Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="S'mon" data-source="post: 6190935" data-attributes="member: 463">Well, in the Tetris case they copied the whole game, AFAIK, inasmuch as the end user was concerned. This look & feel of a computer program has been held unprotectable in the UK, but US copyright is broader and more amorphous. This amorphousness makes it hard to know where a US court would set the boundary, but I would think that a completely cloned game sans OGL would probably be held infringing even if the _description_ of the game elements was slightly different than any particular text published by TSR-WoTC. Whereas a particular element such as using 3d6 to generate stats STR DEX CON INT WIS CHA very probably would not be infringing.A precise reproduction of the 1e AD&D saving throw tables would, I think, likely be infringing; similar tables have been held to attract copyright in US & UK, though generally not in Civil-law nations. The general idea of a saving throw table is not protectable though, nor (AFAICT) are any elements derived from a formula, such as "+1 every 3 levels". So the formula-derived 3e saving throw tables might not be protectable whereas the 'messy' 1e tables probably would be.</blockquote>