Yeah, I was really confused by how they set it up.
I'm not here to tell them how to run their company. But if they were seriously worried about people combining X + Y + Z together to retro clone one of their IP's, then maybe they should instead just release the entire Big Golden Book, and then just have in their license that you can create anything you want, but one thing must be missing. Like, if you want to do a Lovecraftian game, then you can't have the current settings/time periods or use the title 'Call of Cthulhu' or the actual entities (maybe you want to use the CoC rules to create that Victorian-set Dracula game that feels more like the Hammer films). Or, you can use the Pendragon rules, but it must be an original setting (no Arthur or Charlemagne). Or maybe you can use the Runequest rules, minus the Runes, stuff that is original IP, etc.
That, I think, would allow more freedom to TPP's, as well as give Chaosium more peace of mind. Maybe its a little more complex. I don't know. But I feel like there could be a more 'open' way of doing things without so many restrictions that seem vague at best.