Conlangery Short 22 medallion

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George gives a quick update on the Paramount v Axanar case and the LCS’s part in it. This was previously discussed in episode 119. For more information, please see the Language Creation Society’s Axanar information page.

4 Responses to “Conlangery SHORTS #22: Axanar Update”

  1. Shemtov

    Question as a layman (that George probably can’t answer, but I want to bring it up anyway):
    Would a design patent on a conlang, if possible, be a better protection then copyright, as the time issued is much less, and the fact that patent law focuses more on monetazation (if I understand this correctly) and if, again I’m understanding this correctly, a small change in morphosyntax or phonology would mean it’s a new patent? If so, successfully arguing to the patent office that a conlang is patentable would mean there would be little room to argue that they copyrightable as patent and copyright seem to be mutually exclusive?

    • Shemtov

      Another benefit to making conlangs fall under patent instead of copyright law is that one has to apply for a patent, while any typed description of a conlang, even on a little internet forum is IIRC automatically copyrighted.

    • admin

      Patents are covered in the old Denton’s memo. Basically, it’s very difficult to make a conlang that is both 1) useful, and 2) a novel idea. ANADEW is the main enemy here: almost any conlang you could actually learn will have naturally occurring prior art for just about all its features. I don’t know much about design patents, but I imagine some novelty is still required.

      Note IANAL.

  2. Pete Bleackley

    A description of a conlang may be copyrightable, but a description of a thing is not the thing itself. That’s an important distinction.

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