WOTC cease and desist resquest
Posted: October 24, 2011 Filed under: Uncategorized 4 CommentsIt’s not my fight, but found a link about Wizards asking people to take down or modify OSRIC stuff because of I.P. issues:
http://timbrannan.blogspot.com/2011/10/more-osric-players-guide-woes.html
It is not something I know anything about, but thought some readers might be interested.
Edit: changed title from “WOTC cease and desist orders” to “WOTC cease and desist resquest.”
It's seemingly one cease and desist request and only one OSRIC product. It involves the use of IP in a couple art pieces used in the OSRIC book in question. IP which has surely been used in one for or another by many people over the years.
I don't think this is really a legal action by WOTC (I think it was framed as a request by WOTC — so I will change my title of this post since it is misleading), but it is part of what the people involved in the OSR publishing hobby have been worried about for a long time.
The OGL has specific things you are allowed to do and not allowed to do. If you publish under the license you must abide by those terms. This author apparently didn't. It's that simple.
Nah, I don't think this is anything to worry about. It doesn't have anything to do with OSRIC as a concept/trademark/game, or retro-clone viability and legality. It's a publisher not being careful enough about following the terms of the OGL (specifically, avoiding the use of monsters considered WotC IP and prohibited from use). That could happen in any OGL-licensed product, even one for d20. It wouldn't mean the OGL or d20 supplements were in danger.