Top Mud Sites Forum - View Single Post

Santrilla · 02-23-2003, 08:02 AM

First off, I'd like to explain that I ask this purely out of curiosity- it has no relevance to me, my MUD, or any MUD in particular. I was just wondering.

A lot of MUDs out there use particular themes, popular ones being Robert Jordan's popular Wheel of Time series, and George Lucas' famous Star Wars. In these, I'm assuming that names are kept accurate- for example, AT-AT for Star Wars, and ter'angreal (sp?) for WoT.

My question is, is this legal? Evidently the original writers of these themes have copyrighted them, and everything in them. So by copying the themes into your own world, aren't you breaching that copyright? Or is it allowed as long as the MUDs themselves are free and gain no profit?

I guess it might be similar to fan fictions. Though they've recently lost popularity, there was a time when fan fictions on popular commercial themes were rampant across the web. And because the author of the FF gains no profit, they're allowed. Aren't they?

If anyone has an insight into this, please enlighten me.

02-23-2003, 08:02 AM	#1
Santrilla Senior Member Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: Brighton, England Posts: 387	First off, I'd like to explain that I ask this purely out of curiosity- it has no relevance to me, my MUD, or any MUD in particular. I was just wondering. A lot of MUDs out there use particular themes, popular ones being Robert Jordan's popular Wheel of Time series, and George Lucas' famous Star Wars. In these, I'm assuming that names are kept accurate- for example, AT-AT for Star Wars, and ter'angreal (sp?) for WoT. My question is, is this legal? Evidently the original writers of these themes have copyrighted them, and everything in them. So by copying the themes into your own world, aren't you breaching that copyright? Or is it allowed as long as the MUDs themselves are free and gain no profit? I guess it might be similar to fan fictions. Though they've recently lost popularity, there was a time when fan fictions on popular commercial themes were rampant across the web. And because the author of the FF gains no profit, they're allowed. Aren't they? If anyone has an insight into this, please enlighten me.