So Intellectual property is kind of made up.
It stems from copyright which stems from Map makers.
Map makers had a problem where they could go out and survey a city. They could draw a map of the city. They could sell that map. Then someone could come and copy that map, without doing the survey, and sell that copy. Map makers developed methods of proving that someone had copied their work, like making up fake streets. But they didnt really have much legal recourse, without the concept of copyright. I mean⌠if someone has a map, they should have the right to sell that map, right? I mean, they supplied the ink, and the paper, and they did the labor and the press⌠but reasonably, we know there is something wrong about it. Thats why we invented copyright. And we also understood that at some point, new mapmakers should be able to reference the work of previous mapmakers without fear of copyright infringement. Otherwise humans would be doing the same work over and over for no reason. That concept got extended to other art forms in ways that are not at all the same.
Coca Cola essentially invented the modern Santa Clause, but I doubt any of us would argue that people shouldnt be able to write stories or make art depicting fat santa in a red suit, with rosey cheeks, enjoying sweets. Few would argue that people shouldnât continue to get credit for their work. But copyright prohibits others from getting credit for their work if it uses characters under copyright.
Tolkien invented Dwarves. I dont think he is entitled to compensation from every creator to use fantasy dwarves, or the spelling Tolkien specifically laid out in the preface of his novels.
Blizzard couldnât even win the DOTA 2 case. I think most people would have agreed that DOTA the name might have been contentious, but Blizzard also wanted to argue that the gameplay was their intellectual property. Penny Arcade made the analogy that WotC could have exclusive rights to the mechanic of turning a card sideways to note a change in state. Just because you did it first, or came up with a good name for the thing, doesnât make your version of it more important than someone elses.
And losing the DOTA case, was probably a win for everyone. HotS exists as an If you canât beat em, join em and I enjoy it more than DOTA personally.
Anyway, the point is, intellectual property is poorly defined. It shouldnt include things to come out of someone elses mind. Characters shouldnt be exclusive indefinitely. Blues Traveller shouldnt be sued for using Cannon in D as the backbone of Hook. Hook makes the world a better place, because it is a fresh, and brilliant intellectual property, that uses someone elseâs intellectual property in a new way.
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