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<blockquote data-quote="Alzrius" data-source="post: 4374819" data-attributes="member: 8461"><p>Actually, Paradox, that's not true.</p><p></p><p>Kenzer Co. started publishing Kingdoms of Kalamar products that were compatible with AD&D 2E back in the mid-1990's or so (I have some of those old products in my attic) with no repercussions, despite the fact that TSR was very active with threats of legal actions against people who were using their products (e.g. Mayfair Games, who successfully put out AD&D compatible material for years before TSR tried to sue them to stop. FYI, that case ended in a settlement, not a judgment, because TSR didn't want a ruling that'd set precedent that anyone could copy their game mechanics. The second lawsuit TSR brought against Mayfair years later was due to Mayfair being in violation of a specific contract they signed with TSR after the first lawsuit).</p><p></p><p>Further, the period when Wizards of the Coast owned TSR while Peter Adkison was CEO was during 1997-2001, after which he sold the company. However, Kenzer Co. has been publishing many D&D-compatible products during and after that time (such as <em>Goods & Gear</em>, mentioned above), even when they also had a license to produce second-party official materials. Despite that, no such lawsuit has emerged in the last seven years.</p><p></p><p>Finally, if WotC were inclined to sue, I doubt they'd back down from doing so because they were afraid of "looking bad." It didn't, for example, stop them from suing Daron Rutter, administrator of the MTGSalvation website, for copyright infringement. This seems to indicate that WotC is willing to go to court over the things it feels are infringements of its copyright - it just doesn't seem to think that 4E-compatible products are (which, to my layman's knowledge, seems to be correct).</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>The company that released the original OGL seems to have largely left with Peter in 2001, with the remaining group having left slowly over the intervening years. While there may be problems since there seems to be a large number of companies making compatible products without a license, the early signs are very encouraging for those inclined to do so.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>From what I can tell, you can say "Dungeons & Dragons" in terms of indicating compatibility, you just can't use the stylized logo of the name. But having said that, I agree that it'd be great if U_K could release official 3.5 d20 versions of future IH supplements, provided that someone else did the conversions and he had final approval over how the conversions went. That'd be a scenario where everybody wins.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Alzrius, post: 4374819, member: 8461"] Actually, Paradox, that's not true. Kenzer Co. started publishing Kingdoms of Kalamar products that were compatible with AD&D 2E back in the mid-1990's or so (I have some of those old products in my attic) with no repercussions, despite the fact that TSR was very active with threats of legal actions against people who were using their products (e.g. Mayfair Games, who successfully put out AD&D compatible material for years before TSR tried to sue them to stop. FYI, that case ended in a settlement, not a judgment, because TSR didn't want a ruling that'd set precedent that anyone could copy their game mechanics. The second lawsuit TSR brought against Mayfair years later was due to Mayfair being in violation of a specific contract they signed with TSR after the first lawsuit). Further, the period when Wizards of the Coast owned TSR while Peter Adkison was CEO was during 1997-2001, after which he sold the company. However, Kenzer Co. has been publishing many D&D-compatible products during and after that time (such as [i]Goods & Gear[/i], mentioned above), even when they also had a license to produce second-party official materials. Despite that, no such lawsuit has emerged in the last seven years. Finally, if WotC were inclined to sue, I doubt they'd back down from doing so because they were afraid of "looking bad." It didn't, for example, stop them from suing Daron Rutter, administrator of the MTGSalvation website, for copyright infringement. This seems to indicate that WotC is willing to go to court over the things it feels are infringements of its copyright - it just doesn't seem to think that 4E-compatible products are (which, to my layman's knowledge, seems to be correct). The company that released the original OGL seems to have largely left with Peter in 2001, with the remaining group having left slowly over the intervening years. While there may be problems since there seems to be a large number of companies making compatible products without a license, the early signs are very encouraging for those inclined to do so. From what I can tell, you can say "Dungeons & Dragons" in terms of indicating compatibility, you just can't use the stylized logo of the name. But having said that, I agree that it'd be great if U_K could release official 3.5 d20 versions of future IH supplements, provided that someone else did the conversions and he had final approval over how the conversions went. That'd be a scenario where everybody wins. [/QUOTE]
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