Topic: Are Dracula & co public domain?

[C Belmont]

I like playing a good castlevania fangame as much as the next person however I actually wouldn't be caught dead making one myself simply because they aren't exactly legal, at the very least they are considered by some to be a legal grey area.

So instead what I'd like to do is create the closest possible thing to a Castlevania fangame without it actually being one & I was just wondering if anybody knew whether characters from classic horror literature like Dracula, Frankenstein's monster & Mr Hyde are copyrighted characters or whether they are so old that they have passed into public domain?

[A-Yty]

Now, that's an interesting question. Some seem to avoid naming the character, probably in fear of copyright issues (Hellsing, for example). The director of Nosferatu, for example, was sued, even though he changed the character's name to Orlock. Then again we have hundreds of movies, books and shows where Big D is called Dracula and he acts like Dracula.

[X]

The US copyright commission dropped the ball regarding the rights to Bram Stoker's character Dracula. Unlike Europe and England who officially recognize the the character ownership, the US to this day still hasn't. I don't know about any of the others however it should be alright. You're doing a fan game. That's no different then doing fan fiction. As long as there is no profit involved and as long as you announce the rights of who owns the characters, concepts, etc. then it should be okay to use them.

[Flame]

IF its a castlevania-like game, as long as it ISNT castlevania, it should be fine. So for ex. no whips, no belmonts, etc.