The solution is to only be responsible for PI in works you derive from directly.
I think that last sentence pretty much sums it up nicely, Joe.
Let's say I publish something in which I declare part of it PI and part of it OGC. Tom comes along and can only use the OGC, while adding some more OGC as well as some of his own PI. Then Steve comes along and takes the OGC built from Tom and I, while adding some more OGC and some of his own PI.
Now...Steve might have independently come up with some material that looks a lot like my PI, and he may put that out as PI OR as OGC. But...he acted in good faith. And given the vagaries of the license, I as a publisher would be willing to let Steve slide if it was a question of a few critter names or an alchemical preparation or two.
Of course, if Steve has created a setting or adventure that mirrors my work in a major way, then that's another story. Hopefully, by the time Steve gets around to publishing, he's done his homework to see if anybody else has done something similar to his idea, and he would find my work and realize that someone already did it, and either improves his so that it kicks my butt, or changes it enough to make it different. If our products come out near-simultaneously, well...it sucks, but basically the market will decide who's is better. Given the breadth and depth of some of the excellent ideas being put out under the OGL, if you put out a product and someone put out something THAT similar around the same time, well...you just have incredibly bad luck.
In short...if we're all careful about distinguishing PI from OGC...if we all do our homework so that we're putting fresh and original stuff out there (as any publisher in any industry should), then I think that a lot of the problems that have been discussed on this board won't come up. And if they do, I think that either the publishers will get together and solve the issue or the marketplace will decide.
And for God's sake, let's leave the lawyers out of it for as long as possible!!
Of course, this is all just my $0.02.
From: Joe Mucchiello <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: re[2]: [Ogf-l] RE(2): Independently Designed OGC/PI Clashes Date: Tue, 01 Jul 2003 16:04:40 -0400
At 03:08 PM 7/1/2003 +0100, Mike Dymond wrote:You seem to think that if I am right then nobody will be able to produce any new material for fear of treading on someone else's PI.
If you are right, I would have to stop publishing under the OGL as I could never know whether or not a random collection of letters: Merlynn, was PI or not.
I think that if you are right then no publisher will ever produce any decent material for our beloved system because they will have absolutely no protection for any PI they have designated!
I produced many pages of OGL, all 100% OGC, and I've had to PI only a few terms along the way (the names of the books, my company name, etc) and only once did I PI a name: Bensalem, a wizard from "long ago". If the OGL continues as it always has, I will continue to publish as I have. The reason I can continue on is because I know I'm not deriving from PI because I avoid books that have stupid PIed terms. There is no value in PIing a spell name, a feat name, or any other game term. PI people and places in books if you must, just keep those names out of the spell and feat names.
This is a tricky conundrum. The only solution I can think of is a PI repository, but that seems to have been snubbed by the rest of the list.
How do I enter the plot to a story (which I can PI) into a PI repository? How does one look up a plot entered into said repository? Now answer the same questions substituting dialogue for plot. Can be the one to PI the theme of good versus evil?
The solution is to only be responsible for PI in works you derive from directly.
Joe Mucchiello Throwing Dice Games http://www.throwingdice.com
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