<<After all, I haven't noticed many of the following terms actually appear
in the 3.5 files. I just noticed Carrion Crawler is on the list (mostly
because I had run an adventure including one), and Carrion Crawler
doesn't actually appear in the 3.5 SRD (while it was in 3.0).
>>
While it probably made it in there as boilerplate, as a "just in case we accidentally mentioned these words", this usage lends weight to the notion (if the WotC declaration were held to be valid that):
a) the PI list can be a list of forbidden terms, which, be they public domain or not, and be they anywhere in your book other than the PI declaration or not, cannot be used
b) given that some of the phrases on the list look like they aren't copyrightable out of context of specific descriptions of things and places, and they aren't trademarked, that WotC may have intended that phrases that aren't copyrightable and which aren't trademarked can be used as PI ('Gray Waste of Hades', for instance, which, if not used with WotC's specific vision of the nether realms, seems far too unimaginative and far too short a block of text to copyright)
Is it generic boilerplate for "just in case"? If so, does it have any binding power if those words only appear in the PI declaration and nowhere else?
Is it a list of forbidden terms? Are they generically forbidden? Or are the forbidden assuming a very specific WotC implementation of creatures, places, etc. that is not even listed?
Can you even believe that the word "beholder" is on the list, out of context?
I think that we must conclude either that:
a) WotC wildly attached a PI declaration which is null and void since, if none of those terms appear in the SRD, they have no effect on publishers (if the old "white out" way of reading PI is true), in which case they might as well have left the PI section blank
OR
b) WotC is a proponent of the "forbidden terms list" reading of PI, in which case, certain terms, concepts, etc. can be listed in the PI list and as a consideration for the grant of OGC you must forego your normal rights to use those terms
Which reading is right? Choose your own poison.
Lee
