What is the Stance on Public Domain Characters?

[Arnabas]

Just out of curiosity, what is the official policy when it comes to public domain characters, such as Tarzan, Doc Savage, etc?

[JKCarrier]

I don't believe either of those characters are in the public domain. The copyrights on some of the old novels have lapsed, but that only applies to the actual text of the stories. The names and likenesses of Tarzan and Doc are still trademarked.

[Evercent]

12 hours ago, JKCarrier said:

I don't believe either of those characters are in the public domain. The copyrights on some of the old novels have lapsed, but that only applies to the actual text of the stories. The names and likenesses of Tarzan and Doc are still trademarked.

 

This, but as far as I'm aware actual public domain characters are allowed, this means characters that have absolutely no copyright or trademark anywhere, so be sure to do extensive research to make sure they are actually public domain. Also, scroll over the ToS and CoC just to make absolutely sure they're allowed.

Edited November 3 by Evercent

[BlackSpectre]

My understanding is that trademarks protect TRADE. Since a player in a game is not making any money off of it, nor are they attempting to say that they are the owners of the intellectual property, my guess would be that the protections offered trademarked public domain characters wouldn't apply to players playing a free, non-profit game.

 

If Homecoming, for example, used a trademarked, public domain character, it would be a bit more murky since Homecoming is a brand using another brand, more or less. 

 

I am not an intellectual rights attorney, so don't take my word for it. I'm merely musing out loud here. It's a good question...

[GM Crumpet]

Stuff that's definitely Public Domain is allowed, stuff that's partially Public Domain aren't. So some countries have 50 years from date of first publication, America has 95 years. Then there is the 70 years from the death of the author. Doc Savage will (possibly) be PD in 2029 or 2030, but there is still some doubt as the copyright was renewed in the 60's, and Tarzan is PD as the first few books entered PD in January 2024. My advice? Avoid this minefield and create something that's similar but different. Doc Delilah is an obvious Doc Savage tribute for instance. There is nothing from stopping you making a pulp era character based on Tarzan or Doc Savage or any number of popular characters from the 30's. TV does it all the time. Just keep the level of similarity far enough away that you fall under the tribute/parody rule.

 

As for Trademark, that's a whole different kettle of fish. We generally don't allow other peoples trademarks as a rule. Wendy is fine. Wendy's isn't. Old MacDonald is allowed, MacDonalds isn't. While a controller dressed in spandex would never be mistaken for a restaurant chain we still don't allow it. Hope that clears up any confusion.

[WanderingAries]

Keep in mind that things like the recent "Winnie the Pooh" horror films and similar Mickey Mouse movies only counted for THOSE variants, so you could still get smacked for using the name / likeness most likely because their Current variants are close enough to count.

[Arnabas]

21 hours ago, JKCarrier said:

I don't believe either of those characters are in the public domain. The copyrights on some of the old novels have lapsed, but that only applies to the actual text of the stories. The names and likenesses of Tarzan and Doc are still trademarked.

It's weird. I looked up a list of public domain characters before my post and they were both included, but after reading your comment I looked again and another site says Tarzan is, but Doc Savage is not. I guess they are different lists from different countries.

[Arnabas]

Thanks for the replies. I was just curious because I have seen some characters recently such as Lone Ranger and Zorro knockoffs and it seemed to me that they should have been restricted but then I thought perhaps they were in the public domain. 

[Evercent]

1 hour ago, Arnabas said:

Thanks for the replies. I was just curious because I have seen some characters recently such as Lone Ranger and Zorro knockoffs and it seemed to me that they should have been restricted but then I thought perhaps they were in the public domain. 

 

That's another thing, if you play a knockoff with a similar story or appearance, but entirely different name, it counts as a parody, which is allowed under copyright. As long as the character isn't an exact copy, you're fine.