[od-discuss] Getting the Open Game License accepted under the Open Definition

Tue Oct 1 22:39:07 UTC 2013

On Tue, Aug 13, 2013 at 6:50 AM, Kent Mewhort <kent at openissues.ca> wrote:
> Given the other comments for reviewing this license, I've come around to a
> +1 on giving this a substantive look (I'd originally thought it was an
> license exclusively for D&D, but it looks like it's at least somewhat wider
> than this).

Great, I added this to the agenda for the upcoming call. Hopefully we
can come to a tentative decision which can then be confirmed or not
after the call by our usual conformance approval process.

> All of it looks fine to me except for the Product Identity clause (s. 7) --
> and I don't think this is compliant.  It's one thing to not license use of
> the product identity. It's quite another to have the user agree "not to Use
> any Product Identity, including as an indication as to compatibility".
>
> It seems like this amounts to a contractual obligation quite outside of
> copyright or trademark.  Regardless of whether I have a trademark or
> copyright license at all, I'm generally free to mention a product or say
> another is compatible with it (at least under Canadian or US trademark law;
> I believe some European jurisdictions are stricter). Moreover, the
> definition of "Product Identity" in the license is even wider than just
> trade-mark.  This is quite a limit on fair use and free speech that users
> must agree to.  It's also not clear whether this obligation would apply only
> to derivative works; it may very well extend at least to other works
> distributed alongside the original.

I wonder if (as Rob Myers suggested) that works under this Open Game
License might be considered open, with the priviso that no Product
Identity is specified by the licensor, like the FDL with no invariant
sections etc?

A reason to not stipulate this might be if the license in practice is
never used without specifying PI. I have no data on this.

Chris, Rob, or anyone care to provide data or otherwise comment?

Also feel free to join the call if you'd like.

Mike