-----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Martin L. Shoemaker
>C. A claim of PI IS a claim of ownership, just as is a copyright notice or a trademark indicator. It's a statement that "I believe that I am the owner of X, and I am willing to defend that claim in a court of law in the event that I believe that you have misused X in an OGL work derived from my work." Maybe I missed something, but I've always interpreted PI that way. Part of standard language for protecting fictional characters is the phrase 'the distinctive likeness thereof'. Bugs Bunny, for example, CANNOT exist as an intellectual property if the distinctive likeness of the character is excluded. He isn't just any rabbit, in any pose. He is a 6' tall, grey, bipedal rabbit with buck teeth. Only the whole package - name, likeness, pose, mannerisms, character concept, voice - viewed as a whole has enough gravitas to establish a viable claim. That is why, I believe, those items are specifically included in the list of what can be declared PI. They are there to allow someone who creates a character, AND A VISUAL DEPICTION of that character, to protect that character as PI. The stance Martin described can't be protected on it's own - only in the whole of the depiction of the PI character of Martin the Assassin (tm), Taker of Life from the Infernal Pit of Hoboken in the Grey Wastes of Hades on the Jersey Turnpike (tm). At that point, all these nebulous things exist in a specific, concrete form - the distinctive likeness of Martin the Assassin (tm), which IS something that is owned under the standard definition in existing law and which does constitute an enforceable claim of PI. The distinctive likeness is separate from any specific artwork the character appears in - a piece of art is protected, but only that particular work; copyright does not protect the characters in the depiction by the depiction alone. Copyright on the art doesn't prevent another artist from using the same characters in their own art, it just prevents the other artist from duplicating your work and claiming it as theirs. The protections on distinctive likeness, however, do prevent someone from creating an original work of art that uses your character without your approval. That's why I can't take a Poser figure of Bugs Bunny and animate a porno film with him and Marvin the Martian - the distinctive likeness of both characters is protected. Of course, I could be wrong. Bryan _______________________________________________ Ogf-l mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://mail.opengamingfoundation.org/mailman/listinfo/ogf-l
