Dimitris |
Thank you. I'll see what I can do with my local store but they order the Pathfinder products from Diamond just for me (my retailer is a comics shop and Diamond is mainly a comics distributor), and as far as I know Diamond doesn't maintain a stock. I never managed to get a Pathfinder product from them that I hadn't preordered. Thank you for your help.
Kata. the ..... |
I'm loving the fact that** spoiler omitted ** is officially one of the Great Old Ones of the Pathfinder Chronicles Setting.
Urath DM |
Vakr wrote:I'm loving the fact that** spoiler omitted ** is officially one of the Great Old Ones of the Pathfinder Chronicles Setting.** spoiler omitted ** Are these generally allowed to be used now? ** spoiler omitted **
That depends on what you mean by "allowed to be used".
You've always been free to use them in your home games, for example.
Chaosium holds the rights to the game versions of many specific creatures from the Cthulhu Mythos, as I understand it. James Jacobs has several times expressed gratitude that they have allowed Paizo to use the creatures in published works.
If you mean "allowed to be used in published works", then the answer is probably no (as always, consult a lawyer in that case).
prosfilaes |
Chaosium holds the rights to the game versions of many specific creatures from the Cthulhu Mythos, as I understand it. James Jacobs has several times expressed gratitude that they have allowed Paizo to use the creatures in published works.
If you mean "allowed to be used in published works", then the answer is probably no (as always, consult a lawyer in that case).
All of Lovecraft's writings that were published in his lifetime are now in the public in the US and most of the rest of the world. The rest of the world is easy; they protect works for 50, 60 or 70 years from the death of the author, and Lovecraft died that many years ago. The US had some tricky requirements that US authors renew their copyrights after 28 years, which neither he nor his heirs did, so pretty much all his works are believed to be PD in the US. (The copyright in some works depend on whether he signed all rights over, and the contracts have long been lost, so it's not entirely clear; http://www.aetherial.net/lovecraft/ has most of the brutal details.)
In practice, whatever the case may be, or more importantly whatever a court might rule on it, the estate has been a paper tiger, at least for the works published in his lifetime. So anyone may use Lovecraft's works and things derived solely from them. Other elements of the Cthulhu Mythos may be under copyright; notably elements derived from Derleth's writings (including his so-called posthumous collaborations with Lovecraft) or Chaosium's works itself are still under copyright, and many aspects of what we would consider the Cthulhu Mythos derive from the works of various authors which may or may not be in copyright and may or may not in and of themselves be copyrightable. Chaosium has a trademark on Call of Cthulhu and probably other things, but their control over the original works derives from the underlying copyrights.
Short? If you're working from Lovecraft's works, you're safe, even if the lines aren't quite clear in the US. Modern stuff and Derleth's works are definitely copyright, and writings of Lovecraft's contemporaries may or may not be copyrighted in the US and elsewhere.
If you do consult a lawyer, there are a number of us who'd like to hear his answers; there's a lot of analysis on these issues, but not much by people with law degrees.