Martin -- you have a dead on target understanding of the options I'm asking people to think about. Things aren't as black and white (to me at least) as they are to others.
One are of clarification:
<<Now I think there's a third, overlooked option:
C. A claim of PI IS a claim of ownership, just as is a copyright notice or a
trademark indicator. It's a statement that "I believe that I am the owner of
X, and I am willing to defend that claim in a court of law in the event that
I believe that you have misused X in an OGL work derived from my work.">>
If mere statement of ownership is sufficient to establish ownership, then it's not being overlooked, that's the "prohibited terms" list in the language of our friend, the Sigil. If merely declaring ownership is how PI is owned, then you could theoretically declare ownership over anything that's on the PI list, and it would act like a list of prohibited terms for people borrowing from your work.
However you go on to say that this is a valid but unenforceable PI claim (I'll comment below)...
<<And the judge would then dismiss the suit, and most likely ruleAnd THEN
that my PI claim on "Feet apart, arms joined straight out in front, pistol
pointed forward, eye lined up for the shot" was no longer valid.
the reformation clause of the OGL WOULD kick in, but ONLY for my immediate
license to any sublicensors: that one PI claim would be invalid, but the
rest of the license would stand. >>
That is one possible reading I've noted in the past. Right one? Who knows, but I think it's a possible outcome. That reading requires reformation otherwise some things can't be enforced. That might happen.
Again, for some reason people are attributing only one viewpoint on this issue to me. I'm actually poking and prodding every viewpoint I can think of, 'cause I haven't found any viewpoint that seems to be a perfect match with what I see in the license. Maybe that's just me. But thanks to those who have chimed in. It makes me feel like I'm not totally insane for raising some of these questions.
Lee
