> Doug Meerschaert
>
> *IF* I violate the OGL in some minor way (i.e. not hostile to the
> idea behind
> it) then someone has to learn about it, take proceedings about it... and
> *THEN* I have 30 days to remedy that.
It is immeasurably better not to violate it in the first place.
'Proceedings' can be anything as small as sending you a certified letter.
'Remedy' is completely undefined, might be simple or very expensive.
> You just raised a very valuable point. I *THINK* the OGL should
> only prohibit
> non-expressly-permitted TMs in advertising and open gaming
> material... closed
> gaming material is just like any other work, y'know.
First, all trademarks are 'non-expressly-permitted' trademarks; the phrase
has no meaning. Second, this restriction applies to all content in the
product, not just Open Content.
> Ryan S Dancey
> The biggest change we're going to be making is adding a clause that
> basically prohibits anyone who uses Open Game Content from using another
> company's trademarks on that product without permission.
I want Trademark law to govern the use of trademarks, not the OGL. I think
special restrictions in the OGL for marketing/advertising purposes would be
fine (though not strictly necessary), and restrictions on d20 material can
be tighter because of the two-way relationship the d20 STL establishes
between the author and WotC.
> OR, you could do what other game companies do, and use generic / fictional
> terms for these items.
Any historically accurate game will run into these problems. Some games are
pure fiction, others are a hybrid of fiction and reality (games that are
100% faithful to historical facts are called Books). This clause severely
limits games set in the 'real' world from using OGL material. I think there
is a place for trademark restrictions in the license (see above), but not as
sweeping a restriction as Ryan proposed.
> So, Vampire contains references to Coca-cola? Check again--I doubt it.
I never checked Vampire in the first place; I have no idea what Vampire does
or doesn't say. To answer your doubts, Shadowrun has many references to
auto manufacturers, and Top Secret from TSR made liberal use of modern gun
manufacturers trademarks. There are lots of other examples.
> ? If a real word comes up in general use with no knowledge of
> the trademark, I don't see a problem.
Ignorance is no excuse. That's head-in-the-sand thinking and has no bearing
on what is legal under the license and what is not.
-Brad
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