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Legal Question

Eardrum MannaEardrum Manna Posts: 31
in The Commons

I know any 2D fine and 3D as long as the mesh can't be extracted. But what about the names. EX: I am making a short animation and using Victoria (No changes at all), can I call her Victoria or do I have to actually change her name?

Comments

  • ChoholeChohole Posts: 33,604

    I shouldn't imagine she cares what you call her, as long as you don't call her late for dinner.

  • Richard HaseltineRichard Haseltine Posts: 108,938

    3D is not fine as long as the emshcannot be extracted under the basic EULA - to distribute anything that contains mesh you need a game developer License or Licenses to cover the content used, and there are limits on what can be done. As for names, if you are not doing content-parody I would think it a bad idea to use the existing names anyway - but as far as I know yes the Victoria and Michael names at least are trademarks.

  • wolf359wolf359 Posts: 3,940
    edited May 2017

    "I am making a short animation and using Victoria (No changes at 

    all), can I call her Victoria or do I have to actually change her name?"

     

    No 

     

    ..." if you are not doing content-parody I would think it a bad idea to 

    use the existing names anyway - but as far as I know yes the Victoria 

    and Michael names at least are trademarks."


    Hi this is not true:

    "It is not illegal for the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to register a 

    person's name as part of a trademark, but it only grants this level of 

    protection to names that are widely used in commerce or are unique. 

    Trademarks are granted to protect established brand names from 

    inferior competition. In most cases, a person can't trademark his name, 

    but other protections can help business owners protect the use of their 

    name if it is used in association with business."


    A CG Character named Victoria cannot be legally trademarked unless.. perhaps
     the trademarked name is: "The Daz3D model called Victoria 1,2,3,4,5,6,7 created by Daz inc."

    Such a name Clearly Associates that particular "Victoria" with Daz inc.

    Micheal and Vicky Alone without such a stated association with Daz inc. are articles  of  common speech (proper nouns) and their usage cannot be restricted  by trademark or patent.

    Post edited by wolf359 on
  • SF-DesignSF-Design Posts: 987
    edited May 2017

    When you looks at MS, they registered WINDOWS as a trademark/brand. 
    A common word for an object. So it is possible, not in every country but in the US it seems you can register what you want :)
    Or look at Apple? 

    If someone had registered the word "SMARTPHONE" as a brand all the others would have problems :)

    Post edited by SF-Design on
  • Eardrum MannaEardrum Manna Posts: 31

    hmmmm... I figured as much. It's actually Xin Xin (from Aiko 3) I am using. Ok, so the answer is no. I'm being honest here, I have written an entire first season of a show I created about Xin Xin looking for something (no spoilers) and was going to use her as herself. But the best way to go about it, is to use a different charecter and still use the name Xin XIn. Is that correct? ... and I aquired Daz original game license a long time ago which has nothing to do with this. And that was funny Chohole :)

  • ScavengerScavenger Posts: 2,674

    Character names CAN be trademarked for certain markets.  It does not mean they can't be used....it means they can't be used for "trade".  Ie.  both DC and Marvel own characters called "Captain Marvel".  Both can use their character how they want, in comics movies etc.  But Marvel owns the trademark, so only they can have a comic book called "Captain Marvel".  This is why they have a movie coming out called "Captain Marvel" and DC has one called "Shazam".

    Character names CAN be copyrighted, but it's not easy to do, invlovling three tests of name, concept and appearance.  Want to write a story about a guy named Spider Man who wears a red suit and fights crime? You're out of luck.  Want to write a story about a guy named Spider Man who wears tweed and collects spiders? Go for it.

     

    The Daz character names are NOT trademarked.  A trademark is not an automatic thing like a copyright. You actually have to claim it, signified by using ™ . That signifies that you are claiming the trademark as your trade id... in your case, a title like THE ADVENTURES OF XIN XIN!.  Daz has not asserted that claim...look at the bottom of this page..they're claiming "Daz"..likely have it for other software products. The very fact that other stores sell things listed as "for Victoria" tell you that either they don't have the trademark, or they're not defending it, and thus it's voided.

     

    All clear? :)

  • Eardrum MannaEardrum Manna Posts: 31

    Oh! Yes, it's all clear now :) thanks for your comment Scavenger ans also wolf359 as I didn't get it the first time. I will continue creating my series with the characters I love to use. I have other questions but will save them for later.

  • winmathwinmath Posts: 142

    You can trademark common words used for a specific business or service. You can't trademark words for general use. An example of a windows trademark - http://tmsearch.uspto.gov/bin/showfield?f=doc&state=4805:3a00ao.6.82 .  The "goods and services" label lists what the trademark can be used for. I didn't see a trademark for Victoria. But if you credit DAZ or any other artist I'm sure they won't mind. It might generate more sales for them.

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