<<So you would agree with some of the posters of the last few days that
most public domain words can't be PIed (a position I agree with), but
you disagree about the possibility of PIing a name derivable from a
public domain source as it applies to a particular character? (That
is, since the word "Spike" is available in the public domain, if
there was an OGL Buffy the Vampire-Slayer Game, the publisher
wouldn't be able to PI the word Spike as it applied to one of the
characters in that series?)
>>
Read my most recent post on the 3 ways you can claim some copyright over a name.
You CAN PI a name as it applies to a very specific character, but then your PI protections extend only to the application of that name to that character. At that point, the name is no longer considered to be per se public domain. By definition, something that is in the public domain is not copyrightable.
The usage of a character name is considered to be copyrightable insofar as it appears attached to a specific character. If I create a boxer named Rocky Balboa with a wife named Adrian I'm probably treading on someone's copyright. If I created a mouse named Rocky Balboa who is completely dissimilar from the boxer then that's probably not copyright infringement.
If it's copyrightable it is ownable and it is PI'able. However, PI protections are extended only two uses which would be copyright or trademark violations, so if I had the OGL Buffy game and then I ported some rules and called a mouse Spike because he wore a little spikey collar, then I wouldn't be violating PI rules.
The name itself is from the public domain and gains any copyrightability only in context, and is PI'able only in context.
Lee
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