Traveller Developer's Pack

[Flynn]

I had just posted the other half of that text on another board, EDG. To repeat that post here, I offer the following:

As a guide to check as to what are considered protected terms for Traveller's Official Traveller Universe, we can check out the Product Identity Declaration section of Traveller T20 Lite. As OGL products, other QLI Traveller T20 products should have similar sections, with similar contents.

Please note that this list is not exhaustive. Just because something isn't here does not mean it's fair game. When in doubt, ask a lawyer.

PRODUCT IDENTITY
In addition to the items specified under section 1e of the Open Game License, the following terms and titles are also reserved as Product Identity. A copy of the Open Game License can be found below.

Traveller, MegaTraveller, The New Era, Milieu 0, Traveller20, T20, The Traveller’s Handbook, Traveller’s Aide, Science Fiction Adventure in the Far Future, Striker, Mayday, Journal of the Travellers’ Aid Society, JTAS, Third (3rd) Imperium, Second Imperium, Ziru Sirka, Rule of Man, Ramshackle Empire, Hive Federation, Two Thousand Worlds, Zhodani Consulate, Aslan Hierate, Vargr Extents, Solomani Sphere, Solomani Rim, Spinward Marches, Sydymic Empire, Khuur League, Julian Protectorate, The Long Night, Sylean Federation, Matarishan Federation, League of Antares, Darrian Confederation, Grand Survey, Rachele Society, Ine Givar, Sword Worlds Confederation, Regency, Reformation Coalition, AI Virus, Virus, Aslan, Vargr, Hiver, K’kree, Solomani, Zhodani, Vilani, Droyne, Luriani, Virushi, Sydite, Drakarans, Clotho, Sheol, Devi Intelligence, Inyx, Inheritors, Lithkind, Ael Yael, Ahetaowa, Bwap, Evantha, Girug’kagh, Githiaskio, Hhkar, Hlanssai, J’aadje, Jgd-ll-jagd, J’sia, Schalli, Tezcat, Addaxur, Answerin, Brinn. Chirpers, Eboken, Humaniti, Solomani, Ursa, Wanderer, Delgado Trading LIC, GSbAG, General Products, Instellarms LIC, Ling-Standard Products, Makhidkarun, Hortalez et Cie LIC, Naasirka, SuSAG LIC, Sharurshid, Sternmetal Horizons LIC, Tukera Lines LIC, Zirunkariish, Zhodane, Zhdant, Lair, Kuzu, Glea, Guaran, Kirur, Sylea, Annapabar, Dukh, Sopater, Khuur, Daramm, Darrian, Regina, Glisten, Travellers’ Aid Society (TAS), Lords of Thunder, Deadspace, Iridium Throne, Amber Zone, Patron Encounter, Casual Encounter, Argushiigi Admegulasha Bilanidin (AAB) or the Vilani Repository of All Knowledge, Behind the Claw, Astroburgers, Church of the Chosen Ones, Coyns, Signal GK, Children of the March, Azhanti High Lightning, Hava-Cola, GDW, Infoscreen, MAE Lines, Yaskoydray, Empress Wave, Black Curtain, Official Traveller Universe, OTU, Charted Space, Gateway Domain, Jonkeereen, Jagd-il-Jagd, Travellers, Galanglic, air/raft, Gcarrier, Scout/Courier, Far Trader, Misjump, High Passage, Middle Passage, Low Passage, Low Berth, Universal Personality Profile, UPP, Universal World Profile, UWP.

A number of these have now been included in Mongoose's Traveller SRD. Check there if you see a term that you want to use, to see if Mongoose has opened it up to the OGL. If not, consider the term something you can't use in a commercial product. The jury is still out on whether or not we can use it in fanzines and websites under a Fair Use policy.

Hope This Helps,
Flynn

 

[rust]

Thanks for that list.

Well, much of it is impossible to protect, with "Regency" and "Wanderer"
perfect examples, as both appear in other SF universes, too.

 

[Flynn]

It could become slightly difficult to protect some of those "terms specific
to Traveller", I think.

My Live Search program found 26.300 results for "Inyx", 57.900 results
for "Deadspace" and 11.800.000 (!!!) results for "Hiver", to give just a
few examples - and most of the stuff found had nothing at all to do with
Traveller.

By the way, there is even a Hive Intelligence mentioned in the Ringworld
novels, and it would only be logical to call its members Hivers.
Vargr, on the other hand, is old Norse for "wolf", and it could hardly be
disallowed to call a wolf a wolf in a real world language.

And so on and on ... lot of potential work for lawyers, there ... :twisted:

rust:

Please bear in mind that even if a word is considered public domain and usable, the Traveller concept behind it, when combined with the word itself, is probably considered intellectual property. (IANAL, so I don't know all the technicalities here.) If you want a wolf-like race in a non-OTU product, don't call it Vargr. If you use the name Vargr, change the race up a bit. I don't know the exact percentages, etc., so as always, check with a lawyer if you have questions.

