Question about copyrighting and stuff like that... - The Barrow-Downs Discussion Forum

**The Saucepan Man** · 01-16-2007, 07:54 AM

I'm not an intellectual property lawyer and I can, in any event, only speak to the UK legal position.

Under UK law, there is no copyright in a name. Copyright protects artistic works - eg, books, sound recordings, paintings etc - but not individual elements, such as names, phrases etc, within them.

Names can be eligible for protection as a trade mark, and I believe that a number of LotR-related names have been registered as such in connection with LotR merchandise (action figures etc). However, a trade mark will only be infringed when another person uses the same name commercially in connection with the same, or similar, goods or services.

Hope that helps.

01-16-2007, 07:54 AM	#3
The Saucepan Man Corpus Cacophonous Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: A green and pleasant land Posts: 8,390	I'm not an intellectual property lawyer and I can, in any event, only speak to the UK legal position. Under UK law, there is no copyright in a name. Copyright protects artistic works - eg, books, sound recordings, paintings etc - but not individual elements, such as names, phrases etc, within them. Names can be eligible for protection as a trade mark, and I believe that a number of LotR-related names have been registered as such in connection with LotR merchandise (action figures etc). However, a trade mark will only be infringed when another person uses the same name commercially in connection with the same, or similar, goods or services. Hope that helps.