At 09:51 PM 4/25/2004 -0400, Tavis Allison wrote:
While it's difficult to predict what outcome this might have on sales of UA
and whether this was an expected result, I think it is possible that even
Hasbro might eventually want to lead users back to more sources of OGC than
just the core books. Their reliance on immediate sales through retail
channels, and the power of the D&D logo, might mean that Hasbro's sales
suffer proportionately less harm when the OGL conceals the source of their
OGC reprinted in other works. However, Hasbro's enormous popularity means
that their books are almost the only ones that pirates have been inspired to
not only scan and trade but also OCR; a meta-license would allow them to
fight these illicit electronic texts with official ones designed to drive
sales back to the source.

There are a few problems with this line of reasoning. First, if they really wanted to drive sales of UA they would attach text to the d20 license allowing users to use the UA trademark. That they haven't done this indicates that they aren't even slightly interested in such source labelling.


Second, the meta-license will mean diddly-squat to people pirating OCR'd scans of the PHB or UA. Most OGL issues only matter to publishers. Hasbro doesn't need to make their OGC offerings any more attractive to publishers. Publishers flock to Hasbro OGC without such requirements.

Third, you can already get permission to include source labelling in your works by asking the owner's of the up level OGC for permission. Most companies are free and easy with granting this permission. So other than trying to put a new noose around publisher's necks (to follow another license) what does this offer to people whom have already put thousands of dollars on the line? Having made large money commitments to the OGL, what more does this offer? About the only thing it may offer is an interpretation of the OGL that may jeopardize those thousands of dollars. In fact, such a license, if widely spread may cause Hasbro to halt future OGC releases. That certainly jeopardizes lots of invested money in the status quo. Nothing in any current plan (for a meta-license or consortium of true believers) seems to benefit all publishers.


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