Can anyone write Cthulhu Mythos material?

[S'mon]

On the other hand, I'm not a trademark (or any kind of) lawyer. But one could assume if it was a registered trademark in the US, it would be in the database of US trademarks maintained by the US government.

Yes, but - in US law, unregistered brands can be protected as "Unregistered Trade Marks" - which is what (TM) means in the US, with (R) for registered marks.

In the UK (TM) means a Registered Trade Mark, we have Passing Off law which functions similarly to US unregistered marks.

Basically what that means is that even if you don't use Chaosium's lone registered mark; if customers look at your product and think it comes from Chaosium or is licensed by them, you may have committed a tort. A disclaimer may be helpful.

 

[S'mon]

A
It appears, then, as long as your role-playing game material does not build upon work copyrighted by Chaosium (which would include original fiction and game text, etc.) or use the phrase "The Call of Cthulhu" there would be no conflict.

You can use the term descriptively - you can publish the public domain story "The Call of Cthulu" and call it that. You should avoid publishing an RPG titled "Call of Cthulu" though.

 

[deadplayer]

Depends what you use and who you ask. Some folks will argue all of the HPL material is fair use. BUT that's only the HPL material. Individual authors that wrote on in the mythos may easily fall under their own rights and Chaosium can lay claim to anything they expounded on themselves.

Chambers "yellow sign" stuff predates even HPL's works so it has a great chance of lying in public domain.

Right.

 

[Steely Dan]

It's really kind of a shame that this is such a complicated issue... From what I understand, Lovecraft was quite open with his creations and in fact actively encouraged others to use them and expand the mythos.

Yeah, didn't he correspond with Robert E Howard?

 

[Belorin]

Yeah, didn't he correspond with Robert E Howard?

He did indeed, as well as Clark Ashton-Smith and Robert Bloch!

Wikipedia link

Bel

 

[Belorin]

As to the OP, did you mean actual Cthulhu Mythos elements or merely writing in a Lovecraftian style?

Bel

 

[rgard]

Yeah, didn't he correspond with Robert E Howard?

Yes he did. Along with Clark Ashton Smith Howard was a member of the "The Lovecraft Circle."

 

[Steely Dan]

Yes he did. Along with Clark Ashton Smith Howard was a member of the "The Lovecraft Circle."

Didn't Robert use Tsothagua (sp?) or something in a Conan story?

 

[JohnRTroy]

Much of the Lovecraft work is public domain, and could be adapted. I think any studio could make an adaptation of one of Lovecraft's novels. There was an episode of The Real Ghostbusters that was named "The Collect Call of Cthullu" and used the character.

The big problem is that you can't grab the whole Mythos, because others have contributed to it. Brian Lumley, for instance, has stated that his contributions to the Mythos in his stories still belong to him and will sue to make sure his copyright isn't violated.

 

[Alzrius]

As to the OP, did you mean actual Cthulhu Mythos elements or merely writing in a Lovecraftian style?

The former. Nobody can copyright or otherwise claim that something as ephemeral as a style of writing can be protected.