logoalt Hacker News

cyberlimerencetoday at 1:19 PM2 repliesview on HN

Beautiful work, I love fantasy cartography. Someday I actually want to make some maps of my own, I was thinking of ASOIAF. A slightly off-topic question, are these types of maps legal to sell from copyright point of view? I understand that this is quite a niche product, so maybe I'm overthinking it, but do these count as derivative works ?


Replies

PokemonNoGotoday at 2:29 PM

I had the same thought. Not bashing their work I am genuinely curios.

For this specific case I was suprised to see they have a dedicated website for such questions! So I guess it is quite common.... (They seem very serious about it since i couldn't even mark the text to copy it here! )

>Tolkien’s original drawings, paintings, maps, designs, scripts and other graphic works are protected by copyright and may not be copied. The Tolkien Estate takes action against parties who try to commercialise Tolkien’s works, including maps of Middle-earth, the One Ring Inscription and other images.

[0] https://www.tolkienestate.com/frequently-asked-questions-and...

show 1 reply
egypturnashtoday at 2:52 PM

Don’t forget trademarks, even if your maps are drawn completely from scratch then I am sure whoever has the license for selling maps of A Song Of Ice And Fire (TM) will take issue with you presenting them as such, if your business becomes large enough for them to bother noticing you.