"Brad Thompson" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> Regardless of what you call them, having hundreds of agents operating
> independently to pursue an entity's legal rights is tantamount to anarchy.
> The real danger here could be this: agents acting on behalf of an entity
> expose that entity to the consequences of their actions. That means the
OGF
> would be taking on a huge legal risk by having hundreds of uncontrolled
> agents acting in a potentially conflicting manner. What happens when one
> agent sues another? No, while this is well-intentioned, I think it is
> unworkable.
I disagree. Each Agent could be subject to a contract, allowing them to ONLY
press a lawsuit in regards to non-compliance with the OGL regarding part of
the Agent's open IP. Since they are only allowed to do that, anything else
they do is NOT done as an agent of the OGF.
> > Yes, the sticking point is the "shared copyright" between the
> > author of a work
> > and the OGF... is there any legal basis for this?
>
> No. The GNU model has never been directly challenged in court. That's why
> this question came up in the first place.
Not the GNU model; simple shared copyright. Can a work-for-hire copyright
still give the actual author equal copyright with the buisness?
> Officers are different from employees in a number of ways. Perhaps "Agent"
> is the term you're looking for.
Sounds good to me... of course, "High Priest" would sound good to me, too.
> > As for a secretary... on ogf-r-l, they're discussing a database for works
> > released under the OGL. Case solved.
>
> The trouble with the registry database is that it isn't comprehensive.
> Compliance with the registry is voluntary. It might also contain works
> which are not OGL, since the OGF will not be approving works before they
are
> entered into the database.
Assinging partial or whole copyright to the OGF could be voluntary as well.
Non-OGL works in the database won't necessarily hamper that much, unless the
non-OGL works wanted to use the "agent copyright" to protect their open work.
> The Secretary would have other duties as well, such as keeping track of
what
> all those 'agents' are up to.
This could be done by requiring notice of anything done as an Agent to the
OGF; I suspect that actual violations would be few and far between, so keeping
track could be a part-time job as well.
DM
Looking for a game? I DM in Upstate NY, twice a month at Artemis Games in New
Hartford, NY (a suburb of Utica)
Even better, I've got irregular games where I live, in Charlton (near Albany).
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