[Freeciv-Dev] Re: (PR#10206) Copyright, patents and fictional nations

["Jason Short" <jdorje@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

<URL: http://rt.freeciv.org/Ticket/Display.html?id=10206 >

Mateusz Stefek wrote:
> <URL: http://rt.freeciv.org/Ticket/Display.html?id=10206 >
> 
> We have to remove these nation:
> - dunedain
> - mordor
> - elvish
> - hobbit
> - martian

We don't have to worry about copyrights or patents; this certainly falls 
under "fair use".  All we need to worry about is trademarks, and 
probably only registered US trademarks.  The only offending name I could 
find (I didn't look hard) was "Frodo Baggins" - which is okay to remove 
since he was never a leader anyway :-).  We may also want to rename 
"hobbits" to "halflings".

Note that NetHack has hobbits.  Angband has hobbits, as well as using 
lots of names from the middle earth books.  Do we need to hold ourselves 
to a higher standard just because we're higher profile?  I don't know.

There is an online searchable database of registered US trademarks, but 
I forget the URL...

jason