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So, who can 'authorize' and 'de-authorize' the OGL?
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<blockquote data-quote="Matt Thomason" data-source="post: 8896948" data-attributes="member: 6777331"><p>Given that "authorized" doesn't appear to have any legal meaning other than what is within the license itself (it <em>does</em> get a mention in the early OGL FAQs, but they may or may not have any legal weight), the only answer is "maybe" - it all comes down to what a Judge decides they actually have the power to do under that license.</p><p></p><p>Right now, pretty much the entire hypothetical case over the OGL hinges on what "authorized" means, whether "deauthorized" is even possible, and what the mechanisms would be for doing so. As that's not defined either within the law or within the OGL itself, we would have to have a test case to find out.</p><p>We don't even know ourselves for sure what WotC believe "authorized" means. We know they believe they can take an authorized license and make it "no longer authorized", but not what mechanism they intend to do this by, or whether they believe they have a way to do this to individuals rather than globally. It's unlikely we will ever know unless they stand up in court and tell a Judge what they believe they can do.</p><p></p><p>Many of us believe the lack of a defined "de-authorization" mechanism means they simply cant do it, other than by having <em>you</em> agree to it being de-authorized, such as by accepting a new license from them in which you agree it is.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Matt Thomason, post: 8896948, member: 6777331"] Given that "authorized" doesn't appear to have any legal meaning other than what is within the license itself (it [I]does[/I] get a mention in the early OGL FAQs, but they may or may not have any legal weight), the only answer is "maybe" - it all comes down to what a Judge decides they actually have the power to do under that license. Right now, pretty much the entire hypothetical case over the OGL hinges on what "authorized" means, whether "deauthorized" is even possible, and what the mechanisms would be for doing so. As that's not defined either within the law or within the OGL itself, we would have to have a test case to find out. We don't even know ourselves for sure what WotC believe "authorized" means. We know they believe they can take an authorized license and make it "no longer authorized", but not what mechanism they intend to do this by, or whether they believe they have a way to do this to individuals rather than globally. It's unlikely we will ever know unless they stand up in court and tell a Judge what they believe they can do. Many of us believe the lack of a defined "de-authorization" mechanism means they simply cant do it, other than by having [I]you[/I] agree to it being de-authorized, such as by accepting a new license from them in which you agree it is. [/QUOTE]
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So, who can 'authorize' and 'de-authorize' the OGL?
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