[Rq-rules] OGL, MRQ, Runes

[Peter Brink]

It's important I think to realize that a game is a type of product that 
is in general difficult to protect under IPR law.

The ideas, algorithms, methods of play etc. (i.e. the game mechanics) 
are not copyrightable, neither in the U.S. nor in the E.U. or anywhere 
else. Game mechanics cannot be patented (outside the U.S. - and even in 
the U.S. it's far from easy...). In the E.U. Game mechanics cannot be 
trademark protected.

What you could protect is the way the rules are explained, but that is 
not easy. There are only a few meaningful ways to express any given 
method or process and this means that the possibility of independent 
double-creation is far from minute - it is, in fact, quiet likely. The 
result is that courts, both in the U.S. (using the merger theory) and in 
Europe, would (in the best of worlds) be quite skeptical toward any 
claim of copyright in the rules of a game.

So it would seem the the OGL isn't really needed. In theory games are 
not copyrightable. In practice however it's not that simple. There are 
very few known cases where courts have had to analyze the copyright 
status of games, which makes the issue an uncertain one. I'm aware of a 
few U.S. cases and a few European ones. The European cases are more 
useful - from a RPG POW. From those one can deduct that only truly 
original expressions of a game's rules can be protected but also that a 
verbatim copy of a game could be attacked using market law instead of 
copyright law. In the end the O.G.L. is useful to producers of RPG:s 
because it makes copying others game rules safe. In theory it might not 
be a "fair" deal but in practice it's (so far) the safest bet.

/Peter Brink