Names Under Copyright

[N.R.Knutzen]

Ok so heres the thing, I am more or less done with the general system i will be using and i am getting ready to start testing.  What I want to know is what fantasy monster names are covered under copyright.  Such as goblin is farly generic but is beholder and the idea of it owned be TSR or Wizards?  How do you find out if you are aloud to use bugbears or owl bears or cant?  any ideas?

I want to design my own bestery but want to make sure I am not stealing.  Thanks.

Newt

[daMoose_Neo]

When properly utilized, some material can be used under Open Games lisence.
Otherwise, start with initial, generic fantasy, and start doing research out from there. If you're using an original universe, cook up your own monsters, stat out your own Dragons according to their functions in your world etc.
Not that its a great practice, but some degree of "filing off the serial numbers" is possible as well. Personally I despise it, but it happens (see the Fantasy Heartbreaker essay). A degree of retooling can happen where an intended audiance goes "Oh yea, thats X", while your concoction is a safe distance from being X.

A Beholder is decidely D&D, unless you were to parody generic fantasy gaming, at which point a Beholder is a good pick as an icon, but the legality there is just as fuzzy. You want to avoid something that says "I'm a D&D want-to-be!" directly. Systems can be built that are a homage to the classical D&D playstyle, but taking your game seriously yet having a lot of "This is D&D but..." can ruin it for you. A Beastiary is a good place to show off the color of your world, use that to your advantage.

[greyorm]

Names cannot be copyrighted. Names are trademarked. It is important that if you plan on publishing anything, you familiarize yourself with copyright, trademark and patent laws, and understand the differences.

Note that if you are worried about running afoul of WotC's trademarks, you can browse to their site and look up their d20 trademark license, which I believe has a full listing of all the terms they claim trademark on.

Kester's Are you looking for useful links? has links to various copyright and trademark information.

There is also, of course, the US Patent & Trademark Office. They have a search feature that lets you find trademarked terms and who owns them. Click on "Trademarks" then find TESS.

[MatrixGamer]

Names can be trademarked but they have to be fairly specific. I tried trademarking "Matrix Game" back in the 90's and was told no. It was too generic.

As to monsters - check out "The World Guide to Gnomes, Fairies, Elves and other Little People" by Thomas Keightley (published in 1880). If a monster name is in there it is obviously public domaine. For instance Goblin, Elve, Gnome, Dwarf, Vila, Kobolt etc.

Good luck with the project!

Chris Engle
Hamster Press = Engle Matrix Games

[mrteapot]

Most D&D monsters are drawn from mythology, legends and the public domain.  Goblins in general are okay, though specific versions of goblins might be copyrighted.

Some D&D monsters are original to the game, though, and so are copyrighted by WotC.  Beholders are an example thereof.  Some of these could be used via the OGL, though I'm pretty sure the Beholder is one bit they've carefully out of Open Game Content.  There were two or three other monsters similarly kept for use only in WotC products, if I recal correctly.

[shehee]

A quick alternative that's not definitive but may be helpful is: try looking up the word in the dicitonary. It'll at least give you a feel for if it's usable... maybe.

[Ron Edwards]

Hello,

Hey people, if you are not a legal expert in this area, then do not post. Advice you heard once from someone who isn't such an expert isn't worth posting.

The best thing to do to help N.R. is to keep this thread nice and empty. The links he or she will need are already posted. Don't add hearsay or paralegal rumors to cloud the issue.

Best,
Ron

[Sean]

In terms of old-school D&D monsters, WotC considers the following names their IP: Beholder, Carrion Crawler, Displacer Beast, Kuo-toa, Mind Flayer, Slaad, Umber Hulk, and Yuan-ti.

[Jack Aidley]

Have you considered simply e-mailing WotC and asking them what monster names they have trademarked? Sometimes simple solutions work.

[jerry]

Have you considered simply e-mailing WotC and asking them what monster names they have trademarked? Sometimes simple solutions work.

Trademarks restrict the use of terminology, not monsters. Unless you plan on calling your game "Beholders", for example, a trademark on the term isn't going to block you from using it, even to refer to a monster that resembles (or is) a D&D Beholder. Trademarks restrict only in a very limited set of circumstances (which generally are when the term leads to confusion on the behalf of consumers that your product is made by or on behalf of the company that trades using that mark; this tends to be limited to cover use or blatant misrepresentation).

If the goal is to not be sued (regardless of what is or is not legally restricted), one would probably want to ask what they consider to be under restricted by copyright. Or what they consider to be restricted, period.

Jerry

[Mike Holmes]

Interestingly Orc is public use. There are a couple of things from the Tolkien estate to watch out for, however. Hobbit, being the most obvious, but also Ent. Hence "halflings" and "Treants" in D&D replacing their earlier illegal use of hobbits and ents.

I've never really understood the urge to use stuff from other sources anyhow. That is, why have beholders when there are both so many fun creatures from real legend, or, if you really want something new, you can simply make something up yourself? Check out worlds like Tekumel (www.Tekumel.com) for how one can come up with all new creatures for a world if one wants. Using badly veiled name-changes is pretty lame. For instance, to avoid the copyright issues, Mayfair used to put out supplements "compatible" with D&D that had "Insight" instead of "wisdom" and called Displacer Beasts "Displacer Cats" instead. IIRC, beholders were "Eye Beasts." Lame, lame, lame, lame, lame.

Make your own, or just work with goblins. There's nothing as terrifying as a goblin if you do it right.

Mike