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<blockquote data-quote="S'mon" data-source="post: 2342939" data-attributes="member: 463">NB: &quot;Product Identity&quot; is not a type of legal intellectual property like trademarks or copyright, it has relevance only within the OGL contract - if you agree to the OGL contract you agree not to use this &quot;product identity&quot; even in ways that would not infringe WoTC's IP rights.Eg: I could write an adventure, not using the OGL, and include &quot;Three Mind Flayers live here.&quot;&nbsp; As far as I know this would not infringe copyright since to my knowledge no court has ever held a two word phrase like &quot;mind flayer&quot; to be copyrightable.&nbsp; Even &quot;Illithid&quot; is not copyright protected (There was a recent case where Exxon tried to claim copyright in the word Exxon, but failed).Trade mark infringement is possible but unlikely, even assuming WoTC has registered &quot;mind flayer&quot; as a registered TM.&nbsp; Simply using a trademarked word doesn't mean you're necessarily infringing the mark.If I wrote &quot;A Dungeons &amp; Dragons Adventure&quot; on the front of my product WoTC would have a good case for tademark infringement against me.&nbsp; If I wrote &quot;Not authorised by WoTC.&nbsp; Any use of trademarked words is not intended as a challnge to those marks&quot; and especially &quot;Use of 'mind flayer' not authorised by WotC&quot; etc it seems very unlikely they would win a TM infringement case against me (judging by TRIPs, UK TM law &amp; the wording of the US Langham Act - I'm not a US IP lawyer).&nbsp; I don't think &quot;mind flayer&quot; is a famous mark such that use of it could amount to dilution of the mark.&nbsp; There's also a good argument that use of the words in a scenario to describe a creature is nominative use not TM use.&nbsp;&nbsp; In short: WoTC would have (AFAIK) no copyright case and at best a very weak TM case were you to use the term Mind Flayer in a work.&nbsp; OTOH being sued usually costs money whether the other side has a real case or not.&nbsp; And you can't use the OGL and use mind flayer or else you're in breach of the contract you agreed to.&nbsp; Plus while you can IMO legally write &quot;mind flayer&quot;, if you include a mind flayer stat block adapted from a WoTC product you've probably breached their copyright.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="S'mon, post: 2342939, member: 463"] NB: "Product Identity" is not a type of legal intellectual property like trademarks or copyright, it has relevance only within the OGL contract - if you agree to the OGL contract you agree not to use this "product identity" even in ways that would not infringe WoTC's IP rights. Eg: I could write an adventure, not using the OGL, and include "Three Mind Flayers live here." As far as I know this would not infringe copyright since to my knowledge no court has ever held a two word phrase like "mind flayer" to be copyrightable. Even "Illithid" is not copyright protected (There was a recent case where Exxon tried to claim copyright in the word Exxon, but failed). Trade mark infringement is possible but unlikely, even assuming WoTC has registered "mind flayer" as a registered TM. Simply using a trademarked word doesn't mean you're necessarily infringing the mark. If I wrote "A Dungeons & Dragons Adventure" on the front of my product WoTC would have a good case for tademark infringement against me. If I wrote "Not authorised by WoTC. Any use of trademarked words is not intended as a challnge to those marks" and especially "Use of 'mind flayer' not authorised by WotC" etc it seems very unlikely they would win a TM infringement case against me (judging by TRIPs, UK TM law & the wording of the US Langham Act - I'm not a US IP lawyer). I don't think "mind flayer" is a famous mark such that use of it could amount to dilution of the mark. There's also a good argument that use of the words in a scenario to describe a creature is nominative use not TM use. In short: WoTC would have (AFAIK) no copyright case and at best a very weak TM case were you to use the term Mind Flayer in a work. OTOH being sued usually costs money whether the other side has a real case or not. And you can't use the OGL and use mind flayer or else you're in breach of the contract you agreed to. Plus while you can IMO legally write "mind flayer", if you include a mind flayer stat block adapted from a WoTC product you've probably breached their copyright. [/QUOTE]

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