by poppers 15 Replies latest social humour
It seems close enough to copyright infingement to me to send their lawyers scurrying into their books.
I'd say, well spotted, poppers!
I did think, when I saw the film, and then the plastic wizard, that element so it iall they were very close indeed to direct imitation of other stories.
Interesting.
Actually, I'm pretty sure Sparlock is a WarCraft (or) World of Warcraft on line game character.
The links you provided suggest that Sparlock is the alias of a WoW player, not a character created by Blizzard.
The spelling of 'Sparlock' isn't stated in the animation, and has only really been assumed.
In any case, copyright relates to the way an idea is presented and doesn't apply to the use of a single specific word. The relevant aspect of law, if any, would be trademark infringement.
the only way there will be an issue is if they used an "exact" wizard's likeness from somewhere else. If so there's copyright issues as well as using it's likeness in a negative light.
Copying someone else's design of a fictional wizard might be copyright infringement. However, parodies--which may be negative--are permitted under fair use.
