Cory DoctorowJan 11, 2023

Last week, Gizmodo's Linda Codega caught a fantastic scoop - a leaked report of #Hasbro's plan to revoke the decades-old #OpenGamingLicense, which subsidiary #WizardsOfTheCoast promulgated as an allegedly #open sandbox for people seeking to extend, remix or improve #DungeonsAndDragons:

https://gizmodo.com/dnd-wizards-of-the-coast-ogl-1-1-open-gaming-license-1849950634

1/

Dungeons & Dragons’ New License Tightens Its Grip on Competition

An exclusive look at Wizards of the Coast's new open gaming license shows efforts to curtail competitors and and tighten control on creators of all sizes.

Gizmodo
Show threadNathanael NerodeJan 11, 2023

@pluralistic Good scoop. The way copyright works, however, they cannot revoke the OGL. The stuff already released under the OGL is released under the OGL, period, and there's not a damn thing they can do to change it.

All WoTC can do is not release stuff in the future themselves, and not work with companies which do OGL releases -- which will hurt THEM, not the other companies

Show threadCory DoctorowJan 11, 2023
@neroden No. As noted in the article - and as described by two IP lawyers cited in it - "perpetual" does not mean "irrevocable" and WOTC can indeed revoke it. That *is* how copyright works. ("Perpetual" means that the license isn't time-bound, as with a one-year car lease - it doesn't mean it can't be cancelled, as, indeed, a one-year car lease can be)
Show threadJohn Nephew

@pluralistic @neroden The contract doesn't say "irrevocable," but it does include specific conditions for termination. In that respect it is very similar to v.1 of the CC-A license put out years later, which also does not use the term "irrevocable" in its first iteration.

I am dubious of the idea that any copyright-related contract that does not say it is "irrevocable" can be rewritten at will by one party.

Jan 11, 2023 at 6:04pmWeb