretty immediate hue and cry.
I get that borderline cases might exist, but this is not really a blank check.
I mean wouldn’t the simplest solution, if you wanted to publish something that was walking the line, be to just ask WotC before you publish?
If I were a business owner looking to rely on the license to build a product line, or an entire business, on, I would not want to rely on the potential of future bad press and internet outrage to save my company. Especially since Hasbro could better weather the loss of good will than I could weather even a relatively short period of uncertainty.
It still boggles my mind that nobody thought to demand for an irrevocability clause in the license back when it was first being discussed. I realize that I write this with the benefit of hindsight and that it apparently was common for open source licenses to not have this language back then. But the fact that this may have been common boggles my mind even more.
So, no, given the lessons learned in the past few weeks, if I were a publisher of TTRPG products, I would want clear language on whether the license is revocable, and if it is, under what exact conditions it can be revoked.
That is why it is equally important for TTRPG businesses "signing on" to the ORC license carefully scruitinize it and not rely on trust and warm feelings of being on the side of good. Make sure that the terms are ones you can live with. Hire experienced lawyers to pick apart the language with a their trained pessimism. The community needs to tap into its roots and wargame the hell out any open license. Really try to find ways to break it. This is also why it is important to have a the license supported by some non-profit, funded organization who can keep on top of changes in the law to protect the orginal spirit and goals of the license.