Valterra, Anthony wrote: > Could someone who releases say a spell name, class name, etc as OGC. > Then turn around and give someone else permission to use those in a > non d20 and non OGL product (say a different game system)? > > > > Only if they are WotC. >
Uhm, are you sure? I create a game world. Let's call it "Mutants, Mecha, and Magic", just for fun. :) Part of this gameworld is my lengthy list of completely original mutant monsters, such as Cat-people, dog-people, snake-people, etc, etc, etc. The entire document is made OGC. Now, some other company comes along. They want to publish a version of my rules which uses their house system, and which will not be published under the OGL. It seems to me I still own the copyright on 'Cat-People', (the OGL does NOT place material in the public domain, after all, I retain all rights not explicitly granted to others by the OGL) and can tell them, "Go ahead, sure, use it." Their game does not become open content because I sub-licensed my copyrighted material to them, but, neither can they complain about any OGL work which also uses that same material, PROVIDED that material comes from the OGC version, not their non-OGC version. If they take 'Cat-People' and create the new race 'Tiger-People', their work does not derive from the OGC -- it derives from the separate license I gave them, and 'Tiger-People' remains non-Open, or so it would seem. Now, obviously, material in M,M&M which was derived from other OGC sources CANNOT be sub-licensed by me in such a manner. The mechanics of the cat-people race, for instance, would need to be totally rewritten. But the *name*, even if I release it as OGC rather than keeping in PI, I should be able to also license elsewhere. However, no one else can, because only I, as the original copyright holder, can allow the use of the OGC in non-OGC publications. I think.... If not, this is a powerful argument for keeping names, etc, PI... > _______________________________________________ Ogf-l mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://mail.opengamingfoundation.org/mailman/listinfo/ogf-l
