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<blockquote data-quote="JohnRTroy" data-source="post: 5101601" data-attributes="member: 2732">Not necessarily.&nbsp; First of all, the additional protect Trademarks give to copyrights is only a small part of the entire Trademark law.&nbsp; Secondly, the Trademark only allows certain limits.&nbsp; You can't use the name in trade but you may be able to refer to the individual.&nbsp; DC has been able to give their Captain Marvel books, by replacing the name with their own version of Shazam, yet they still can use the name Captain Marvel to describe the character in-story.&nbsp;&nbsp; I know that while you can't use the Sherlock Holmes trademark to advertise a book or movie, you can include the character in works like Moore did for League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, because prior stories are in the public domain, and it didn't prevent other authors from writing Sherlock Holmes stories, such as The Seven Percent Solution.Considering how well Pathfinder and the Retroclones are going, I doubt you need to have control over the Trademark D&amp;D to (a) communicate your product is based on an older rule set and (b) use things that are legal for you to use. S'Mon might have better expertise as what can be blocked as to a fictional character when copyright expires.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="JohnRTroy, post: 5101601, member: 2732"] Not necessarily. First of all, the additional protect Trademarks give to copyrights is only a small part of the entire Trademark law. Secondly, the Trademark only allows certain limits. You can't use the name in trade but you may be able to refer to the individual. DC has been able to give their Captain Marvel books, by replacing the name with their own version of Shazam, yet they still can use the name Captain Marvel to describe the character in-story. I know that while you can't use the Sherlock Holmes trademark to advertise a book or movie, you can include the character in works like Moore did for League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, because prior stories are in the public domain, and it didn't prevent other authors from writing Sherlock Holmes stories, such as The Seven Percent Solution. Considering how well Pathfinder and the Retroclones are going, I doubt you need to have control over the Trademark D&D to (a) communicate your product is based on an older rule set and (b) use things that are legal for you to use. S'Mon might have better expertise as what can be blocked as to a fictional character when copyright expires. [/QUOTE]

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