I'm personally steering wide around these particular issues by coming up with my own concepts and names, inspired by sources similar to those that inspired Traveller products. My setting will be different, but because of similar inspirations, I hope it's easy to use products from the OTU in Azri Drakara, and products for Azri Drakara in the OTU, with minimal effort by a competent Referee. At least, that's the approach I'm taking on the matter.

With Regards,
Flynn

 

[rust]

Flynn, I fully agree with you. I just think someone has managed to
create a legal mess here - and I will give it a very wide berth.

 

[Flynn]

Flynn, I fully agree with you. I just think someone has managed to
create a legal mess here - and I will give it a very wide berth.

Agreed.

BTW, I apologize if I came across as picking on you in particular. Please be assured that I am not trying to pick on anyone. To be honest, I was just trying to share my understanding on the matter with everyone, in the hopes that it helps. If I came across poorly, I just wanted to apologize. (The internet is so hard to interpret sometimes.)

With Regards,
Flynn

 

[rust]

No problem at all.

 

[-Daniel-]

Please bear in mind that even if a word is considered public domain and usable, the Traveller concept behind it, when combined with the word itself, is probably considered intellectual property.

What the smart companies do is to turn the word into a Trade Mark. A great example is Games Workshop and Warhammer. The words are all common, public domain words. But they took them, gave them a particular look, and then registered them as Trade Marks. So if I write a book and my character is using a Warhammer, not a problem. But if I write a SciFi game and call it Warhammer then I will find my legal bills growing quickly.

And keep in mind, at least in the US, TMs do not expire like Copyrights do. They have a whole larger and stronger set of laws behind them.

Daniel

 

[EDG]

Yeah... obviously the words Zhodani and Vilani are offlimits because they are very specific to Traveller. A similar example would be how Weyland-Yutani is specific to the Alien universe, or how Shai'Hulud is specific to the Dune universe.

More general nouns like "Regency" or "Imperium" are harder to declare off limits, but the intent is obviously to prevent people from using them as defined in the OTU. YOu can still call something "The Gol'Danan Regency" or the "Fifteenth Terran Imperium", but those are obviously different to the OTU ones. You can call someone a scout, but you can't define that as part of the exploration agency of the OTU's Third Imperium.

Similarly, Scout/Courier and Far Trader and Tigress Dreadnought are concepts unique to the OTU. You can make your own equivalents of those that look different and call them something different, but you can't use those specific names and concepts.

And yes, really they should have been defined as trademarks.

 

[EDG]

PRODUCT IDENTITY
In addition to the items specified under section 1e of the Open Game License, the following terms and titles are also reserved as Product Identity. A copy of the Open Game License can be found below.

Traveller, MegaTraveller, The New Era, Milieu 0, Traveller20, T20, The Traveller’s Handbook, Traveller’s Aide, Science Fiction Adventure in the Far Future, Striker, Mayday, Journal of the Travellers’ Aid Society, JTAS, Third (3rd) Imperium, Second Imperium, Ziru Sirka, Rule of Man, Ramshackle Empire, Hive Federation, Two Thousand Worlds, Zhodani Consulate, Aslan Hierate, Vargr Extents, Solomani Sphere, Solomani Rim, Spinward Marches, Sydymic Empire, Khuur League, Julian Protectorate, The Long Night, Sylean Federation, Matarishan Federation, League of Antares, Darrian Confederation, Grand Survey, Rachele Society, Ine Givar, Sword Worlds Confederation, Regency, Reformation Coalition, AI Virus, Virus, Aslan, Vargr, Hiver, K’kree, Solomani, Zhodani, Vilani, Droyne, Luriani, Virushi, Sydite, Drakarans, Clotho, Sheol, Devi Intelligence, Inyx, Inheritors, Lithkind, Ael Yael, Ahetaowa, Bwap, Evantha, Girug’kagh, Githiaskio, Hhkar, Hlanssai, J’aadje, Jgd-ll-jagd, J’sia, Schalli, Tezcat, Addaxur, Answerin, Brinn. Chirpers, Eboken, Humaniti, Solomani, Ursa, Wanderer, Delgado Trading LIC, GSbAG, General Products, Instellarms LIC, Ling-Standard Products, Makhidkarun, Hortalez et Cie LIC, Naasirka, SuSAG LIC, Sharurshid, Sternmetal Horizons LIC, Tukera Lines LIC, Zirunkariish, Zhodane, Zhdant, Lair, Kuzu, Glea, Guaran, Kirur, Sylea, Annapabar, Dukh, Sopater, Khuur, Daramm, Darrian, Regina, Glisten, Travellers’ Aid Society (TAS), Lords of Thunder, Deadspace, Iridium Throne, Amber Zone, Patron Encounter, Casual Encounter, Argushiigi Admegulasha Bilanidin (AAB) or the Vilani Repository of All Knowledge, Behind the Claw, Astroburgers, Church of the Chosen Ones, Coyns, Signal GK, Children of the March, Azhanti High Lightning, Hava-Cola, GDW, Infoscreen, MAE Lines, Yaskoydray, Empress Wave, Black Curtain, Official Traveller Universe, OTU, Charted Space, Gateway Domain, Jonkeereen, Jagd-il-Jagd, Travellers, Galanglic, air/raft, Gcarrier, Scout/Courier, Far Trader, Misjump, High Passage, Middle Passage, Low Passage, Low Berth, Universal Personality Profile, UPP, Universal World Profile, UWP.

