The one thing I'd be concerned about is the use of the 3e logo in the
background. Has WotC given permission for people to use this logo? I
know generally, they don't let anyone use trademarked logos and have in
fact created alternative logos for many products to be used by the online
community.
The big problem with e-mailing WotC (or any other company) and asking them
to check your site for compliance is that becomes extremely expensive for
any company to go around checking all sites for compliance and saying
"yeah, we looked and you're fine." Much easier (and often cheaper) to
hear about a site (or a few/many) that is in obvious violation, smack down
hard all over the place with cease & desist letters and take the few (and
it's likely to be very few if any) who refuse to comply to court. This is
much simplier (and cheaper) than having to negotiate with every individual
who thinks they should be allowed to do just a little bit more than the
WotC lawyers think they should.
My advice would be to NOT try to walk the line between permissible and
impermissible use of trademarks. Stay as close to (and even below) any
direct statements that are available (and keep copies of said direct
statements) concerning permissible use. For WotC, the most direct
statement is the one Faust posted on thursday:
http://www.wizards.com/contactinfo/Legal.asp
though this is mainly for their card games. They have another site for
TSR related material (which is available from the above page):
http://www.wizards.com/contactinfo/TSR_Online_Policy.asp
and of course, while not official yet there is the D20STL:
http://www.opengamingfoundation.org/d20.html
Based on these, I'd be willing to bet that at least the use of the 3e logo
on Clark's site is not acceptable according to WotC. (Especially since
even under the OGL & D20, no one can publish 3e material - only d20
material which has its own logo.) And according to the current version of
the D20STL, the terms "Dungeons & Dragons" and "Wizards of the Coast" can
only be used on products themselves, not in any advertisement for said
products. Clearly Clark is using the terms to advertise upcoming
products. Then again, he hasn't agreed to the conditions of the D20STL
yet as there isn't one to agree to at this point.
later,
alec
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