If you find someone violating the Open Game License . . .

[BrotherD]

What should you do?

Report it to Wizards?

Contact them directly?

Go to their house and fireball their dog?

(I didn't quite know where to post this question; hope this is as okay a place as any . . . !)

 

[Iron Captain]

You should probably first contact the firm or persons violating the OGL. *Not legal advice just what I would do.*

 

[Morrus]

Nothing. If you feel very magnaminous, you could politely point out their mistake, I suppose. WotC isn't the OGL Police, and neither is anyone else.

If someone feels their own OGC or IP has been misused by another company, then it's for them to take any action they feel appropriate.

 

[trancejeremy]

Don't bother doing anything - no one seemingly cares, even when it basically amounts to plagiarism (using material without crediting the source). I used to try (sending polite emails and such) - no one cared. Then I added them to reviews. No one cared. So there's no point, really.


And let me point to to Morrus, that really, it should be the business of everyone who buys a book released under the OGL. Improper use of the OGL basically takes away from the consumers value and use of a product. Because while no one cares now, you can't say that will be the cause for the future. In the relatively early days of the internet, TSR led a campaign against just about every D&D fan site - something like that seems very possible when 4e comes around. The OGL is a protection against that, but thanks to the massively improper use of it, it's not so clear cut anymore.

 

[DaveMage]

As stated above, I'd point it out to the company that made the mistake.

Beyond that, nothing (unless it was a product that you created which was being used illegally).

 

[kingpaul]

Personally, if you think you've found a violation, send a polite email to the company of the product.

 

[jaerdaph]

Personally, if you think you've found a violation, send a polite email to the company of the product.

Good advice. Personally, I don't go through any product's OGL section 15 with a fine toothed comb (I really only look to see what products they used that I already own or might be interested in owning), but on the two occasions where I did notice something missing, I emailed the publishers a heads up. Both times the publishers thanked me and fixed the OGL in their PDF products.

Most publishers do respect the OGL and other publishers' material that they reuse.

 

[DaveMage]

One thing to also consider. Sometimes companies have undisclosed agreements with WotC (or other companies) to do things that may seem (on the surface) to be violations.

 

[Yair]

Nothing. If you feel very magnaminous, you could politely point out their mistake, I suppose. WotC isn't the OGL Police, and neither is anyone else.

If someone feels their own OGC or IP has been misused by another company, then it's for them to take any action they feel appropriate.

On that note, if the violation has to do with someone else's stuff, it may actually be more useful to alert that someone else.

 

[Arnix]

If it was one of our products that was missing part of the section 15, I would want to be contacted so that we could make the appropriate corrections.

If it was one of our products that was not being sited and the offending party did not make the corrections, I would want to be contacted so that we could handle it from our end.