CasinoGhost on 6/3/2006 at 22:32
An unusual question people, but are characters such as Orland and Geery (sp) copyright in the Thief series?
Gingerbread Man on 6/3/2006 at 22:40
What you're actually asking depends mostly on the use you intend to make of such characters.
dlw6 on 7/3/2006 at 01:53
This may help:
(
http://www.copyright.gov/fls/fl102.html)
If you're not making money from the use of those names, you credit the original author, are only using a tiny part of their work (2 names out of an entire series of games/stories should qualify), and your use of the names will not impact sales of the Thief games, then it probably qualifies as fair use.
Disclaimer: I am not an attorney, so if your desired use of the copyrighted material doesn't pass the common sense test, then you should find a real attorney and ask him or her.
Don
Edit: read this too: (
http://www.copyright.gov/title17/92chap1.html#107)
sparhawk on 7/3/2006 at 08:28
Quote Posted by CasinoGhost
An unusual question people, but are characters such as Orland and Geery (sp) copyright in the Thief series?
There is no unique copyright law, so wether any of the links above, apply to you or not, depend on the country where you live in.
Asking such a question in an international forum is kind of pointless. It is like asking "Is it legal to smoke pot?" Yes it is, no it is not. Depends on where you live. Any answer to such a question is wrong by definition, unless specified where it applies to.
OrbWeaver on 7/3/2006 at 10:57
IANAL, but I am not aware of any jurisdiction where a simple surname is copyrightable. It is for this reason that "Luke Skywalker" is a registered trademark in the US, because copyright law alone does not protect it.