A number of these have now been included in Mongoose's Traveller SRD.

Thanks for doing that Flynn

TBH I think it'd be best if Mongoose explicitly specified what terms are "Product Identity" like that instead of just saying "everything directly connected to the Original Traveller Universe".

I will note that searching through the MGT SRD reveals no matches for things like Vilani or Scout/Courier (couriers are only mentioned as the usual sense of the word in the Scouts sample career). So if they have included some of those terms, it still doesn't look like they've included any that are directly part of the OTU.

 

[far-trader]

Yeah... obviously the words Zhodani and Vilani are offlimits because they are very specific to Traveller...

There's a village in Latvia that might argue the case of Vliani being a Traveller trademark or whatever

 

[EDG]

There's a village in Latvia that might argue the case of Vliani being a Traveller trademark or whatever

A village in Latvia doesn't have anything to do with the OTU . And I really doubt that such a trademark would even affect them anyway.

Seriously, I think people may be splitting hairs a bit too much here!

 

[Gruffty the Hiver]

11.800.000 (!!!) results for "Hiver"

Result!! :lol:

 

[rust]

A village in Latvia doesn't have anything to do with the OTU

With the Latvians you never know, perhaps this village will soon declare
itself independent and rename itself "Vilani Imperium" ... :lol:

Ah, perhaps I can find the e-mail address of Vilani's mayor ... :twisted:

 

[GamerDude]

...A number of these have now been included in Mongoose's Traveller SRD. Check there if you see a term that you want to use, to see if Mongoose has opened it up to the OGL. If not, consider the term something you can't use in a commercial product. The jury is still out on whether or not we can use it in fanzines and websites under a Fair Use policy.

Well thought out and put Flynn...

 

[GamerDude]

There's a village in Latvia that might argue the case of Vliani being a Traveller trademark or whatever

A village in Latvia doesn't have anything to do with the OTU . And I really doubt that such a trademark would even affect them anyway.

That is a really good point... a village in Latvia is in the real world, not in an imaginary Sci-Fi setting.

 

[EDG]

More to the point, McDonald's is a trademark, but I don't see them suing anyone called McDonald just for having that name... (or anyone called McDonald for suing them for using 'their' name as a trademark).

 

[GamerDude]

More to the point, McDonald's is a trademark, but I don't see them suing anyone called McDonald just for having that name... (or anyone called McDonald for suing them for using 'their' name as a trademark).

Actually, a few years ago (maybe 10?) they sued a restaurant that wasn't McDonald's but McSomething (I can't remember what)...

And they sued the restaurant, in the end forcing them to drop the "Mc" part. Their justification was they use the "Mc" to name things as part of Product Identity: Big Mac, McChicken, Chicken McNuggets, etc.

Of course, they are a 1,000 kg gorilla stomping around the restaurant industry, and neither Mongoose Publishing nor Marc Miller/FFE are even close to that (WotC is the 200 kg gorilla in the RPG industry), so I don't see them as thinking of suing someone over a name.

 

[-Daniel-]

More to the point, McDonald's is a trademark, but I don't see them suing anyone called McDonald just for having that name... (or anyone called McDonald for suing them for using 'their' name as a trademark).

I thought I saw on 60 minutes that at one point the McDonald clan did threaten to sue McDonalds in the UK. I believe it started when McDonalds tried to sue a resturant called McDonald's something and it was owned by a McDonald.

I need to go locate that story.

Daniel

 

[EDG]

Unless we're all thinking of Living in America...

either way, it's beside the point -terms and concepts specific to the OTU count as Product Identity, not Open Content.

 

[-Daniel-]

...either way, it's beside the point -terms and concepts specific to the OTU count as Product Identity, not Open Content.

Sorry, did not mean to seem like I was disagreeing with the main point. I agree 100%. In fact I always say error on the side of caution. Do not try to walk the line in these matters.

Daniel