RE: [Ogf-l] d20 and Subabilties

[woodelf]

At 0:51 -0500 1/21/03, Martin L. Shoemaker wrote:

 > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]

 [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] On Behalf Of woodelf
 Sent: Tuesday, January 21, 2003 12:03 AM
 To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
 Subject: RE: [Ogf-l] d20 and Subabilties


 At 18:21 -0800 1/20/03, Ryan S. Dancey wrote:
 >Prior to the advent of the OGL, all the major
 >publishers took it as an article of understood law that anyone

seeking

 >to publish any content that was a derivative work based on their

games

 >needed their advance permission.

 magazine articles, too?

Usual disclaimer: I am not a lawyer.

The derivative nature of a work is not dependent on its length nor on
where or in what medium it appears. So the core answer should be "yes".

Bryant, Martin:
Either i misread Ryan, or you misread me. I took him to be referring to how the RPG industry operated, not how the law operated. I assumed by "major publishers" he meant "major RPG publishers" (due to both the forum and the "...based on their games"). I *thought* Ryan was saying that, prior to the WotC OGL, game publishers expected advance notice/permission for any derivative works, and my question is, did they even expect that articles in game magazines required the permission of the game owner? [besides Palladium--i know about them.] My question has nothing to do with law, and everything to do with how people and companies behaved.

Martin:
Thank you for an excellent example--i'll try and remember that one for reuse. I pretty much agree with you on where the line is drawn between derivative and commentary, but i'd consider a new die mechanic to plug into D20 to fall in the "idea" category, and not be subject to copyright or patent, anyway.

Bryant:
I'm with you on the status of RPGs, and especially minor mechanical elements of them. Which is part of why i was quizzing Ryan to clarify.
--
woodelf <*>
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http://webpages.charter.net/woodelph/

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