>Thanks Ryan! > >Just out of curiosity, how does WotC feel about it? I mean, if they don't >do anything they sort of set a precedence don't they? I would like to see >how this works out. If they print their book in March nand still have yet >to change WotC has pretty much said "We don't care." > >AEG is a large company...as the game biz goes at least. If the big boys >don't get the law laid down for them why would the smaller fish care. > >Just some thoughts. The three characters "D20" have become a powerful tool. >It is interesting to see h ow it is used.
well, i don't see how WotC can stop it. "d20" [regardless of capitalization] certainly isn't anybody's trademark or copyrighted text. the WotC OGL forbids you from using trademarks without permission. the D20STL lists several of the WotC trademarks, including variations on "D20 System", that they are claiming, so by omission, you can assume that "D20" isn't among them (in addition to the fact that no court should grant a trademark on what is a common term--by now it'd be like granting a trademark on "bookshelf".) furthermore, it is accurate and truthful, by both readings of the phrase: whether they are referring to "The D20 System" or just to "a system that is built around resolution with a d20", the statement holds. IMHO [and, in case it needs to be said: IANAL], what they are doing is perfectly legal, and quite sneaky. i'll leave it for the reader to decide if that makes it manipulative or unethical. IMHO, it's one of WotC's poorer decisions coming back to bite them: "D20 System" is a too-generic moniker for their system, IMHO. in, i suspect, the quest for a simple, rememberable, handle, they over-simplified, throwing out any unique nomative characteristics. this is just the latest issue stemming from that (the debates on how to describe games like Farscape and Series Archer in simple conversation, and the occasional misunderstandings when someone uses "D20" to refer to a system other than that embodied in the D20SRD or believes that "D20" *must* refer to the D&D core system when context is unclear, are previous examples). i don't see any way around it other than: (1) changing the WotC OGL to forbid using the term "d20" to describe your system, unless abiding by the D20STL, or (2), securing a trademark on "D20", or (3) changing the name of the system to something that cannot be rendered a common noun while still being identifiable as the original, through shortening. for that matter, is "Compatible with D20" any more-egregious of a way to legally circumvent the spirit of the law than "Compatible with the Third Edition" (roughly what appears on the back of the Gelspad Gazateer--i don't have a copy to check the exact wording)? -- woodelf <*> [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://webpages.charter.net/woodelph/ If any religion is right, maybe they all have to be right. Maybe God doesn't care how you say your prayers, just as long as you say them. --Sinclair _______________________________________________ Ogf-l mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://mail.opengamingfoundation.org/mailman/listinfo/ogf-l
