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<blockquote data-quote="Mistwell" data-source="post: 8906924" data-attributes="member: 2525"><p>All three claims you just made are exaggerations. 1) there is a vast array of intellectual property laws which include copyright but include other things like trade dress, trademark, etc.. There have been general claims that mechanics cannot be copyrighted but nobody's positive that it extends to a bundle of a series of rules which together may represent the trade dress of actual copyright of a company. Claiming "you just can't" isn't accurate. You can use a rule here and there, but using all the core rules may, or may not, be a different story and that has yet to be litigated. </p><p></p><p>2) Owlbear isn't from that toy. A) it barely looks like that toy in 1e and it definitely has no resemblance to today's version and most importantly that toy was NEVER CALLED OWLBEAR, and B) we're talking the trademark and copyrighted material that comes along with the D&D version of that thing.</p><p></p><p>3) "I'm sure if I could find some reference it wouldn't be original" isn't a good argument. Either find it, or it's what it appears to be which is an original trademark and set of copyright about the concept. Best you could argue, in my opinion, is it's too descriptive to gain IP protection.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Mistwell, post: 8906924, member: 2525"] All three claims you just made are exaggerations. 1) there is a vast array of intellectual property laws which include copyright but include other things like trade dress, trademark, etc.. There have been general claims that mechanics cannot be copyrighted but nobody's positive that it extends to a bundle of a series of rules which together may represent the trade dress of actual copyright of a company. Claiming "you just can't" isn't accurate. You can use a rule here and there, but using all the core rules may, or may not, be a different story and that has yet to be litigated. 2) Owlbear isn't from that toy. A) it barely looks like that toy in 1e and it definitely has no resemblance to today's version and most importantly that toy was NEVER CALLED OWLBEAR, and B) we're talking the trademark and copyrighted material that comes along with the D&D version of that thing. 3) "I'm sure if I could find some reference it wouldn't be original" isn't a good argument. Either find it, or it's what it appears to be which is an original trademark and set of copyright about the concept. Best you could argue, in my opinion, is it's too descriptive to gain IP protection. [/QUOTE]
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