Reply to thread

Message

<blockquote data-quote="Dausuul" data-source="post: 6308945" data-attributes="member: 58197">You said: &quot;If Mongoose wants to 'trust each author' and just runn the books through a spell check then maybe mongoose shouldn't be allowed to put there stuff next to play tested and edited work.&quot; This is absurd, and I was highlighting that absurdity. Mongoose doesn't &quot;put&quot; their stuff anywhere. They sell their stuff to folks who buy it. Nobody's forcing anybody to sell Mongoose's books. If you don't like Mongoose stuff, don't buy it. If game stores stock Mongoose stuff, then either they will find people who do want to buy it, or they will find themselves with a lot of unsold inventory and learn better. Either way, Mongoose can survive or die on its own merits without Wizards having to play gatekeeper. No, they don't. Legally speaking, as long as you don't infringe their trademarks or directly copy their books, they have very little say in who gets to play in the D&amp;D pool. They can push people out by threatening lawsuits, and folks will back down because they can't afford the legal costs. But a company which is savvy about IP law and not afraid of a court battle can publish content for use with Dungeons and Dragons, and there isn't a darn thing Wizards can do about it.As I posted in another thread, Kenzer &amp; Company put out the 4E &quot;Kingdoms of Kalamar&quot; sourcebook with &quot;For use with Fourth Edition Dungeons and Dragons&quot; right on the cover. They didn't sign the GSL. They didn't even use the OGL. If it were any other company, Wizards might have tried to scare them off with a cease and desist. But Dave Kenzer is a lawyer specializing in copyright law; Wizards knew he wouldn't shy away from facing them in court, and they also knew that in a courtroom, they'd lose, because KenzerCo had every right to publish &quot;Kingdoms.&quot;Of course, most 3PPs don't have a copyright lawyer for a president. The OGL is immensely valuable, not because it gives you the legal right to publish D&amp;D-compatible material--you had that before--but because it establishes a clear set of guidelines for non-experts to publish under without fear of bullying from Hasbro lawyers. But bullying is all it is. In a world where court and legal costs didn't come into play, the question of whether 5E had an OGL or not would be largely irrelevant.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Dausuul, post: 6308945, member: 58197"] You said: "[COLOR=#000000]If Mongoose wants to 'trust each author' and just runn the books through a spell check then maybe mongoose shouldn't be allowed to put there stuff next to play tested and edited work.[/COLOR][COLOR=#000000]" This is absurd, and I was highlighting that absurdity. Mongoose doesn't "put" their stuff anywhere. They sell their stuff to folks who buy it. [/COLOR] Nobody's forcing anybody to sell Mongoose's books. If you don't like Mongoose stuff, don't buy it. If game stores stock Mongoose stuff, then either they will find people who do want to buy it, or they will find themselves with a lot of unsold inventory and learn better. Either way, Mongoose can survive or die on its own merits without Wizards having to play gatekeeper. No, they don't. Legally speaking, as long as you don't infringe their trademarks or directly copy their books, they have very little say in who gets to play in the D&D pool. They can push people out by [i]threatening[/i] lawsuits, and folks will back down because they can't afford the legal costs. But a company which is savvy about IP law and not afraid of a court battle can publish content for use with Dungeons and Dragons, and there isn't a darn thing Wizards can do about it. As I posted in another thread, Kenzer & Company put out the 4E "Kingdoms of Kalamar" sourcebook with "For use with Fourth Edition Dungeons and Dragons" right on the cover. They didn't sign the GSL. They didn't even use the OGL. If it were any other company, Wizards might have tried to scare them off with a cease and desist. But Dave Kenzer is a lawyer specializing in copyright law; Wizards knew he wouldn't shy away from facing them in court, and they also knew that in a courtroom, they'd lose, because KenzerCo had every right to publish "Kingdoms." Of course, most 3PPs don't have a copyright lawyer for a president. The OGL is immensely valuable, not because it gives you the legal right to publish D&D-compatible material--you had that before--but because it establishes a clear set of guidelines for non-experts to publish under without fear of bullying from Hasbro lawyers. But bullying is all it is. In a world where court and legal costs didn't come into play, the question of whether 5E had an OGL or not would be largely irrelevant. [/QUOTE]

Verification