> From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] On Behalf Of Dale Thurber > Sent: Wednesday, August 28, 2002 1:52 PM > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Subject: RE: [Ogf-l] Gentlemen's agreement > > > There has to be some body of work representing this agreement. > > It's simply word of mouth? > > Anyone?
I'm searching, but not finding yet. But actually, though he phrased it as a joke, Lizard's absolutely right: there DOES NOT have to be some body of work representing this agreement. The Gentlemen's Agreement is an informal agreement on the part of Wizards to say, "Act as if this is official, and be willing to make any necessary changes (hopefully small) when it DOES become official, and we'll choose not to pursue any legal action, just as if the license were in place." Almost by definition, this cannot be formally posted anyplace, because then it would become an official license of a sort. And as soon as an official license is considered, we have to get the Wizards legal team involved, which leads to all the delay we've seen on the OGL, the SRD, and the STL. So word of mouth -- or more accurately, word of email -- is exactly what the Gentlemen's Agreement is. We have Ryan's email on this (somewhere in the archives, but I haven't found it yet); and from there, knowledge of the agreement spreads casually. Note that, last time I looked, the Gentlemen's Agreement wasn't discussed ANYWHERE on the Wizards site, just around here. It is highly questionable whether Wizards is legally bound by it (ethically is a whole different debate). A lot of publishers are publishing based on the Gentlemen's Agreement and their belief that Wizards will act in good faith and follow the agreement. Some have opined that if the the Gentlemen's Agreement remains in place long enough, it will become widely acknowledged and recognized, and a court may choose to grant it some weight even if Wizards acts in bad faith. Other publishers may decide neither to trust in Wizards' good faith nor to trust in an unofficial agreement, and thus are holding off on reusing any SRD material that's not officially released. Martin L. Shoemaker Martin L. Shoemaker Consulting, Software Design and UML Training [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.MartinLShoemaker.com http://www.UMLBootCamp.com _______________________________________________ Ogf-l mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://mail.opengamingfoundation.org/mailman/listinfo/ogf-l
