I'm from the US and you are correct in stating that a name cannot be copyrighted. A name can be trademarked if it can be demonstrated to be unique enough to be easily identifiable by the public.
In this case, the name is too short to be copyrighted and I seriously doubt that it has been trademarked. I haven't done a search myself but I think it's safe to assume that it's not an official trademark and is certainly not a registered trademark.
Nander,
You may want to take a closer look at US copyright laws as you are misquoting or misunderstand them. Copyrights apply to original works, and in particular to this case, a Literary Work. A literary work is defined as
"works, other than audiovisual works, expressed in words, numbers, or other verbal or numerical symbols or indicia, regardless of the nature of the material objects, such as books, periodicals, manuscripts, phonorecords, film, tapes, disks, or cards, in which they are embodied."
This definition cannot possibly apply to a single word, even one that's widely recognized.
Even more, the artwork presented here are photographs of fire and embers. While that has a similar theme to what 'balrog' is in the literary work of JRR Tolkein, the similarities end there. There are no infringements of any sort in this listing or the works it contains.
Trademarks, on the other hand, can be used to protect a phrase or name but that's a whole other beast that I don't think applies in this situation.
I do want to note I attempted to use purely nuetral language and tones so I apologize if I come across as hostile in any way. My intentions are to inform, not to flame.
That all said...
These are fantastic photos! Thanks for sharing them! :D
To put my $0.02 in about 16x16, sure they're small, but as one poster said, scale them up and you get an old-school feel. Which is exactly what I'm going for in a project I'm using MrBeast's tiles in. They look fantastic scaled up and the look of the game is very 16-bit which is one of the goals. The Sewer set is especially good.
Also, I really think the whole 'sworn statement' is overdoing it. This is not a rip. That much is clear. It's already been renamed to avoid possible trademark issues. Can we move on now?
I didn't mention this before so I'll say it now -- preview image looks great! :D
I hate Blender's interface with a burning passion so I've never taken the time to really learn how to use it. I do acknowledge that it's quite capable but I'm no artist. I'm a programmer... :)
I like to use PhotoShop to generate any effect textures that I use... in thise case I've layered the different parts of the flare so I apply color effects to them individually.
Snowdrop,
I'm from the US and you are correct in stating that a name cannot be copyrighted. A name can be trademarked if it can be demonstrated to be unique enough to be easily identifiable by the public.
In this case, the name is too short to be copyrighted and I seriously doubt that it has been trademarked. I haven't done a search myself but I think it's safe to assume that it's not an official trademark and is certainly not a registered trademark.
Nander,
You may want to take a closer look at US copyright laws as you are misquoting or misunderstand them. Copyrights apply to original works, and in particular to this case, a Literary Work. A literary work is defined as
"works, other than audiovisual works, expressed in words, numbers, or other verbal or numerical symbols or indicia, regardless of the nature of the material objects, such as books, periodicals, manuscripts, phonorecords, film, tapes, disks, or cards, in which they are embodied."
This definition cannot possibly apply to a single word, even one that's widely recognized.
Even more, the artwork presented here are photographs of fire and embers. While that has a similar theme to what 'balrog' is in the literary work of JRR Tolkein, the similarities end there. There are no infringements of any sort in this listing or the works it contains.
Trademarks, on the other hand, can be used to protect a phrase or name but that's a whole other beast that I don't think applies in this situation.
I do want to note I attempted to use purely nuetral language and tones so I apologize if I come across as hostile in any way. My intentions are to inform, not to flame.
That all said...
These are fantastic photos! Thanks for sharing them! :D
To put my $0.02 in about 16x16, sure they're small, but as one poster said, scale them up and you get an old-school feel. Which is exactly what I'm going for in a project I'm using MrBeast's tiles in. They look fantastic scaled up and the look of the game is very 16-bit which is one of the goals. The Sewer set is especially good.
I'll say it again- Fabulous work! Keep it up!
Yet another very useful tileset. Thanks for posting it... looks great!
Very nicely done! As a programmer it's always difficult to find very high quality resources like this. I'd love to see more!
IANAL = I Am Not A Lawyer
Also, I really think the whole 'sworn statement' is overdoing it. This is not a rip. That much is clear. It's already been renamed to avoid possible trademark issues. Can we move on now?
I didn't mention this before so I'll say it now -- preview image looks great! :D
Trademarks don't apply to generic names and it's impossible to copyright a name so call it whatever you want.
Awesome awesome awesome! I will definitely be making use of this in my current project!
I hate Blender's interface with a burning passion so I've never taken the time to really learn how to use it. I do acknowledge that it's quite capable but I'm no artist. I'm a programmer... :)
I like to use PhotoShop to generate any effect textures that I use... in thise case I've layered the different parts of the flare so I apply color effects to them individually.
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