<<Sorry, I should amend that: feats using new mechanics not derived from the
SRD may be closed.
>>
And therein we come full circle to the great debate.
Can you lock down mechanics? Green Ronin seems to think you can. Monte Cook seems to think you can PI phrases like "gold" if what one listmember told me was true ("gold" as a magical weapon property).
Other industry insiders disagree. I'd say you could PI them as ideas and language _except_ there's the clause about ownership of the PI.
The OGL makes it seem like you have to _own_ the PI to declare it, meaning you'd have to _own_ a rule. Normally you can't own an idea. Arguably you can own the idea if you own the exclusive right to use it, but there I'm not even sure that is owning the idea itself, just the ability to use it. So maybe you can PI a rule if you have a patent on the rule.
At the same time, the PI ownership list includes things that look like they aren't subject to trademark, copyright, or patent (themes, poses, etc.), implying that the OGL has a different standard of ownership that was never properly defined. In which case, "ownership" may be a much simpler condition to satisfy under the OGL than under traditional IP law, and perhaps you can PI rules, poses, etc. that you own in some sort of undefined OGL way instead of under the stricter terms of IP law.
Who knows?
I only wish the major industry publishers would agree up on this. People always say, "if you were a major publisher, you would agree with us and understand, since we are all in agreement." I really think that statement is being proven increasingly untrue -- the major publishers don't all agree.
I half don't care what they would end up agreeing upon, if they all agreed on one thing. Then even if the express intent of the license were unclear, there could be a mode of usage developed through industry standard practice that could be used to guide interpretation of the gray areas of the license.
Clearly you can PI a huge chunk of a feat (since the verbatim _expression_ is largely non-derivative), provided you can clearly separate out for the end user what you believe to be the mechanics and what you believe to be the creative _expression_.
So, you could effectively lock down the feats themselves for practical purposes while keeping the pure mechanics open. That is clear.
Everything else, increasingly not very clear.
Lee
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