> > Doug Meerschaert >> >> The names of feats are just names, and so can't be copyrighted--right? >> But they can be trademarked, and if they are trademarked then you can't >> use them. >> >> But if the name of a feat *wasn't* claimed as a trademark, it could be >> used, right? You couldn't refer to _Tome & Blood_ specifically, and you >> couldn't quote the exact feat, but if the name just isn't trademarked, >> could you just refer to it by name and let your players sort it out? >> >> If I'm on the mark for all of the above, then the problem is really >> knowing if WotC considers it a trademark or not... > >I think you're right about the trademark issue, but that doesn't let you >sidestep copyright. From what I've read, if you make something that looks a >lot like or is similar in enough ways to something else, and you had an >opportunity to use the other thing as a basis, then you may be asked to >prove (in court) that you have not derived from it. Nobody really knows how >similar is similar enough, or in how many ways - it all depends on the >situation.
i don't think anyone (in this thread) was arguing that. rather, the question is, is there anything illegal about: "My Prestige Class Requirements: Divine Fist, Cha 13+, 5 ranks of Sense Motive... ..." i find it very unlikely that regular copyright can prevent you from simply referring to something else, proper noun or no. trademark probably can, if the term in question is a properly identified trademark. i'm not proposing reproducing the feat, nor paraphrasing it. i'm not suggesting that you even properly cite the feat (though, provided the title of the book it's in isn't a trademark, that shouldn't be a problem). and i'm not suggesting building in any way, mechanically, on the feat (such as a new, improved version of th efeat, or another feat that stacks on it, or a class ability that resembles or improves it). in addition to my belief that it's legal, it seems to me that WotC shouldn't have any objection. you're not reproducing copyrighted text, nor making their material irrelevant by functionally recreating it. all you're doing is creating yet another work that requires one of their products in order to be usable. at worst, people will finagle their way around the issue (such as by inventing their own versions of feats that are referenced but they don't own); at best, they'll decide to buy the WotC product, either because they want the referenced feats, or because they figure anything that product X references, must also be cool. -- 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
