on 2/20/03 9:06 PM, Martin L. Shoemaker at [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > I missed the message where someone wished for or openly encouraged a lawsuit > to set everyone else in line.
This might have been a reference to a message I wrote, which happens to be saved on my computer here, so I attach it verbatim if anyone is curious. I'm very happy that things seem to be getting resolved without the trouble and expense of legal battles, in the court of the OGL developer community, as it were. Hashing these things out can't help but get acrimonious at times (especially when it happens over the internet, where nuances of tone are often not presence). However, if the social pressure of the publisher community can help establish and promote standards of interpretation and compliance, without recourse to the legal system, then the Open Game License is working wonderfully -- and, indeed, I was then wrong about the need for a lawsuit to get people into caring about compliance, if peer pressure can accomplish the same end. ------------------------------------------------------ John Nephew voice (651) 638-0077 fax (651) 638-0084 President, Atlas Games www.atlas-games.com ---------- From: John Nephew <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Date: Fri, 14 Feb 2003 11:56:54 -0600 To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: Re: [Ogf-l] RE: Ogf-l digest, Vol 1 #747 - 12 msgs on 2/14/03 11:24 AM, Faustus von Goethe at [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: >> But I think Mr HUDarklord was being a bit harsh with Mongoose. > ... >> Sure their declaration is a tad on the lazy side ... > > I am continuing to take discussion such as this and the lack of reaction > from the community to mean that the designation "everything that is > derivative of alreadyb open content" is becoming accepted industry standard. > > Is that the case? I was boggling at the message you quoted, since the gist of it boiled down to, "If you make enough money/produce a large enough volume of product, you are forgiven for ignoring your legal obligations." I think lazy declaration and incomplete/erroneous attribution and similar license violations are a time bomb. However, until someone is actually sued over it and forced to eat significant losses, it is unlikely to stop. In a way, I look forward to such a lawsuit happening, since that might get people into line. I certainly hope not to be a party to it, however. But maybe I'll be offered the chance soon... I find it vexing that my company has expended significant time and effort complying with the licenses, while other companies seem to have concluded that license compliance is a waste of time and effort that might otherwise be spent on dumping yet another new release on the market. Until some legal action demonstrates a price for license violation, those who DO take care to follow the licenses are at a competitive disadvantage. ------------------------------------------------------ John Nephew voice (651) 638-0077 fax (651) 638-0084 President, Atlas Games www.atlas-games.com _______________________________________________ Ogf-l mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://mail.opengamingfoundation.org/mailman/listinfo/ogf-l
