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Once again I reiterate, the names do not receive copyright protection. Ever. It is the characters that receive such protection.
In the first cite Mr Anderson's Rocky IV treatment was treated as an unauthorised derivative work under 103(a) because it was based on a character, which was considered to be a copyrightable work. In the second cite it was ruled that several Disney comic characters were protected by copyright.
I never claimed that a character couldn't be protected by copyright law (because quite obviously it can). What I said is that a name cannot be protected. And it cannot.
The protection extends to the characters, not the names. Names are not protected by copyright law. Names are protected by trademark law. I have stated this repeatedly. I have provided references to the Copyright Office website, in which it states "Names are not protected by copyright law". It's even listed as one of Brad Templeton's 10 Big Myths about Copyright. I really can't see what there is to argue about.
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