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It only took Wizards of the Coast 7 months after deciding to revamp a GSL that angered the RPG industry to finally do it. The GSL allows you to use WotC material in order to create your own extensions that work with the material.
The new GSL [PDF] removed the contentious section concerning the old OGL. It basically lets you do what you want if you include small excerpts of unchanged content (you may extend the content) with proper legal attribution. You can’t use the GSL for products WotC considers offensive: extreme violence, nudity, sexual, racist, or offensive to any real-world people.
You can also cancel your relationship with the GSL, with time to sell off your inventory. More details here.
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This is much better for the industry as a whole, and I think it shows that WotC is actually listening to their fan-base.
I agree with Dice Monkey about it being good for the industry, but I disagree with Dice Monkey about WotC listening to their fan base – part of what drove 3.x sales were quality third-party products, suc as those from Necromancer Games.
When Necromancer Games’ Clark Peterson (an attorney in his own right) refused to publish 4e Product after reading the previous 4E GSL, other publishers followed suit. This hurt WotC’s bottom line.
So, to lure third party publishers back to the fold, they revised the GSL. Clark Peterson announced on the EN World Forums that he’d sent in his acceptance, so I expect that other publishers will soon follow.
Obviously, this isn’t the full story. But it’s one piece of the puzzle.