Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
White Dwarf Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Nest
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions, OSR, & D&D Variants
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
EN Publishing
Twitter
BlueSky
Facebook
Instagram
EN World
BlueSky
YouTube
Facebook
Twitter
Twitch
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions, OSR, & D&D Variants
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
Publishing Business & Licensing
Hello, I am lawyer with a PSA: almost everyone is wrong about the OGL and SRD. Clearing up confusion.
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Enrahim2" data-source="post: 8917371" data-attributes="member: 7039850"><p>What I find mind boggling about this is that there are definitely parties interested in maintaining the integrity of this license, including the public.</p><p>To illustrate: For the sake of argument assume wizards go defunct in a way that make their IP effectively unenforced (as [USER=42582]@pemerton[/USER] points out, going out of business might not be a sure way of this, but there might be other ways). Moreover assume Paizo is thriving.</p><p>Now assume a new company A publishes a work using 5.1SRD under OGL 1.0a, but include the claim that it is "compatible with D&D". From what has been said, Paizo is then free to inform A that they are in breach of OGL 1.0a. However what if then A is making a claim (highly unlikely to hold up in court) that they indeed is not in breach?</p><p>(1) From what I understand has been said, Paizo would then be powerless to prevent A from continuing to spread their work?</p><p>If this is the case, that can cause the following situation: People pick up A's practice and a wave of new "compatible with D&D" works starts popping up. The brand recognition cause customers to pick up their products, hurting Paizo's sales.</p><p>(2) Are Paizo still unable to do anything, despite this unfair competative advantage? If they can, what legal mechanism would allow them to do so?</p><p>Assuming Paizo is still powerless, and this situation go on for a significant amount of time. Assume now a new company B put significant investments into a product line "extending Golarion" using PFSRD under OGL1.0a under the false belief that A's argument above now is effectively settled due to industry reliance without opposition (or similar legal-like thinking). Now Paizo is clearly in a position to sue B.</p><p>(3) Could conceivably the market situation caused by Paizo not being able to stop company A affect the outcome of the case against B in terms of damages awarded, or B's ability to somehow save their investments?</p><p>B being mislead to believe their investments to be safe, is the reason I think it would be of public interest that issues related to such public licenses can get settled without it needing to be engaged by the rights holders. For instance CC seem to be open to similar abuse by for instance someone publishing copies of defunct entities work under CC.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Enrahim2, post: 8917371, member: 7039850"] What I find mind boggling about this is that there are definitely parties interested in maintaining the integrity of this license, including the public. To illustrate: For the sake of argument assume wizards go defunct in a way that make their IP effectively unenforced (as [USER=42582]@pemerton[/USER] points out, going out of business might not be a sure way of this, but there might be other ways). Moreover assume Paizo is thriving. Now assume a new company A publishes a work using 5.1SRD under OGL 1.0a, but include the claim that it is "compatible with D&D". From what has been said, Paizo is then free to inform A that they are in breach of OGL 1.0a. However what if then A is making a claim (highly unlikely to hold up in court) that they indeed is not in breach? (1) From what I understand has been said, Paizo would then be powerless to prevent A from continuing to spread their work? If this is the case, that can cause the following situation: People pick up A's practice and a wave of new "compatible with D&D" works starts popping up. The brand recognition cause customers to pick up their products, hurting Paizo's sales. (2) Are Paizo still unable to do anything, despite this unfair competative advantage? If they can, what legal mechanism would allow them to do so? Assuming Paizo is still powerless, and this situation go on for a significant amount of time. Assume now a new company B put significant investments into a product line "extending Golarion" using PFSRD under OGL1.0a under the false belief that A's argument above now is effectively settled due to industry reliance without opposition (or similar legal-like thinking). Now Paizo is clearly in a position to sue B. (3) Could conceivably the market situation caused by Paizo not being able to stop company A affect the outcome of the case against B in terms of damages awarded, or B's ability to somehow save their investments? B being mislead to believe their investments to be safe, is the reason I think it would be of public interest that issues related to such public licenses can get settled without it needing to be engaged by the rights holders. For instance CC seem to be open to similar abuse by for instance someone publishing copies of defunct entities work under CC. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
Publishing Business & Licensing
Hello, I am lawyer with a PSA: almost everyone is wrong about the OGL and SRD. Clearing up confusion.
Top