Ummm...ok here, this time for real... Richard Stewart Sanguine Productions Ltd.
[EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.sanguineproductions.com -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]On Behalf Of [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Thursday, April 11, 2002 7:11 AM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: [Ogf-l] Re: Gama recap Did anyone else not get the attachment Anthony sent out? My message was filled with gibberish instead of the attachment. Paul W. King _______________________________________________ Ogf-l mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://mail.opengamingfoundation.org/mailman/listinfo/ogf-l
ESDresponse.rtf
Description: MS-Word document
Folks,
Folks,
I know that many of you assume that I am actually an evil corporate shill. Well, I
want you all to know that
while I may be evil, I am no corporate shill. But I do have a job to do and part of
that job is protecting our
corporate assets while still providing as free a playground as possible.
So let's go over this document one paragraph at a time:
>>IMPORTANT � READ THIS AGREEMENT CAREFULLY BEFORE CONVERTING ANY 1ST
AND 2ND D&D�/ AD&D� EDITION MATERIALS INTO 3RD EDITION MATERIALS. IF YOU
DO NOT AGREE TO THE TERMS OF THIS AGREEMENT, DO NOT CONVERT THE
PRODUCT. YOU AGREE THAT BY CONVERTING THE PRODUCT YOU ACKNOWLEDGE
THAT YOU HAVE READ THIS AGREEMENT, UNDERSTAND IT, AND AGREE TO BE
BOUND BY ITS TERMS AND CONDITIONS.<<
This is the "if you want to use our toys in public then you gotta play by our rules"
section, keeping in mind
that what you do behind closed doors is your own business. I promise I will not come
to your house and
demand to know if you have converted one of our 1E or 2E products in your bedroom late
at night.
>>The Open Gaming movement continues to extend itself into new venues all the time,
>requiring
updates and explanations of policies on a regular basis. Recently, people have
requested permission
to convert 1st- and 2nd-edition D&D�/AD&D� materials, primarily made available through
the
Electronic SKU Download (ESD) project, into 3rd-edition D&D (3E) materials and to make
them
available on personal Web sites. This is permissible under the rules of the Open
Gaming License
(OGL) and the d20� System Trademark License, and this document addresses Wizards of
the
Coast's ("Wizards") policies with regard to that activity.<<
This is the, "yes, we have not yet addressed this area of consumer web content and now
we are" section. It
also address that we recognize that the OGL and d20 could be used in this regard.
>>However, performing the conversion according to OGL standards is not sufficient in
>itself to post
the materials without committing copyright and/or trademark infringement. It is
critical to
understand all brands, logos, and proper names within those materials are, and remain,
the property
of Wizards. Furthermore, it is necessary to prominently acknowledge ownership within
the
converted materials. Don't be fooled by unauthorized conversions you may find all over
the Internet:
People who upload those materials are, knowingly or unknowingly, committing acts of
copyright
infringement and are vulnerable to litigation. Furthermore, they are damaging Wizards'
ability to
protect its own intellectual property, and contributing to factors that could
ultimately result in the
withdrawal of any and all permissions to conduct this activity. Wizards'
participation in the Open
Gaming movement is quite unconventional, if not radical, in the business world�please
respect the
company's willingness to risk its Intellectual Properties by protecting them!<<
This is an important section. It says **why** we have to do this. By law if we do not
defend our property
the courts can declare it "open to the public". This would be very harmful to our
business and you can
imagine what the reaction of the parent company would be. But it does open this door �
if the properties are
rightfully acknowledged, then no harm is done.
>> Wizards shall be the sole source of the original materials, whether they have been
>obtained as
ESDs, scanned, or otherwise procured. All you are authorized to convert to 3E are the
mechanics,
themselves. For example, if an AD&D encounter describes a scene wherein the
adventurers are
traveling down a road when they are accosted by a group of orcs, who demand their
money or their
lives, followed by a stat block that details the orc party, all you are authorized to
convert is the stat
block. You may add any additional mechanical information necessary to run the
encounter in a 3E
game, aside from the stat block, but you may not include the encounter itself, or the
entire adventure
in which it takes place.<<
This is also an important piece. Please note that it says, "Wizards shall be the sole
source of the original
materials, whether they have been obtained as ESDs, scanned, or otherwise procured."
You are not limited
to ESDs for conversion. You may convert a paper piece that you own from 1E or 2E!
Information to the
contrary was in error. But it also says that you cannot give away the original product
or duplicate the
original product with your conversion. In other words, you cannot take an ESD or a
scanned paper product
and simply convert the state blocks and then put it up for download. We were seeing
more and more of that
kind of activity. That is a direct and egregious violation of copyright. If we
continued to ignore it, we
would be risking our ability to defend our copyrights in the future.
>> You must clearly identify the ESD that has been converted, and it is customary to
>provide a link
to the Wizards Web page where the ESD may be downloaded.<<
Please note the word "CUSTOMARY". No gun there.
