Maxperson
Morkus from Orkus
WotC doesn't even distribute its own stuff under the OGL. They're not writing all the stuff the OGL requires when they use their content in their books.
Hello, I am lawyer with a PSA: almost everyone is wrong about the OGL and SRD. Clearing up confusion.
- Thread starter DavyGreenwind
- Start date
FrogReaver
As long as i get to be the frog
Agreed. But that doesn’t stop other licensees from distributing it as long as it was OGC.
Maxperson
Morkus from Orkus
They aren't using the OGL to do it, so those terms do not apply to WotC. They apply to everyone else who takes a brownie.
FrogReaver
As long as i get to be the frog
The do for the 5.1 SRD.
FrogReaver
As long as i get to be the frog
Yes they are.
What you mean is they could distributed a 5.1 SRD without the OGL and I agree. But they chose to use the OGL to do it.
Since they used the OGL the OGLs terms do apply to them.
Maxperson
Morkus from Orkus
Really? Open up any book they've put out. All of it uses SRD 5.1 content. None of it includes a copy of the license. YOU are required to put in a copy of the license as required by the OGL, because you have to use the OGL to use the SRD content. They do not.
mamba
Hero
explain how
Aspirinsmurf
Hero
Under the doctrine of first sale, I'm obviously allowed to take you up on your brownie offer and then resell it. Can you contort your metaphor into being about something like the right to copy your specific expression of a brownie recipe instead?
The only real question here is whether or not we can keep sublicensing WotC's OGC to each other after WotC has revoked the initial offer. I think there are good reasons for why we should be able to so, and I'm pretty sure that the drafter intended for this to be the case.
I would, however, like to hear any and all arguments against that being the case.
mamba
Hero
I was talking about publishing the SRD there
FrogReaver
As long as i get to be the frog
The OGL isn’t hundreds of separate offers from each individual copyright holder. It’s one offer for all OGC.
mamba
Hero
it is unclear whether they can revoke (probably not), they bypass the whole 'does this only mean WotC no longer offers its OGC directly' by attempting to deauthorize the license (another dubious manoeuvre at best)
Maxperson
Morkus from Orkus
The OGL is thousands of offers by WotC to all the third party creators who took them up on it. WotC doesn't have to contract with itself. They do not use the OGL to put out their books, all of which contains SRD 5.1 content. They don't have to. None of their books have the required language from the OGL in them.
mamba
Hero
Huh? How do you arrive at that? It is literally hundreds of offers, they just are under the same license. See 6. in the OGL
FrogReaver
As long as i get to be the frog
Agreed on the example. Now for the explanation. Suppose I got approval from WOTC to print gold plated PHB’s but I’ve already agreed to the OGL terms. Am I forbidden from doing this? No! Because I can have 2 different licenses to use the same content.
Similar for Wotc - except they have a copyright instead of a license.
Being able to issue content another way (under a different copyright or license) doesn’t mean one isn’t a licensee under another license.
FrogReaver
As long as i get to be the frog
They aren’t contracting with themselves. They are licensed for all the other OGC out there.
No one is claiming they do…
Maxperson
Morkus from Orkus
For giggles, even though it doesn't work that way, I'm going to assume that distributing OGC means that WotC is using the OGL. The following is from the OGL.
10. Copy of this License: You MUST include a copy of this License with every copy of the Open Game Content You Distribute.
Must. It's not an option.
13. Termination: This License will terminate automatically if You fail to comply with all terms herein and fail to cure such breach within 30 days of becoming aware of the breach. All sublicenses shall survive the termination of this License.
So since they failed to cure the breach within 30 days of putting out the very first 5e book, the license terminated and they can't use the OGL anymore.
I guess they'll have to sue themselves to get their own money.
mamba
Hero
then tell me where WotC is using the OGC as licensed by the OGL
Maxperson
Morkus from Orkus
It seems from your responses that you think the OGL licenses to people. It does not. It IS the license. Only WotC can license that material to anyone. OGL 1.0a allows you to sublicense, though.
Aspirinsmurf
Hero
That can't be the case. No single party owns all the OGC, and you certainly don't have to use all the OGC. There might exist the possibility that the Contributors are acting collectively in respect to granting you the right to Use the OGC that you're actually Using, but I'm not sure if that's the most plausible interpretation either.
FrogReaver
As long as i get to be the frog
5.1 SRD. They are distributing OGC.
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