The new System Reference Document, which has been released under a Creative Commons License, contains the term 'D&D' on page 5.
The 5.2 SRD, however, does not include some terms which were released under the same license via the older 5.1 SRD--terms like "Strahd", "Deck of Many Things", and "Orb of Dragonkind".
Of course, their absence from the 5.2 SRD does not affect their existence in the 5.1 SRD, whose release in the Creative Commons is--like the Open Gaming License--irrevocable. Those terms are fairly trivial and their use or not will not really affect any third party publication which uses the SRD(s) in order to create their products, although it is notable that the FAQ contains notes like "Renamed in SRD 5.2 only to avoid using protected trademarks; still referred to as Deck of Many Things in official products." And it appears that WotC has, indeed, applied for a trademark for 'Deck Of Many Things'. The filing date was February 2022, a year before the SRD 5.1 was released, although it is still pending.
As WotC said a year or so ago: "This Creative Commons license makes the content freely available for any use. We don't control that license and cannot alter or revoke it. It's open and irrevocable in a way that doesn't require you to take our word for it. And its openness means there's no need for a VTT policy. Placing the SRD under a Creative Commons license is a one-way door. There's no going back.”
There are other things which were included in the 5.1 SRD but not the 5.2 SRD--things like 'Half-Elf', 'Half-Orc', the Between Adventures section, and so on. These make sense; they're not in the 2024 rules, and somebody wishing to use the 2024 rules doesn't need to be confused by 2014 terminology littered around the document. The terms are right there in the 5.1 document if you really need them.
The inclusion of the term 'D&D' in the new 2024 SRD is certainly a strange one, though--they went to pains to refer to the game referee as a 'Game Master' and not a 'Dungeon Master'. It's possible that the inclusion of 'D&D' was not intentional, but that seems unlikely--it would be the second document search by proofreaders before publication after 'Dungeons & Dragons' itself. 'D&D' is a trademark owned by WotC, so the question would be how does the CC license interact with an included term that was previously trademarked? The CC license itself does say "Patent and trademark rights are not licensed under this Public License" but I'm not clear enough on what that means. Does it just not transfer the trademark rights, or does it mean trademarks are exempt from the license even if they are included in the work?
I am not a lawyer. I am definitely not your lawyer. And this is not legal advice.
Of course, their absence from the 5.2 SRD does not affect their existence in the 5.1 SRD, whose release in the Creative Commons is--like the Open Gaming License--irrevocable. Those terms are fairly trivial and their use or not will not really affect any third party publication which uses the SRD(s) in order to create their products, although it is notable that the FAQ contains notes like "Renamed in SRD 5.2 only to avoid using protected trademarks; still referred to as Deck of Many Things in official products." And it appears that WotC has, indeed, applied for a trademark for 'Deck Of Many Things'. The filing date was February 2022, a year before the SRD 5.1 was released, although it is still pending.
As WotC said a year or so ago: "This Creative Commons license makes the content freely available for any use. We don't control that license and cannot alter or revoke it. It's open and irrevocable in a way that doesn't require you to take our word for it. And its openness means there's no need for a VTT policy. Placing the SRD under a Creative Commons license is a one-way door. There's no going back.”
There are other things which were included in the 5.1 SRD but not the 5.2 SRD--things like 'Half-Elf', 'Half-Orc', the Between Adventures section, and so on. These make sense; they're not in the 2024 rules, and somebody wishing to use the 2024 rules doesn't need to be confused by 2014 terminology littered around the document. The terms are right there in the 5.1 document if you really need them.
The inclusion of the term 'D&D' in the new 2024 SRD is certainly a strange one, though--they went to pains to refer to the game referee as a 'Game Master' and not a 'Dungeon Master'. It's possible that the inclusion of 'D&D' was not intentional, but that seems unlikely--it would be the second document search by proofreaders before publication after 'Dungeons & Dragons' itself. 'D&D' is a trademark owned by WotC, so the question would be how does the CC license interact with an included term that was previously trademarked? The CC license itself does say "Patent and trademark rights are not licensed under this Public License" but I'm not clear enough on what that means. Does it just not transfer the trademark rights, or does it mean trademarks are exempt from the license even if they are included in the work?
I am not a lawyer. I am definitely not your lawyer. And this is not legal advice.
