From: "Alec A. Burkhardt" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> Yes, but Kal is also arguing that you could use the name Conan to refer
> directly to the character that was claimed as PI in someone's product.
You could, to the extent that the name is interchangable with something from
the public domain.
For example, let us imagine that the Howard estate published a product using
the OGL.
Now let us imagine that in the Howard estate's work, they claimed "Conan,
and the descriptive likeness of Conan appearing on Page 32, including the
textual description of his physical features, his personal history, and his
adventures as depicted in the fiction on pages 33-50" as Product Identity.
I would be in breach (assuming the standard "Conan" we all know and love) to
include in my own work:
"Conan, the massive Cimmerian barbarian-warrior, leaned back in his chair at
the bar and shouted "By Crom! Slake my thirst with your finest mead -
before I bring down the wrath of all the Gods of Hyboria on your head!""
I could however, write:
"Conan sat at the table and ordered a tankard of ale." - because "just the
name" Conan is prior art and cannot be successfully defended as "an
enhancement of the prior art".
On the other hand, you'll be hard pressed to find a "prior art" reference to
Elminster (in fact, I'd wager that you cannot at all. Elminster has no
"prior art" existence, and claiming a "just the name" Product Identity for
Elminster would be sufficient.)
Ryan
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