[tlhIngan Hol] hard truths about the future

[janSIy .]

jatlh Will Martin:
> Paramount doesn’t really own the Klingon language because languages are not really intellectual property,

In addition, they never hired Marc Okrand to create a language.  They hired him to translate some dialogue.  He created the language on his own.  Paramount (et al.) own the lines from the movies (and arguably, the lines that Okrand provided, but were not included in the movies).  And through PocketBooks they also own that specific presentation of the language.  But I think even their lawyers would be hard pressed to come up with a claim that they own the language.

> but I’m not sure that Paramount’s lawyers care whether that’s true or not. They are quite capably of
> “protecting their intellectual property” at a cost that would destroy us even if they were unsuccessful. They
> can easily abuse “discovery” requirements forcing us to provide absurd quantities of evidence we lack the
> resources to collect, causing us to forfeit any legal case they choose to provide simply because we can’t
> afford to be in the same courtroom they are in.

Not only could they force us to spend a lot of money we don't have in order to prove that we have the right to use the language, but they might have a legitimate trademark claim against whomever for using the word "Klingon".

Jeremy
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