Concerning Copyright

[twistedrabbit]

I've heard that the original book is in the public domain.
But I want to make sure of something...
If I create graphics/logos/character art that is on War of the Worlds (original designs of my own based on the content of the book)- Can I claim copyright on them? What's the situation with that? Any help you can give is greatly appreciated.
FYI: I'm in the US.

[Gnorn]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but if you make painting, drawings, sketches and what not it is YOUR copyright. You made them, you've got the rights. As far as basing drawing on someone else's text, I'm not sure, but I think there's no copyright law regarding that. You are not ripping off or copying their text.

But then, I'm no expert, so I wouldn't know for sure (so don't come banging at my door! ;-)

-Gnorn

[Geis]

Gnorn is correct. The art is yours. The copyright is yours. Were it based on copywritten material, the copyright owner could make a case (like painting Star Wars characters without paying Lucas. That has to do with Trade Mark law, a slightly different animal.) but since WotW is now in the public domain you are free and clear.

[twistedrabbit]

That's great. Thanks for the help.
On a slightly less appropriate topic, would creating and selling a game based on the book be punishable, or would that be an OK as well?

[Rob]

I think that depends on who owns the right to War of the Worlds in your country. It's still one of the most popular stories ever told and this means people defend their copywright of it. I think thats the case anyway.

[EvilNerfherder]

The Copyright on WotW is a pretty complicated issue...
Whilst the novel is public domain in some territories, it isn't in others. It also depends where you want to show your work, I think..
Paramount own rights to the WotW name, as does Jeff Wayne.
Whilst the art may be yours, and legally so, there may be some obscure law somewhere that stops you from copyrighting that art.
It could possibly save you alot of trouble if you had a look into the copyright situation of the title in the US more closely, especially as you are looking into copyrighting something that relates to a property that already has copyrights attached to it..
Better safe than sorry.
Here's the US Copyright Office Website, maybe you might find it useful..
www.copyright.gov/

[Geis]

> I think that depends on who owns the right to War of the
> Worlds in your country.

As I said, the copyright has run out. Essentially anyone can publish War of the Worlds, it can even be posted free on the Internet without fear of retribution. In such a case, publishing a game based on WotW is also acceptable.

Now, there could be one snag. Action Classics has published a WotW RPG using the open license D20 system. www.goldrushgames.com/wotw.html. It's possible that publishing an RPG using a D20 system would conflict with that. I don't know what the licensing agreements Wizards of the Coast has with their D20 system.

A way around that is to create a source book rather than a game. That way you don't tread on the toes of any specific game system. There is a website at www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/Galaxy/3773/waroftheworlds/ that has something like that. It's a campaign seed, that is a series of adventures and plots for War of the Worlds that could be used with any RPG system (D20, Space 1889, GURPS, Castle Falkenstein, Victoriana)

[twistedrabbit]

I just checked through the copyright office...it seems Jeff Wayne has copywritten all his songs, and some offspin books are copywritten. So I think I'm okay.
Thanks for all your help guys.

[dudalb]

The Novel is in the public domain,and you are free to do want you want with it.
However, there might be an issue with WOTW as a film title, since title registration is a different issue then novel copyright.
I understand that Paramount pictures had the Motion Picture title copyright in the US and Jeff Wayne has it in some overseas territories, but they have come to an agreement where both can use the title. But unless you are making a film version, this is an non issue.
I understand that Pendragon will be using the title "H.G. Wells' War of the Worlds" as a way around this.

[Gerkinman]

What if you "incorporate" the name into something else?, like im doing an animation called "Nimbin: The War of the Worlds Saga" What happens there (Im in Australia by the way if that helps lol)

[jeffwaynefan]

As your in the U.S your OK as its in the public domain over there. What you will have to look out for are these -

1/ Your work has no connection to the films such as story line or record story line (eg, Jeff Wayne's)

2/ Your artwork has NO resemblance to past artwork that is already copyrighted, such as the Jeff Wayne machines, martians, martian weaponary etc

Thats all I can think of at present, but Im sure there is more.

H_C

[Topaz]

That would pretty much cover it in the US, unless someone has tradmarked some specific phrase. They could do that to the title for a specific usage - movies, for example. However, since the title of the novel from which the movie itself is derived is public domain, I suspect it wouldn't withstand a really serious legal challenge. (I wouldn't want to have to pay what it would take to prove that, though! )

The following applies to US only. I don't know much at all about international copyright law.

The basic test is if an 'average person' would see your work as derivative from someone else's copyrighted work. Which basically boils down to a judge or jury if it comes to litigation. Since the novel is public domain, you're in the clear as far as using elements of the novel directly is concerned.

So you can draw tripods, but you can't make them so that the 'average person' would recognize them as derived from Jeff Wayne's, for example. You can draw a Martian, but if it has no head, a single three-color glowing eye, and two three-fingered arms, you might be in trouble with whoever holds the rights to the George Pal movie. You can draw any logo or graphic you like, so long as it isn't clearly derived from someone else's copyrighted work.

Whatever original work you create is automatically copyrighted to you at the moment of creation. If you actually want to enforce that copyright, you'll need to get it registered. That isn't terribly difficult to do, but usually not worth the trouble unless you think someone else will make a mint stealing your work.

Copyright is nasty, convoluted, subjective stuff. If you're really serious, contact an intellectual property attorney and have them find out the reality of the situation. Better 'safe and poor' than 'unsafe and broke!'