H.P. Lovecraft died on March 15, 1937, which is over 70 years ago. Does that now mean that his work can be used freely without violating copyright laws or needing to pay royalties to his estate? Is the Cthulhu Mythos now open to anyone to make games about? I guess this would apply to some of the other important Mythos writers like Robert W. Chambers.

No, Arkham House, a company set up by Lovecraft's friend August Derleth has renewed the copyright for many works into the 60s and beyond.
However, many writers have used some of the names i.e. "The Necronomicon" crops up all over the place without any acknowledgement.

e.g The Call of Cthulhu RPG is published by Chaosium "by permission of Arkham House", but "Unspeakable Words" which uses the names of many major Mythos entities has no acknowledgement...

All of Lovecraft's works published befores his death should be public domain in Europe, as the EU directive for intelectual property stablished a maximum of 70 years after the decease of the author. However, the Lovecraft estate was and is controversial and it seems the legal rights are not concentrated in a same person or corporation; for instance the rights for Call of Cthulhu are in the hands of Chaosium. IIRC, the wikipedia seems to have somehing on it, but, as always with it, exercise caution.

The wikipedia entry is very interesting:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H._P._Lovecraft#Intellectual_pr...

Seems that the copyright is complicated by (i) US copyright law being complicated and (ii) H.P. Lovecraft himself being generous with his work and it not being clear who owned the rights to the estate. The article certainly paints August Derleth in an unflattering light.

There are no records of the copyright being renewed on his works published before his death on http://cocatalog.loc.gov/ The copyrights seem to be on compilations with the basis for copyright being added intorductions, notes and annotations and the act of compilation itself.

The trade marks on certain phrases, such as The Call of Cthulhu, are owned by Chaosium. This seems perfectly reasonable and shouldn't cause any problems so long as these phrases are avoided.

I guess the way to proceed would be to attempt to contact the estate to verify that the copyright period has ended.

I think it's more complicated than that. I believe that August Derleth claimed the copyrights after HPL's death without any legal basis: he was not HPL's literary executor. So I think that whether the stories are public domain depends on who you ask. For example, you can find Lovecraft's work (or at least some of it) on some web sites, including Project Gutenberg Australia.

Early editions yes, later ones no. Arkham House either don't mind or don't fancy their chances in court.


Chaosium do not have the rights to the story "The Call of Cthulhu". However, they've trademarked phrase "Call of Cthulhu", which is part of the reason FFG's Call of Cthulhu CCG is licensed from Chaosium (the other part being getting access to Mythos material Chaosium does have the rights to, such as the wealth of stuff from the RPG).

If you ask Arkham House, they own the copyright to Lovecraft's work. If you ask others, you might very well get a different answer. A lot of Lovecraft's stories are available in places like Project Gutenberg and various Lovecraft fan sites, but I don't know if Arkham House's claim has ever been tested in court.

I am positive I read somewhere that Chaosium decided to stop paying Arkham House for the RPG rights to the Mythos some time back, but I can't remember where the article was.

Chris

    Copyright laws are different in each jurisdiction, so depending on where you are and where you intend to publish you will be covered by different laws. Lovecraft's fiction is widely available on the web, hosted in countries where it is legal to do so.

    Given the nature of copyright law in America, it is quite likely that Lovecraft's works, along with everyone else's created after Mickey, will remain out of the public sector forever.

             Sag.

I believe that August Derleth is actually H.P. Lovecraft...

Through arcane chants and dealings with unnatural folk before his death, Lovecraft managed to possess Derleth's form and then aggressively sought to acquire his own works, which, when read in precisely the correct way (pronouncing aloud every 7th word I believe) and during the appropriate time (still unknown to myself...I must find out so that I may stop the madness!) will unlock the gates and unleash the elder gods.

Not directly related, but nevertheless Lovecraft-ish:
Now don't spank me for this (although that isn't necessarily a bad thing), but I've never read any of his work, despite the huge volume of books I go through. so...where should I start? What would be the best introduction, Cthulhu or Necronomicon?

I suppose to move this into the "Off-Topic" forum. I like Lovecraft a lot, but the question about the copyright is not really "Gaming Related - General Gaming", ...

Neither of those are actually works of Lovecraft. OK, not quite true. The CAll of Cthulhu is a short story, but you won't find a novel with that title. Pick up any of the anthologies of his short stories. The Dunwich Horror and other weird stories is the best I think.

There was a recent post in the Arkham Horror game page about this with a lot of suggestions.

