OMG! Arcana Evolved violates the OGL!

[Rasyr]

I have a copy of Arcana Evolved sitting here in my office. Somebody used it in the trade-in deal (d20 for HARP) that ICE has still going on.

I was looking through it the other day and noticed that it did NOT have the d20 logo on the front. A comment from someplace else got me to thinking, so this morning I double-checked, and sure enough, AE contains character creation rules (pages 7-8). This means that it cannot have the logo.

This also means that it cannot mention another company's trademarks without permission. Yet, right there on the title page it has a blurb stating that it requires the Dungeons & Dragons core books by WotC (with the little 'R' in the circle indicating a registered trademark next to the word Dragons).

This blurb is one of the variations used when you ARE using the d20 logo and the System Trademark License (STL). So, it is quite likely that this violation is accidental. However, that does not mean that it iany less of a violation!

Check it out and see for yourself...

 

[Kid Charlemagne]

How do you know that WoTC didn't give Monte permission to do that? They've let various folks use non-OGC in certain situations before...

 

[BiggusGeekus]

Son, in these here parts violatin' th' OGL is a hangin' offense. Y'all best not be jokin'.

 

[Dragonmarked DM]

That was kind of my thinking. I just got the book and thought it crossed a lot of the lines, but the more a thought about it, the more I thought about the ties that Monty has with Wotc. I'm sure he has something worked out with them. Either way, It's still a very good book.

 

[DaveMage]

I don't own AE, but it might say on the credits page if those trademarks are used with permission.

 

[Rasyr]

I thought of the possibility that perhaps it is used with permission. However, there is nothing elsewhere that would indicate it is so. And, as I pointed out above, the item that violates the OGL is one of the bits of text that a product is required to include if they are using the d20 STL (i.e. the d20 logo).

So, as I also pointed out above, it is quite likely just a stupid error, but it is still a violation.

 

[Flexor the Mighty!]

We need rope, torches, & pitchforks. Then we march on Monte's site! There gonna be a lynchin' boys!

 

[Starman]

By any chance, did you contact Monte and mention it to him, Rasyr?

 

[Psion]

It's a plot. Monte's hoping that there will be a mad scramble to buy them all before WotC lawyers make them pulp 'em.

 

[Rasyr]

Starman - no, I didn't. Nor am I planning on doing so. Besides, as he noted in a thread a couple of weeks ago, he usually ignores me anyways. Let's just say that the two of us don't play well together....