(The following is not legal advice. Don't take legal advice from
strangers on the internet.)
There are a handful of technical issues with the d20 STL; with the first
sections of the SRD released I thought I'd mention one of the more
nagging problems I've had.
Put simply: what's to stop a non-licensee from slapping a d20 logo on
their work?
Trademark law requires that the licensor of a trademark (here, WotC)
maintain some kind of quality control over products carrying the
license. That's a function of the basic premise of trademark law, which
is to let the consumer know who is making the product (a form of early
consumer protection). WotC does no review of licensed products prior to
their release; as I understand it that's a matter of design to shield
them from liability for the excesses of their licensees. But that same
policy creates a "naked trademark", a mark that does nothing to indicate
to the consumer the origin of the product. Naked trademarks are held to
be abandoned, meaning that the prior owner of the mark no longer has
exclusive rights to the mark in trade.
In the vast majority of cases this isn't a big deal: signatories of the
license aren't allowed to challenge the mark's validity (for varying
periods of time depending on jurisdiction). There is also probably some
protection as the d20 mark itself is copyrighted expression, and of
course most non-licensed works with d20 on the cover would (by virtue of
content) probably be vulnerable to the very copyright claims against
which the d20 STL offers safe harbor. But the danger still exists that
someone could slap a d20 logo on a non-d20 product, undermining the
whole experiment by reducing consumer confidence in the mark, and get
away with it.
I'd appreciate some clarification on this: does WotC have some long
term plan to protect their trademark (and by extension their licensees)
from abandonment, or is this placed in the category of acceptable risk?
Or is my analysis off altogether?
Greg
The above is not legal advice. Don't take legal advice from strangers
on the internet.
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