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<blockquote data-quote="pemerton" data-source="post: 6335909" data-attributes="member: 42582">I don't think it's quite that open-and-shut.&nbsp; [MENTION=463]S'mon[/MENTION] is an academic IP and contract lawyer who posts on these forums from time to time, and we've discussed it in the past. As best I recall, he thinks there's a tenable argument that OSRIC is lawful.I think it's beyond the realm of credibility that WotC/Hasbro management aren't aware of the existence of clones of their multi-million dollar property.Last I knew OSRIC was free - is that still the case? In which case, WotC may not have much to gain by litigation - no account of profits, and what loss would they be able to prove? And in many ways it suits WotC's purposes to have a thriving OSR community that (i) keeps their game alive in the market, and (ii) provides a potentially receptive market for D&amp;Dnext.This is something of an exaggeration. In litigation in the UK, Australia and comparable jurisdictions it is typical for costs to be awarded against the loser of a suit, but costs are measured on a statutory scale - it's not just a matter of handing over all your legal bills to the other side! Even if the OSRIC publishers were to win a lawsuit, it is likely they would still have to pay a considerable sum to defend it.EDIT: What is a &quot;considerable sum&quot;? I'm in Australia, not the UK, and I'm an academic lawyer, not a practising one. So my sense of fees is probably not all that accurate. But to brief both senior counsel and junior I'd imagine you're looking at $10,000+ per day in court, plus solicitor's fees and possible fees to counsel to prepare your defence. Plus fees to expert witneses to testify about the nature of RPG rules. Even if WotC/Hasbro were to end up with a costs order against them that covered some or all of this, running the litigation will be an expensive matter.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="pemerton, post: 6335909, member: 42582"] I don't think it's quite that open-and-shut. [MENTION=463]S'mon[/MENTION] is an academic IP and contract lawyer who posts on these forums from time to time, and we've discussed it in the past. As best I recall, he thinks there's a tenable argument that OSRIC is lawful. I think it's beyond the realm of credibility that WotC/Hasbro management aren't aware of the existence of clones of their multi-million dollar property. Last I knew OSRIC was free - is that still the case? In which case, WotC may not have much to gain by litigation - no account of profits, and what loss would they be able to prove? And in many ways it suits WotC's purposes to have a thriving OSR community that (i) keeps their game alive in the market, and (ii) provides a potentially receptive market for D&Dnext. This is something of an exaggeration. In litigation in the UK, Australia and comparable jurisdictions it is typical for costs to be awarded against the loser of a suit, but costs are measured on a statutory scale - it's not just a matter of handing over all your legal bills to the other side! Even if the OSRIC publishers were to win a lawsuit, it is likely they would still have to pay a considerable sum to defend it. EDIT: What is a "considerable sum"? I'm in Australia, not the UK, and I'm an academic lawyer, not a practising one. So my sense of fees is probably not all that accurate. But to brief both senior counsel and junior I'd imagine you're looking at $10,000+ per day in court, plus solicitor's fees and possible fees to counsel to prepare your defence. Plus fees to expert witneses to testify about the nature of RPG rules. Even if WotC/Hasbro were to end up with a costs order against them that covered some or all of this, running the litigation will be an expensive matter. [/QUOTE]

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