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Hello, I am lawyer with a PSA: almost everyone is wrong about the OGL and SRD. Clearing up confusion.
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<blockquote data-quote="pemerton" data-source="post: 8917008" data-attributes="member: 42582"><p>Just to add to this: OGC is not a label that pertains to certain copyrighted material in virtue of its content. It attaches to that material in virtue of its status within a particular contractual licensing regime. WotC's publication of the rulebooks that you mention has nothing to do with that regime.</p><p></p><p>This creates interesting theoretical questions. Suppose (i) I reproduce a section of the SRD that is OGC for which a licence in terms of the OGL is offered by WotC, as per the notice affixed to the SRD, and (ii) the particular bit of the SRD I reproduce is also found word-for-word in one of those rulebooks, and (iii) I don't include a copy of the OGL in my work, nor a clear notice as to what in my work is OGC.</p><p></p><p>In that scenario, am I infringing WotC's copyright in its rulebooks? Or breaking my contractual obligations under the OGL? Or both?</p><p></p><p>I think - without being definite about it - that the answer depends on the factual question of what my intentions and beliefs were when I reproduced the text. If I believed I was entitled to do so by the OGL, and that I was exercising permissions under a licence granted by WotC, then I think that (at least) I'm in breach of contract. If I was ignorant of WotC's offer to license the work under the terms of the OGL then I don't see that I can be in breach of contract, and my liability is confined to copyright infringement.</p><p></p><p>I describe this as a theoretical question because I can't imagine a practical context in which this would not be resolved via negotiation between the parties, with the upshot being either the withdrawal of the offending work (perhaps with a payment to WotC also) or else a cure of the work as envisaged in section 13 of the OGL. (Assuming that WotC accepts that the OGL remains effective in respect of its SRD content - so let's suppose my example is occurring a couple of years ago!)</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="pemerton, post: 8917008, member: 42582"] Just to add to this: OGC is not a label that pertains to certain copyrighted material in virtue of its content. It attaches to that material in virtue of its status within a particular contractual licensing regime. WotC's publication of the rulebooks that you mention has nothing to do with that regime. This creates interesting theoretical questions. Suppose (i) I reproduce a section of the SRD that is OGC for which a licence in terms of the OGL is offered by WotC, as per the notice affixed to the SRD, and (ii) the particular bit of the SRD I reproduce is also found word-for-word in one of those rulebooks, and (iii) I don't include a copy of the OGL in my work, nor a clear notice as to what in my work is OGC. In that scenario, am I infringing WotC's copyright in its rulebooks? Or breaking my contractual obligations under the OGL? Or both? I think - without being definite about it - that the answer depends on the factual question of what my intentions and beliefs were when I reproduced the text. If I believed I was entitled to do so by the OGL, and that I was exercising permissions under a licence granted by WotC, then I think that (at least) I'm in breach of contract. If I was ignorant of WotC's offer to license the work under the terms of the OGL then I don't see that I can be in breach of contract, and my liability is confined to copyright infringement. I describe this as a theoretical question because I can't imagine a practical context in which this would not be resolved via negotiation between the parties, with the upshot being either the withdrawal of the offending work (perhaps with a payment to WotC also) or else a cure of the work as envisaged in section 13 of the OGL. (Assuming that WotC accepts that the OGL remains effective in respect of its SRD content - so let's suppose my example is occurring a couple of years ago!) [/QUOTE]
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Hello, I am lawyer with a PSA: almost everyone is wrong about the OGL and SRD. Clearing up confusion.
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