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Torq wrote:

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Here's a doomsday scenario. And please forgive the pessimism, but I am an intellectual property lawyer by profession.

Imagine a company perceived, righty or wrongly, that the historical failure of a great product that its predecessor in title had owned the rights to, was due to a dilution of the market with small competing products and a diffusion of market interest and it wished to re-create and re-brand the product without suffering the same fate. Imagine this company hit upon an ingenious licensing plan to prevent fragmentation and dilution of the products in the market in which it operated. It took its flagship product and came up with a a very permissive license that would allow small third party producers of content to create things that could be used with the flagship product, while at the same time dicouraging these small producers from creating products that further diluted the market and creating minor but still effective competition with the flagship. Everyone inside the company and outside believe this is a great idea because it will increase the quality of supporting products. But what if the unthinkable happens, operating within the confines of the license third party producers are able to create products that are alternatives to the flagship products. And even more unbelievable, these products are damn good, maybe even better than the flagship.

I know what any IP lawyer worth his or her salt would advise their client to do. Bring out a new version and change the license. Imagine if the company then did bring out a new version and changed the license so that only products that complemented but did not compete with the flagship would be allowed. They would be in position of even greater strength than before. They could mine the industry for all the great ideas that had been created by the third party producers, being careful not to infringe any IP rights. But even if they did infringe, they would be fairly safe in the assumption that they could out-muscle any smalller companies that even tried to kick up a fuss. They could even employ some of the people who were responsible for making the great third-party stuff under the own license, because, after all, a person can always take his or her knowledge with them. They could rely on all the market research generated by the third-party products. With all this ammunition that could, in one fell swoop, create the most incredible new flagship product, could make a great portion of the third-party work produced under the license instantly irrelevant, could, at the same time, shut out all the third-party producers who dared to make stuff that could in any way compete, and, of course start selling a whole new series of products to a market whose old flagship products are now obsolete. All of this is quite possible.

This is just a supposition as to what could happen. My concern is not for the fan-made stuff. The other posters are, I believe, correct in this regard. My concern if for the published stuff. Call it paranoid fantasy. But I'm not sure its that far-fetched and I'm worried.

Torq

This is exactly why I don't want to go into IP law, despite being told by lawyers that I would be a good one, and despite a keen interest in it. Just reading your scenario makes me sick like I was a paladin walking into the Evil Fane. I know the truth of what you say, and it smells remarkably similar.