From: "John Nephew" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> A list of trademarks would be a very valuable addition to the OGF site.
It would be a very valuable addition to my daily corporate work, too!
Generating a list of registered trademarks will not be hard; I can just
search the PTO database for TSR and WotC. But there are hundreds of
trademarks that have never been registered or are the process of
registration, and of those I have no good list.
What we will probably do is include a list of things we clearly want
considered trademarks, with a note saying that there may be others, and that
prospective publishers should do their research when it comes to the use of
proper nouns
that the publisher didn't make up or that aren't obvious public domain
names.
> I was thinking of cutting the owlbear anyhow, but will that be made
> open in the SRD?
I am pretty sure that it will be. I plan to have a review with R&D to see
if we want to exclude any monsters from the SRD. The only way I think we
would do is if we are absolutely certain the monster is an original TSR/WOTC
creation, and if we think that we can exploit the monster in other venues.
> Similarly, how about spells?
I'm actually working on the draft of chapter 11 right now. I'm through the
"C"s and I haven't found anything I think we need to cut yet.
> Another question that arises: If for the D20 trademark we must (and
> would want to)
It will be your option, not a requirement. At some point in the future,
with an updated version of the license, there might be other books of ours
that you'll want to reference in place of the D&D books... :)
> does that mean that we are free to refer to the contents of the PH
> (e.g., spell descriptions, perhaps minus trademarks such as Evard
> of tentacular fame)?
My advise is "don't do it". We're likely to repaginate in future printings,
and there's no guarantee that your references will stay current. We're not
planning on using page number references.
> Similarly, are references to other D&D core rulebooks allowed?
Unclear to me at this point. When I get ready to tackle the D20STL, these
are the kinds of things we'll need a lot of feedback on.
> Sometimes I do worry that the whole D20 publishing thing is running a
> bit ahead of itself vis a vis all the crucial details--
We're way ahead of the curve. In fact, we're farther ahead than I'm really
comfortable with. I hope we don't have a wreck at some point. So far,
everything has been cool, but you never know. I certainly undertand the
pressures driving people, but the recent spate of D20 announcements and
products like the creature books from Necromancer don't make me sleep any
easier at night. We've come a long way, but we still haven't crossed the
most important threshold of making the SRD official official and finalizing
a D20STL license release. I'd be a lot more comfortable if people were
willing to ease off a bit and wait until that happens before they invest a
ton of money in actual products.
I will feel terrible if someone ends up with a bunch of merchandise in the
warehouse that we have a problem with for some reason.
Ryan
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