On Sat, 17 Jun 2000, Lizard wrote:
> At 8:27 AM -0700 6/17/00, Faustus von Goethe wrote:
> >Responding to a question posed off-list, the following names are all
> >in the public domain:
> >
> >Orcus - Roman underworld God - modelled on the Greek Hades.
> >
> >Dis Pater - Roman underworld God - also modelled somewhat on Hades.
> >
> >Asmodeus (Ashmedai) - the undisputed king of the demons in Hebrew mythology.
> >
> >Virtually all of the other names of the demon princes from the 1st
> >edition supplements are likewise in the public domain - being from
> >mythological sources.
>
> True, but "Orcus the Lord of Undead with the Munchkinny Wand" is a
> TSR-owned creation.
>
> Snow White is public domain, but the specific interpretation of the
> legend used in 1938 is owned by Disney. Unfortunately, they've used
> this to try to squelch other used of the myth, which is part of
> what's wrong with modern trademark (as opposed to copyright) laws.
>
Gah. The disney owns quite a bit smaller piece of snow-white than is
commonly thought. As evidenced for example, by (among others) the various
'Snow whites' by say the french.
> Copyright laws are, for the most part, reasonable. A lot of the worst
> abuses in recent years have come from trademarks.
>
Sander
.sigless
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