>> Conversions must be performed using the System Reference Document (SRD), created
>for OGL
users, for purposes of establishing 3E mechanics in the respective materials. <<
This is standard for all OGL and d20 products. You must use the SRD. Please note that
the SRD currently
includes the three core books and Psionics. As time goes on, it will continue to
expand.
>>You are only granted permission to convert the ESD; you may not perform a re-design
>based upon
personal standards and opinions.<<
This merely means that you cannot rewrite the adventure to your particular tastes. For
example, if the finale
of the adventure is an encounter with a black dragon, you can't decide that a white
dragon would have been
so much cooler, or more logical, or whatever.
>> (Note the OGL must be included in the download such that it will print along with
>the materials�
see the rules for publishing OGL products at www.wizards.com/d20 for complete
information.) By
doing so, it is legal to host the conversion on a personal Web site without obtaining
formal
permissions from Wizards.<<
This is a standard OGL rule and is not asking a great deal. For most conversions it
means adding one page.
>> Product Labeling:
Permission is granted to use the full and complete title of any ESD obtained legally
from Wizards for
a conversion. You may only use that title in the following format:
d20� System Conversion of: " [insert full title of product here]<<
This is added because the titles of adventures are copyrighted; some include
trademarks and many use
valuable IPs. But we can't give permission on a case-by-case basis; that would take
too much time. So we
have given you a method of titling an adventure that protects our copyright but makes
it easy to tell which
adventure it is.
>> Legal Text:
You must affix the following notice to the document containing any trademark or
element of Product
Identity used per this Agreement:
"[Insert product title here], DUNGEONS & DRAGONS, D&D, ADVANCED DUNGEONS & DRAGONS,
AD&D, the D&D logo, the AD&D logo, the d20 System logo and d20 are trademarks owned by
Wizards of the Coast, Inc., a subsidiary of Hasbro, Inc., and are used with
permission. All titles, and
all proper nouns, including character names, locations, and named items are considered
Product
Identity per Section 1 of the Open Game License v1.0a and are exclusively owned by
Wizards of the
Coast, Inc.
�2002 Wizards of the Coast, Inc.
Compliance of Conversion Policy, Open Game License and the d20 System Trademark
License:
Use of WIZARDS OF THE COAST� Product Identity including proper names and product
titles is
hereby permitted exclusively via this ESD Conversion Agreement. A current version of
this policy
can be obtained at: (http://www.wizards.com/d20/conversionpolicy.asp). <<
This is the part where we grant you permission to us some of our property as long as
you acknowledge that
it is our property. Addition to most ESDs: two paragraphs.
>> The distributor of this document accepts full responsibility for ensuring the
>materials contained
within comply with the most recently published version of that policy, and with the
Open Game
License, and with the d20 System Trademark License. If you wish to redistribute any
portion of this
document containing Wizards Product Identity, you must also agree to the terms of the
current ESD
Conversion Agreement.<<
Okay, this is the part that is the most problematic for Morrus. But what are our
choices? The author
can remain anonymous so the distributor is whom we have to hold responsible. It does
mean that
someone has to read conversions before they go online. But if we were to find a
document that was in
violation, we would simply tell the distributor which document is a problem, and they
would have the
choice of action (take it down or change it so that it complies). We would only have a
problem if we
notified someone of a problem document and they refused to take action.
>>To obtain a digital copy of the original source material this conversion is derived
>from, please link
to: http://www.wizards.com/whatevertherightlinkshouldbe.asp.";<<
Remember "CUSTOMARY," as in optional.
>>In addition, you must update Section 15 of the text of the Open Game License you
>include with
your work to include a copyright notice in the following format:
"[insert title here], � [ insert copyright date from the product you are converting ]
Wizards of the
Coast, Inc."
and
"d20� System Conversion of [ insert product title here ], �2002 [insert your name or
company name
here ]."<<
Standard d20/OGL text, this will add a few sentences.
>>Restrictions:
Furthermore, you may not charge a fee for the distribution of any document licensed
using this
agreement. You may not impose any additional restrictions on the redistribution of
this document.
The Open Game Content in the conversion is, of course, not affected by these
restrictions, but any
portion of the work containing Wizards Product Identity is so restricted.<<
This has been the policy all along, so it should not be a surprise.
>>Termination:
Wizards or its designated agents may terminate this agreement at any time by notice to
you via email
or surface mail. If this agreement is terminated, you agree to remove any electronic
versions of this
conversion under your control from distribution, and to destroy any printed versions
of this
conversion in your possession immediately. Once terminated, your right to continue to
use the
trademarks and Product Identity outlined in this Agreement terminate as well.<<
Okay, what the hell does this mean? It means we have to have a legal out. If copyright
violation is so
egregious and so common that we are spending all of our time dealing with that, then
we cannot allow
conversions to continue. This is not an evil plot anymore then d20/OGL was an evil
plot (remember how
everyone kept saying that we were going to pull a fast one on the industry??).
Personally, now that we have
spelled it, out I expect violations to drop down so low that they are below our radar.
Which is just what we
want. We want you guys to keep converting and for us to be able trust everyone to do
so properly.
Hopefully these guidelines will allow us to do just that.
Anthony Valterra
