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Old 2007-09-12, 16:44   Link #229
Calawain
Gaijin
 
 
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: New York, NY
Spoiler for Space:


Well trademarks are part of it yes, but I would think copyright laws also apply due to the fact you are copying character personalities, story (background, what happened to the characters in the past comes from the other works). From my cursory reviews of the Westlaw summaries of the various USCA chapters that deal with trademarks and copyrights (I wouldn't read the whole thing, the trademark chapter is 400 pages at least annotated), I would hesitate to say that you have to actively pursue all trademark violations in order to hold your copyright. I mean unless it is really famous and obvious, you'd have to have constructive notice of the infringement in order for a requirement like that to exist. It's possible, but I don't think it is particularly likely.

However, from my observations and the comments here and in other places, I would assume that the Japanese companies realize that they aren't being economically hurt by the doujin (in fact it helps in most cases) and just don't pursue any infringements.
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