Re: Conlang legal protection (WAS: Conlang music)

2009/1/8 Sai Emrys <saizai@...>:
> As I said earlier, this is not the same as the OED. In the case of
> dictionaries, maps, phone books, etc., courts have ruled that - even
> if the company publishing the information did all the research to
> discover it - only the particular form of the compendium is copyright,
> not the information itself. But this is only true because of the
> presumption that that information (i.e. actual geography, phone
> numbers, vocabulary used, etc) is floating out there preëxistingly.
A very palpable hit!

> However, a conlang vocabulary is necessarily the *creation* of its
> author, rather than a mere *discovery*. As such, it would be protected
> by copyright. In order to use even a portion of it without permission,
> you'd have to claim fair use exclusion.
>
> The tests for 'fair use' are (quoting the USPTO):
> * the purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is
> of commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes;
We're assuming that it's for profit.

> * the nature of the copyrighted work;
Which probably does not apply here.

> * amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the
> copyrighted work as a whole; and
This bears more discussion.

> * the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the
> copyrighted work.
Which is probably none.

> In this case you're discussing point 3.
>
> I think that most judges would agree that something that is nearly
> 100% sourced from copyrighted work (i.e. other than neologisms) would
> count as protected.
No, you have it backwards.

If you wrote a 500 page novel, and I rearranged the chapters and sold
that as my own work, that would run afoul of copyright. If I sent
someone a paragraph out of that novel, it would likely be fair use.

Likewise, if I took your lexicon, reordered it, and sold it, then I'm
producing a new work that constitutes 100% of your work. That would
run afoul of copyright. If I sent someone one word from your lexicon,
that would be a tiny portion of your work. That would likely be fair
use.

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