tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Thu Sep 23 16:21:40 2004

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Re: Gray area

Lady K'Lyssia ([email protected]) [KLI Member] 




> >How about - also just BTW - Salman Rushdie's short story "Chekov and 
>Sulu"?
> >This is most certainly not a copyright breach, despite names of actual 
>Star
> >Trek figures are used,
>
>If he didn't get Paramount's permission, they are almost certainly are.
>
>IIRC "Chekov and Sulu" appeared in the anthology "East, West" which was
>published here in the US by Pantheon Books (New York, c1994).  Chances are
>that his publisher - either Pantheon or his U.K. publisher - was the one
>who contacted Paramount and received permission to use these trademarks,
>not Rushdie himself.  (That's one of the things that editors do.)  If you
>have a copy of the book, look for the acknowledgements; they're either
>listed on the back of the title page, on a separate page or mentioned in
>the preface or introduction.
>
>Besides, why wouldn't he respect Paramount's rights?  After all, Rushdie's
>own works - including the story "Chekov and Sulu" - are themselves
>protected by copyright from being illegally re-published and sold by 
>thieves.
>
>


Having never read the story referred to above, I don't know if the names are 
directly reffering to the characters from Star Trek and are recognizable as 
referring to these characters. Unless the story written in such as way that 
the reader knows that his Chekov and Sulu are indeed Lt. Hikaru Sulu and 
Ensign Pavel Chekov - the use of proper names is not a vioation.

Now if the story does directly refer to the characters - I would wager that 
proper licensing was handled through the publisher.

After all if I write a story using the name Chekov, I don't have to contact 
everyone in the world named Chekov to get their permission to use the name.

Carol (Lady K'Lyssia) Hightshoe
www.klyssia.com
www.wolfsingerpubs.com
http://www.livejournal.com/users/klyssia/
Don't Write What You Know; Write What You Care About -- Passionately!


>--
>Voragh
>Ca'Non Master of the Klingons
>
>
>

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