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<blockquote data-quote="Umbran" data-source="post: 7796003" data-attributes="member: 177">My understanding (which someone can correct if they know better) is that you cannot copyright a process, procedure, system, or logical form.&nbsp; You can patent a process or system, but not copyright it.In fiction, what this means is that the plot of your work is not covered by copyright.&nbsp; If Hamlet were written in the 20th Century, the musical West Side Story would not be violating copyright. You can't copyright star-crossed lovers, families in conflict, and young people acting rashly such that someone ends up dead.However, the particular expression of your rules, logical form, process, or what have you is covered by copyright.&nbsp; If, in the process of explicating your process in a product, you make up names and terms, those names and terms are covered by copyright. So, you can't copyright now a young man hears a call to adventure, and learns that his father, thought long dead, is actually the BBEG, and you have to fight him.&nbsp; Call them Luke and Vader, and you may have an issue.The idea of a numerical value that tracks the health of a fictional character is not covered by copyright.&nbsp; If I call that numerical value the character's &quot;Frommulus,&quot; then that becomes part of my particular expression.&nbsp; Take too much of my particular expression - use too many of my made-up terms - and a case is made for infringement.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Umbran, post: 7796003, member: 177"] My understanding (which someone can correct if they know better) is that you cannot copyright a process, procedure, system, or logical form. You can [I]patent[/I] a process or system, but not copyright it. In fiction, what this means is that the plot of your work is not covered by copyright. If [I]Hamlet[/I] were written in the 20th Century, the musical [I]West Side Story[/I] would not be violating copyright. You can't copyright star-crossed lovers, families in conflict, and young people acting rashly such that someone ends up dead. However, the particular expression of your rules, logical form, process, or what have you is covered by copyright. If, in the process of explicating your process in a product, you make up names and terms, those names and terms are covered by copyright. So, you can't copyright now a young man hears a call to adventure, and learns that his father, thought long dead, is actually the BBEG, and you have to fight him. Call them Luke and Vader, and you may have an issue. The [I]idea[/I] of a numerical value that tracks the health of a fictional character is not covered by copyright. If I call that numerical value the character's "Frommulus," then that becomes part of my particular expression. Take too much of my particular expression - use too many of my made-up terms - and a case is made for infringement. [/QUOTE]

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