[Wikipedia-l] Re: Klingon

Wed Jun 9 19:14:28 UTC 2004

On Wed, 9 Jun 2004, Timwi wrote:

> Imran Ghory wrote:
>
> > Paramount owns the copyright to the Klingon language, the words, the
> > grammar, everything.
>
> Think about what you just said. How do you think it could possibly be
> the case that individual words are copyrighted? That's impossible.
> According to that logic I could write "Hompahee" here, and it would be
> subject to my copyright and I could sue anyone who writes it anywhere.

Firstly they'd have to copy you. Copyright is unlike patent
law,independant creation doesn't violate copyright.

Secondly, we're not talking about one invented wors here we're talking
about 100s of words.

> an urban myth that spreads vehemently across Klingon non-enthusiasts and
> skepticists, but never gets any truer.

>From the klingon language mailing list FAQ as linked to by the Klingon
Language Institute,

*****
2.12 Can someone give me a list of all the Klingon words?

This is an understandable question, considering the (increasingly) large
number of canon sources for Klingon. But the problem is, the Klingon
language belongs to Paramount; it's copyrighted. If someone started
distributing lists of Klingon words (or descriptions of grammar, etc.),
then Paramount might view this as competition for the legitimate sale of
their own products, which would be A Bad Thing.

...

What about all those other sources for canon beyond TKD ? The KLI keeps a
list of words post- TKD . Isn't this in violation of Paramount's
copyrights? Well, the KLI has a license from Paramount, as an Authorized
User of Klingon. But don't ask them for a complete list.
*****

However as I said before, if you or someone else can get Paramount to
clarify the legal permission of the lanugage, then we'd be in a position
to progress.

Imran
--
http://bits.bris.ac.uk/imran