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.
Copyright laws are, for the most part, reasonable. A lot of the worst
abuses in recent years have come from trademarks.
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