On Wed, 9 May 2001, Web Warlock wrote:
>
> Actually I was reading a couple of my few remain RoleAids books and I was
> wondering how did Mayfair do what they did back in the day?
>
> I know about Judges Guild, but it very clearly says on the front of every
> Role Aids product "Not approved for use with AD&D by TSR".
It is possible to make D&D compatible material without any license from
Wizards as long as you don't violate any copyright interests held by
Wizards. And then under standard trademark rules you can attempt to
indicate compatibility using the Dungeons & Dragons trademark as long as
you are making somewhat normal comparative advertising claims and clearly
not claiming an interest in the trademark. It's just extremely difficult
and most likely going to land you in court attempting to prove you have
not violated either Wizards copyrights or infringed/diluted their
trademark. That's what happened with Mayfair, so if you want you could
look up the court case. Although the case is rather convoluted because it
really involves what an agreement between TSR & Mayfair actually was.
That's the primary point of the OGL -- it provides a safe harbor for other
parties to make material based on the D&D game engine without being
concerned about whether or not they will need to defend their actions in
court.
alec
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