Is the words
Elf,
Human, Don't think human could be.
Dwarf,

Emp,
Dragon,
Wyrm,Wurm
Orc,
Goblin,
Troll,
and all the other medieval fantasies mythological creatures
copywritten so no one else could use them in graphic novels ?

Hobbit,
Drow.
Think thay have copy rights on them.

With the exception of 'Hobbit', these names are from Celtic, Germanic and Norse mythologies and go back to pre-literate societies much earlier than mediaeval times - many of them will have their etymological roots in prehistory.

The only one that has been invented in modern times is 'Hobbit' (by J R R Tolkien) but everything else is OK. 

Orcs, elves and dragons you see featured pretty much everywhere. Hobbits are more specific, and many fantasy games replace them with "halflings" instead.

Hobbits are so connected to Tolkein that I would leave it even if not copyright or trademarked.  As Grappo said use halflings.  You need to pay attention to the graphic representations though , so no WOW or other game characters , make up your own.

Rule of thumb: if it comes from a mythology, or from an author that has been dead for I think over 70 years without the copyright being passed on, it can't be copyrighted; if it was created by a person, the name is copyrighted.

Hobbits were made by Tolkien, that's why game creators made the halflings, which are pretty much the exact same thing with a different name.

I have the impression that vampires were created by an author long ago (but don't quote me on that), yet it's not copyrighted...

Bram Stoker write the first modern vampire novel about Count Dracula.  The vampire itself (as a name) goes back to pre-history, but dominant in eastern european legend.

Tolkien also created Orcs. The word "orc", according to Wikipedia, has more ancient origins. The fantasy race of Orcs started with Tolkien, so usage will be as risky as with using Hobbits.

Another thing to keep in mind, even if a fantasy race has old folklore roots, their specific fantasy characteristics may be of more recent origin. That also has a potential of being a copyright issue.

Quote - Hobbits were made by Tolkien, that's why game creators made the halflings, which are pretty much the exact same thing with a different name.

Here is something to consider when you are standing awestruck by the game creator's influence on modern fantasy literature; it is from Tolkien's Lord of the Rings (only an excerpt is shown) :-)

Quote -   ...There shall be shown a token
That Doom is near at hand,
For Isildur’s Bane shall waken,
And the Halfling forth shall stand.

Quote - Tolkien also created Orcs. The word "orc", according to Wikipedia, has more ancient origins. The fantasy race of Orcs started with Tolkien, so usage will be as risky as with using Hobbits.

Another thing to keep in mind, even if a fantasy race has old folklore roots, their specific fantasy characteristics may be of more recent origin. That also has a potential of being a copyright issue.

"Orc" is safe. The Tolkien estate won the suit against D&D for "hobbit" because, as mentioned, that was specifically a made-up word. As the Wikipedia entry itself, notes, there are pre-existing literary references for the general "orc" concept.

Quote - Another thing to keep in mind, even if a fantasy race has old folklore roots, their specific fantasy characteristics may be of more recent origin. That also has a potential of being a copyright issue.

I think that's more on the "err" side. Originally elves (AFAIK) were from norse mythology, vessels of the gods, and they were usually very strong and more wild... It seems Tolkien made them that way, slender and pacifists, and still you see them like that in a bazillion fantasy settings without copyright issues.

I don't believe it's possible to copyright a single word.

You may be able to trademark one, but it's not particularly simple, and you are then legally obligated to defend it against unauthorized use.

"Hobbit" may well be trademarked by the Tolkien estate, as he coined the word.

The others are words commonly used in the English language.

I do believe it's possible to trademark the hallmark appearance of a particular character. Snow White, for instance, exists in a public domain fairytale, so she's free for use, but her characteristic appearance with blue short sleeved top and long yellow skirt, may well be trademarked by Disney, so you'd want to give her a different face and different clothes.

Quote - I don't believe it's possible to copyright a single word.

You may be able to trademark one, but it's not particularly simple, and you are then legally obligated to defend it against unauthorized use.

"Hobbit" may well be trademarked by the Tolkien estate, as he coined the word.

The others are words commonly used in the English language.

From my understanding (which is only what one of my teachers told me in college), you copyright the name as compared to a certain style, so to say.

For instance, I could make a dragon and call him Hobbit. I could not create a race of small party-lover "dwarves" and call them hobbits.

I don't know what an Emp is, but I think Tolkien also created the Ents (the tree-people).

They could have meant either Tolkien's Ents or the mythological demons called Imps.

Quote - I don't know what an Emp is

Electromagnetic Pulse - comes from a nuke going off and does horrible things to technology :biggrin:

Quote - > Quote - I don't know what an Emp is

Electromagnetic Pulse - comes from a nuke going off and does horrible things to technology :biggrin:

I believe the OP meant Imp!

..and does horrible things to technology

so do imps - well the ones that live in this machine do :)

Goinbg back OT I'd say moriador is correct, as you do get different types of companies registering the same world. I think the general rule is as long as it's a different sector it's OK to re-use. Like I've seen "purple" used by both an insurance company and an estate agent. So it might be possible to register orc or summat like that.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imp

Quote - I do believe it's possible to trademark the hallmark appearance of a particular character. Snow White, for instance, exists in a public domain fairytale, so she's free for use, but her characteristic appearance with blue short sleeved top and long yellow skirt, may well be trademarked by Disney, so you'd want to give her a different face and different clothes.

Can't really go by Disney. They sort of make up their own rules. For instance, Pocohontas from the animated movie was a grown woman, while the real Pocahontas was about 12 years old. But you know Disbney wasn't going to do a love story with a 12 year old and a 25 year old Miles Standish.

On the other hand, The Disney Alice in Wonderland and the Lewis Caroll Alice are so similar one would have to wonder how Disney can claim a trademark there.

if you consider 'jedi' comes from Sengoku Jidai... it's all in the spelling

 Marvel and DC have many similar named heroes but with different spellings.

Quote -  Marvel and DC have many similar named heroes but with different spellings.

Or the exact same spelling.

The reason Marvel puts out a "Captain Marvel" comic every few years is that if they didn't, they'd lose the right to put out a comic with that title because DC would instantly grab it so their Captain Marvel, who is inarguably the better known of the characters with that name, would finally be able to be in a comic with his name on the cover. It's why the DC Captain Marvel appears as part of a team, as a guest-star in another comic, or in his own comic with a title that's anything but "Captain Marvel".

The general rule is that comic characters can have the same name as characters from other companies if the name is one that's traditional (ie, both Marvel and DC have characters named Hercules, Ares, Thor, and so on), or that if the name isn't linked to one of the characters that are essentially flagship characters for the company, and it isn't a straight-up copy. DC's Ares, for instance, is a very different character from Marvel's Ares even though both were based on the same myth.