Hello,
Lizard reposted part of a message of mine which was in
another forum. The previous re-post was by me (John Kim) to
rec.games.frp.misc. Anyhow, this is a reply to Chris Davis
concerning it...
On Tue, 5 Sep 2000, Chris Davis wrote:
> [John Kim wrote]
> > According to the current draft OGL, "names and descriptions of
> > characters, spells, enchantments, [...]" are part of "Product
> > Identity" (defined in point #1) which can never be used in any
> > other OGL work (according to point #7). "
>
> I don't think that is correct. Point #1 is simply a definition of
> what product identity could be, nothing else. But all "spells" are
> not product identity. Point #7 is in reference to trademarks, such
> as the d20 logo trademark. I believe an item, such as a spell, must
> be identified as "Product Identity" in order to be consider "product
> identity".
Well, I'm just using my basic English skills here. Perhaps
someone could point out something I missed, but I'll state what
I read:
- Point #7 says "You agree not to Use any Product Identity"
- Point #1 defines the term "Product Identity", saying
<begin definition>
"Product Identity" means product and product line names, logos and
identifying marks including trade dress; artifacts; creatures
<... long list of other items ...>
names and descriptions of characters, spells, enchantments,
personalities, teams, personas, likenesses and special abilities;
<... more items listed ...>
and any other trademark or registered trademark clearly identified
as Product Identity by the owner of the Product Identity;
<end definition>
This seems perfectly straightforward to me. The items listed are
all Product Identity. The license requires that you cannot use
Product Identity in an OGL work. The term "use" is also clearly
defined.
None of the other points say have any clause that overrides
the restriction of point #7 as far as I can tell. Thus, by the
current wording, you cannot use other people's spell descriptions
in your OGL work without an independent agreement.
- John
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