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Post by beckyminor on Sept 3, 2009 19:54:29 GMT -5
Can anybody give me an idea of the most efficent way to find out if a piece of terminology is protected under copyright? I have used a specific word, "Windrider," for a division of fantasy military in the serial I'm writing, and a friend started waving the red flag, saying he thought that perhaps the folks over at Hasbro (owners of everything Dungeons and Dragons) might raise an eyebrow about it. Apparently, the same terminology floated around in one of their campaign settings/novel series', which had escaped my recollection. Can terminology be protected as intellectual property? Thanks for any insight, guys. Back to pulling my hair out.
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Post by tonylavoie on Sept 3, 2009 20:00:03 GMT -5
As I understand it, a word or phrase can't be copyrighted. What you have here is a question of potential "trademark", which is a different beast. What does a google search of "Windrider" show? If there's any sort of "ownership" of the word by Hasbro or anyone, it should become pretty apparent pretty quickly in the search results.
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Post by beckyminor on Sept 3, 2009 20:22:25 GMT -5
My google search only turned up World of Warcraft's use of "wind rider" (two words, no caps), with no mention of the D&D usage. Granted, we're talking campaign settings that may have been "big" 15 years ago or more when we talk "Windrider" as I have used it. Would they really have trademarked such a thing? I know they trademarked the Beholder and the Mind Flayer, but this?
A big part of me says "My little serial fiction on a new online mag is small potatoes, to say the least. Nobody's going to care." But then, I don't want to be neglectful and commit some kind of Intellectual Property gaffe out of ignorance either.
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Post by Christian Soldier on Sept 3, 2009 21:10:24 GMT -5
This portion of the Law is so murky, it's unbelievable. Looking up wind riders and such, it seems to describe either: a brand of sail boats, a mount on WoW, a creature on D&D, an old movie, and a few inconsequential things. That said, I've never heard any references to Windriders as a form of airborne cavalry. I'd remember because it sounds cool. There is an overview of Trademark law found here. But I haven't downloaded it yet, so I have no idea how helpful it will be. There's also the Tradmark Info site I didn't find anything when I searched for wind rider.
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Post by beckyminor on Sept 3, 2009 21:17:48 GMT -5
Thanks so much, Glyn, for doing some snooping for me on this! I love smart folks who know how to research things properly. I'll have to read the murky trademark law sometime when I have a few more awake braincells to commit to the endeavor...right now would be bad. I can feel my eyes crossing just thinking about it.
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Post by Christian Soldier on Sept 3, 2009 21:46:27 GMT -5
Your welcome, Becky!
I took at look at the PDF thing... don't bother. It covers how to trademark and little else. The Trademark site looks like it's what you were looking for.
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Post by morganlbusse on Sept 4, 2009 9:26:10 GMT -5
This is a good question. One term I use in my books is said to be used in Dunes according to Wikipedia. But when I googled the term, it never really came up. So I've decided to keep the term until I go to publishing, then talk to my editor about that (hope that's a good idea ;P).
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Post by tonylavoie on Sept 4, 2009 13:19:16 GMT -5
I wouldn't worry about it, Becky. I seriously doubt the term is trademarked, and even if it is, likely whoever might own it will either A) never care or at best B) ask you to "cease and desist" using it, which just means you'll need to do a search and replace (with another term) throughout your story.
But if you're not finding anything relevant on the 'net, you're probably okay.
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Post by beckyminor on Sept 4, 2009 13:42:03 GMT -5
"Don't worry about it," he says. If I could just take that advice consistently, in all things, I'd be a completely transformed human being! But I see what you're saying, T. I send a hairy eyeball in the general direction of the friend of mine who emailed me to bring all this up in the first place. No "Hey, nice job on the story." Instead, he e-mails me and says, "Hey, I hope Hasbro doesn't come after you..." (paraphrase)
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