tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Sun Sep 19 13:52:55 2004
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Gray area
Hallo everybody,
Got a problem:
Friday, I got a manuscript to review: "The Klingon Grammar" by a
Mr.Yakhontov of St.Pete, Russia. The guy does _not_ have a copy of TKD, but
he has gleaned the entire structure of the language along with the
vocabulary from *HAMLET*.
My question sounds: To what extent can a _language_ be copyrighted? I have
already taken the liberty of changing all "Klingon" references to
"tlhIngan", and in the two cases when the words "Klingon" or "Star Trek"
appeared in the *Preface*, they were provided with (R) marks and
corresponding footnotes. M.Okrand's name has also been mentioned - with all
the due respect and *honneurs*.
I stress it again: the book is NOT a translation of TKD; it is a totally new
manual written in Russian; all examples of the usage of grammar and
vocabulary have beer borrowed from *HAMLET*.
On the basis of the preceding explanations, my question sounds: IS
PUBLISHING THIS BOOK LEGAL? See. I value my EU and US visas too much to
endanger them via a case of a (supposed) copyright breach.
Or does anyone have M.Okrand's e-mail?
Best,
Igor