At 08:26 AM 4/27/2001 -0700, "Lynn Fredricks" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>IP laws protect those who invest in IP, because IP IS property.
IP is not property in the same sense that real estate is. Copyright is a
limited
right that balances the needs of society with the need to give people an
incentive to create new work.
Napster is just the latest front on the battle between these two competing
interests. While some people think it is clearly theft, I think it's closer
to the
way consumers tape TV programs and share the tapes with each other, which
TV networks considered illegal behavior when VCRs became popular. Most of
us view this activity today as fair use.
Getting this back to open gaming, I think licenses like the OGL are a way for
copyright creators to give back some of the power they have accrued over the
years, as copyright terms increase and fair use provisions seem to get tighter
and tighter. It's a matter of furious debate whether publishers like WOTC have
as much right to limit derivative work as they believe, but now that the
OGL and
D20 SRD are becoming available, the point is largely moot. I can't imagine that
anyone is going to choose the old Mayfair Games "suitable for use with D&D"
route when this alternative is available.
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