You will, however, find a Penguin Twentieth-Century Classics paperback with the title "The Call of Cthulhu and Other Weird Stories", which includes a good selection of Lovecraft's short stories. It's $10.20 at Amazon.

Thanks, Everyone!

Jumping back to the public domain issue (for book and movie references there are some good threads under the Lovecraft geektag http://www.boardgamegeek.com/tag/lovecraft )

I see that Dragonbytes ( www.dagonbytes.com one of the larger hosting sites for HPL's works) is down. There is a google answer about it ( http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview?id=783933 ) that tells how to find them again, but I wonder if it because they've been asked to "cease and desist" or just routine server problems?

OOOOooooohhhhhhh Spooky...

Who issued that "cease and desist order..."

Most of the ideas within HPL's books are Public Domain because of his actions with the so-called Lovecraft Circle. A writer has free reign to use anything that he wrote. This does not necessarily apply to any of the writers of said Circle, and certainly not to any of Derleth's works.

The books and stories, however, are the property of whichever publishing house owns their rights. Quoting from them requires permission from their offices.

Now, the issue of parody is always relevant when it comes to HPL. When his, or for that matter, any works are used in even the slightest of satyrical ways then all bets are off. Your sitting flesh is protected.

Sorry if this came off as pedantic, but as a writer this is a big issue for me. Especially since it was HPL and PKDick who provided me with the impetus to write.

US copyright law allows for:

an initial 20 year-long protection period; the initial copyright
and
an additional (70-90 year-long, I am not sure of the time frame, as it has been a long time since I saw the legals) period; this is called the optional or extended clause; it is considered a "renewal" of the initial copyright

An estate can pick up these rights and often does, especially in the case of the optional clause. After the first period is over, if the copyright is not renewed, and certainly after a renewed one, all of the work (including characters, names, concepts, and anything else considered to be intellectual property) becomes Public Domain.

That would never work. When you die, your property is inherited by your heir (or, depeding on your juristiction and time period, the guy who loots your corpse/tomb)), and even supposing you return to the living world you there's no legal basis for believing that you would regain control of your former assets. And without control over the assets, the Lovecraft/Derleth combo would not be able to recite the incantation as only the copyright holder is legaly entitled to perform the work(s).

People need to learn- arcane dealings and mystic chants are not sufficient preparation for returning to the world of the living after your death- you need to take legal matters into account and create an unambigious will.

And in the case of Elder Gods, and advance directive.

I think the Wikipedia entry on Lovecraft with reference to the copyrights is about right. The Arkham House renewals may be valid or may not (I favour the latter) but this will only be sorted out in a court case. However those copyright renewals only apply in the USA, in the EU which is a strict life+70 time limit, and those places which are still on the minimum life+50 all of Lovecraft is out of copyright.

However this is problematical as if the OP includes a piece of Lovecraft fiction then exporting it to the US might incur the wrath of Arkham House and a lawsuit.

Trademarks are a different issue. Chaosium (and FFG I believe) have Cthulhu related trademarks in the game sphere. As long as you steer clear of using their trademarks and steer clear of any passing-off issues you should be OK to produce a Lovecraftian game.

Finally and just to make perfectly clear IANAL nor do I play one on the net.

Ah yes, but when your familiar responsible for setting up said legal measures dies suddenly due to a run-in with the authorities at the Miskatonic library, as obviously happened in this case, the only way to acquire the works was in a hostile manner.

Trademarks, copyrights, and patents are all very different aspects of the law.

TMs are perpetual as long as the company continues to defend them and their use does come into "common usage." For example, the word "thermos" was a brand name, but because so many people chose to use it for any similar device a Federal judge ruled against the company and allowed any manufacturer to call their product by that name.

Patents are very limited. They allow for exclusive use of an invention or its components for a limited time-frame. Once that time-frame expires anyone can make and market a near exact copy of that invention or anything derived from it. This allows manufacturers in the same industry access to the technology. It is very useful when it comes to generic drugs, which benefit greatly from patent law.

Copyrights are the most restrive type of protection and are designed to protect intellectual property. But they are not perpetual. It is also possible to pass ownership of them to an estate or to a company.

The tricky thing with copyrights can best be explained by an example. An author publishes a book that contains pictures in it that were taken from the Public Domain. Now someone cannot use his versions of those pictures or take anything from that book.

While a story may be public domain, you will need to show your source to cover your ass.

Here is a situation I will need to deal with. "Beowulf" is public domain. However, I need to use a quote from a translation of it. What the translator did is not public domain, so I will need his permission and that of his publishing house.

This is all very tricky and murky terrain, like having a castle built over a swamp.
Hope this helps.