Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
The
VOIDRUNNER'S CODEX
is coming! Explore new worlds, fight oppressive empires, fend off fearsome aliens, and wield deadly psionics with this comprehensive boxed set expansion for 5E and A5E!
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
Protection from Chaos Part XI: The D&D Next Online Playtest Agreement
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="pedr" data-source="post: 5930763" data-attributes="member: 33464"><p>In the OPTA you agree not to (among other things) "publish ... or transmit" the materials.</p><p></p><p>I think it is clear that the agreement means that each person is responsible for their own copies of the material and that - odd as it may seem - no-one should give character sheets or any other material to anyone else, even if they have positive knowledge that the other party has also agreed to the OPTA.</p><p></p><p>Playing the game over any form of telecoms network (except, perhaps, the public telephone network) is difficult to legally distinguish from 'transmitting'. You are sending the material (whether in aural or text format) to a third-party which is has not agreed to the OPTA, and that third party is then transmitting it to the recipients. </p><p></p><p>I must admit, I would have expected the Confidentiality section to include a clause whereby you agreed in terms to 'keep the material confidential'. I believe the earlier NDAs had that kind of language.</p><p></p><p>One thing that's important to note - confidentiality has a separate existence to copyright. I believe that you can agree to keep confidential things which are not capable of being subject to copyright (such as the recipe for Coca Cola, as Frylock mentioned on Loremaster). While it seems odd that a 'public' playtest could have confidentiality attached, each person who has agreed to the OPTA has agreed to some form of confidentiality clause and is probably prohibited from using the information gained from participating in the playtest for an alternative purpose. WotC will never have a copyright in any of the new mechanics in D&D Next (as distinct from the expression of those mechanics) but I think that participants in the playtest have agreed not to make use of those mechanics, for instance in any game they are designing, even though were it not for trade secret/confidentiality rights they would have the legal right to do that. Someone who has not accepted the OPTA is not bound by it, and has not agreed not to make use of that material. </p><p></p><p>As an aside, I think I also disagree with Rob about the consideration point, but as he says it's a) not clear and b) not actually important - if the agreement isn't binding, we have no right to copy the files from WotC's site to our computers or make physical copies by printing them. </p><p></p><p>(But I'm a long way from being an IP/trade secrets expert!)</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="pedr, post: 5930763, member: 33464"] In the OPTA you agree not to (among other things) "publish ... or transmit" the materials. I think it is clear that the agreement means that each person is responsible for their own copies of the material and that - odd as it may seem - no-one should give character sheets or any other material to anyone else, even if they have positive knowledge that the other party has also agreed to the OPTA. Playing the game over any form of telecoms network (except, perhaps, the public telephone network) is difficult to legally distinguish from 'transmitting'. You are sending the material (whether in aural or text format) to a third-party which is has not agreed to the OPTA, and that third party is then transmitting it to the recipients. I must admit, I would have expected the Confidentiality section to include a clause whereby you agreed in terms to 'keep the material confidential'. I believe the earlier NDAs had that kind of language. One thing that's important to note - confidentiality has a separate existence to copyright. I believe that you can agree to keep confidential things which are not capable of being subject to copyright (such as the recipe for Coca Cola, as Frylock mentioned on Loremaster). While it seems odd that a 'public' playtest could have confidentiality attached, each person who has agreed to the OPTA has agreed to some form of confidentiality clause and is probably prohibited from using the information gained from participating in the playtest for an alternative purpose. WotC will never have a copyright in any of the new mechanics in D&D Next (as distinct from the expression of those mechanics) but I think that participants in the playtest have agreed not to make use of those mechanics, for instance in any game they are designing, even though were it not for trade secret/confidentiality rights they would have the legal right to do that. Someone who has not accepted the OPTA is not bound by it, and has not agreed not to make use of that material. As an aside, I think I also disagree with Rob about the consideration point, but as he says it's a) not clear and b) not actually important - if the agreement isn't binding, we have no right to copy the files from WotC's site to our computers or make physical copies by printing them. (But I'm a long way from being an IP/trade secrets expert!) [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
Protection from Chaos Part XI: The D&D Next Online Playtest Agreement
Top