: Similar Character So, I had a dream about this demon character named Sin (I physically saw his name in my dream) that goes to church. I wanted to make this into a story, but I feel like

@Debbie451

Posted in: #Characters #Copyright

So, I had a dream about this demon character named Sin (I physically saw his name in my dream) that goes to church. I wanted to make this into a story, but I feel like it's too similar to Rin Okumura from Blue Exorcist. I decided to change my characters name to Sihn, but I feel like it's still too similar. Any tips on copyright and the like? Thanks!

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@Nickens642

@Nickens642

I've never read "Blue Exorcist" (or watched the TV show or whatever it is), but that probably wouldn't change my answer any anyway.

First off: Copyright protects the specific words or pictures or sounds used. It does not protect an IDEA. You do not and cannot have a copyright to an idea. So as long as you don't copy actual words or pictures or whatever from Blue Exorcist, you will not be violating their copyright. If, for example, someone else wrote a story about a brilliant detective who solves murder cases, and I write a story about a brilliant detective who solves murder cases, that of itself gives zero grounds for claiming copyright violation. I would have to copy actual words out of his book for that to be an issue.

Trademark is different from copyright. Trademark gives you exclusive rights to a name or slogan. If you wrote a story with a character named Luke Skywalker or Harry Potter, there would be at least some grounds for a trademark violation lawsuit. A character named "Sin" is much trickier, because Sin is in fact a common name in China, and it is an ordinary and widely-used English word. If you write a story with a character named "Bob", you cannot sue everyone else who uses the name "Bob" because the name existed before you came along. Likewise if everyone calls your hero "Ham Sandwich", you'd have an uphill battle trying to sue others for using the same name because it's a common English phrase. (Not impossible, though, if you can convince a court that using it as a name for a character is original with you, as opposed to using it as a word for something you might eat for lunch.)

While you don't have to worry about copyright lawsuits as long as you don't copy actual words, you may have to worry about accusations that your story is a rip-off and unoriginal if it seems too much like someone else's. As I say, I've never read "Blue Exorcist", and of course I've never read your story as I take it you haven't even written it yet, so I can't say how similar they are.

Many new writers worry about this way more than is justified. I often hear writers saying, "Oh no! I was working on this story about two people who meet and fall in love and then have a fight and break up but then get back together again at the end, and I just saw a movie on TV with exactly that same plot! Will everyone think I stole the idea from them?" How similar is your story really to theirs? If it's only similar in the most general way -- they're both stories about demons and that's about as far as the similarity goes, no one is going to think you ripped off the story idea. There are lots of stories out there about demons. If your story matches the other story scene for scene, if for every character in your story there is a similar category in the other person's story, etc, then yeah, people are going to say it's a rip off.

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@Angie602

@Angie602

I think Sihn works just fine. It's a good, creative form and is very unique. Honestly, Sihn is the better form of the two. Sin would be too close, I agree.

Good luck on your book!

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