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Remember, WOTC has a process through which the sections of the SRD
were reviewed (which included going past the legal department as
well). Either "Dungeon Master" was meant to be released, or a whole
bunch of people made the exact same mistake. The end result is the
same, it has been released as OGC and now cannot be pulled back.
>>
I think it is possible to have some companies where the person doing the release does not have certain authority over copyrights and could inadvertently blow a release and list something as OGC which they have no authority to release.
I could imagine a company hiring someone under instructions to "edit out all our corporate trademarks and characters before uploading this"... If he missed something others may not catch it for months. He would not have been carrying out his instructions and would not have been authorized to publish what he did.
However, whether WotC does or not have the right to play an internal "blame game" seems almost a very sideline concern. I think the bigger question is what happens if a small press company with only 1 or 2 employees (or a single person operation) blows an OGC declaration and OGCs a trademark. Then what happens? It'd be hard to claim that the author of the work and the owner of the trademark (same person) didn't have the authority to OGC his trademark. What happens when you OGC a trademark? I think that's still a question that should be on the table and of concern to small press publishers.
<<
It would amount to saying that the OGL is not worth the paper it>
isn't printed on. That WOTC will do whatever pleases, no matter what
licenses or such may be in effect.
>
I think this is some concern. I think you've overstated the concern, but it is a non-trivial concern. Ryan (if memory serves) pointed out in an earlier thread concerns about releasing "tainted OGC". If WotC is releasing tainted OGC then anyone using materials which may be tainted can pass the taint on virally to other publishers. That's sort of obnoxious.
I think this will all blow over, but it raises pretty big concerns for small press publishers who may not be able to blame an employee to earn themselves a "get out of jail free" card.
Lee
