Because of the DEFINITION of Camarilla: It's the perfect name for a Vampiric organization that tries to influence humanity while preserving the notion they don't actually exist. I would gladly give the org another name otherwise. Plus, I want this story to be one were genre-savvy can be expected, and as such the term Camarilla is widely known. It's like the Vampire Illuminati, the term and concept are widely known, just most people think it's bullshit. Except those who know and the fan base of Coast to Coast AM.
The name won't be subject to copyright but it could potentially be a trademark of White Wolf, or whoever owns the rights to the game. That isn't necessarily a problem but it could limit how you use it.
What's the difference between trademark and copyright, as far as fair use goes? I ask because Camarilla is a dictionary word, it pre-dates White Wolf by several hundred years. I would think that White Wolf having any control over the term would be like McDonald's forcing Ol McDonald to rename his farm because he'd have to pay royalties on his own last name otherwise. But I've been wrong before. Better check before I snare myself.
Yeah, dude, White Wolf has two federal trademark registrations for "Camarilla." It's also the name of their official fan club for the game. You can get around trademark rights with what you're doing, but you have two problems: 1) if they decide to go after you, it's going to cost you. And White Wolf can be aggressive at times; and 2) it's going to look like you couldn't come up with your own idea and had to take the name from White Wolf. To me, the effect on the genre-savvy is the opposite of the one you want. When I come across a writer who has taken a name for a group from a game or some other book, it doesn't make me feel like a savvy reader of the genre who is in on the terminology. It just makes me think the writer couldn't think of his own ideas. It's a net negative. I think you're too fixed on the notion that the best ideas are ones you've already seen used. You say camarilla is the perfect name for a vampire group, but I suspect that's just because it is in an existing property that you really like. There are other words with similar meanings, and if nothing else you could come up with an equivalent in another language. I wouldn't assume in the least that camarilla is the best name. If White Wolf had called their organization The Coterie, or The Sanjikai (which google tells me is a Japanese word for a council), then you'd be telling us those were the perfect names. In other words, I think your fondness for the source material is limiting you in your own conceptions of what can work just as well or better. Camarilla is a cool name. The Volturi isn't bad either. There are plenty of great names yet to be used, so why fixate on a White Wolf property?
You can have trademark protection over a dictionary word. Companies have them all the time. It means that the word, as associated with a certain set of goods, is limited to the trademark owner. White Wolf also publishes fiction, and since Camarilla is a registered mark of theirs I'd be hesitant to publish any fiction, especially vampire fiction, that uses camarilla in the title, cover, promotional materials, etc. White Wolf will think you're trying to play off of their trademarked term. And in this case, they'll be right, because that is admittedly what you're doing. You like the name for the vampire group and got it from White Wolf. Which also means you should be careful what you are saying on these forums. True story: just last week I nailed an opposing party who was copying one of my client's trademarks. How? I did a google search on the names and email addresses of the people associated with the opposing company. As it happens, I found a discussion in an internet forum a lot like this one where one of the guys from the other company was posting about how they got the idea from our client's logo. They're screwed.
OK, that's unsettling. However, in terms of trademark infringement, I do not intend my Cam to be confused with their Cam AT ALL. The Camarilla in Masquerade and mine has a similar structure, but then again, it's all a play on how Mafia families work. The names are different, the backstory's different, the functioning is WAY different, and it's purpose is vastly different, mostly stemming from that in most vampire stories, vampires are apex predators, in my story Vampires are parasites, no matter how they beat their chests about being highest on the food chain. They do not have the luxury of believing that they could ever overthrow human order, that they could survive without blending in. It's a vastly different take; it will distinguish, because I believe White Wolf utterly wasted the concept. Also if the term is trademarked, White Wolf's been beaten to the punch: The Adventures of Hobart Floyt and Alacrity Fitzhugh trilogy by Brian Daley predates Masquerade by six years and features a non-human, secret organization bent on keeping Earth isolated, and it is called the Camarilla. If I'm missing something here, I'm all ears though.
Prior use makes no difference in trademarks unless something has become generic. The fact that Camarilla appears in other books has no bearing on White Wolf's ability to get trademark protection. Also, your "intent' makes no difference whatsoever. It can be used as evidence by them against you, but lack of intent doesn't help you at all. A bit more information regarding your situation (*not legal advice*) 1. If you produce a book with a vampire on the cover and the word "Camarilla" in big letters as the title, or elsewhere on the cover of the book, you'd be right to be nervous. Even if you are insignificant in terms of money, White Wolf has to come after you if you're infringing their mark. They have a legal duty to do so (which is why you see companies going after mom-and-pop operations where you wonder what threat they could possibly be). Whether you're a multi-billion dollar company or a dude in his garage, if they find you violating their mark they have the same duty to stop you. 2. If you're just using the word as the name of an organization within the book, and it isn't in the title, on the cover, in promotional materials, etc., then you arguably aren't making use of it as a trademark. Some companies have been known to go after people even when the use isn't a trademark use. It just depends on how aggressive the company is. Chances are, this wouldn't even come up on their radar, and if it did they might well ignore it. If your work is extremely successful - say it was the next Twilight - they might not ignore it, and in fact your use of Camarilla would limit your licensing opportunities (you know how Meyer has licensed Team Jacob shirts and stuff for Twilight; you wouldn't be able to license Camarilla for shirts; it limits the value of your IP). Ironically, the more successful your work becomes, the more of a bad idea it will have been to use someone else's IP. 3. If White Wolf came after you, whether you win or not you are looking at an expensive process. If a trademark action goes to trial you can easily face legal fees of $300,000.00 or more. Luckily most cases settle well before that. Upshot is, if you are not using it as a trademark (e.g. only just mentioning it as the name of an organization in the text of your work), and White Wolf isn't too aggressive and your work isn't too successful, you'll probably never have a problem with it. If you ever do have a problem, it can be expensive. And legalities aside, I still think your work will be stronger on the whole if you come up with your own names and other IP instead of working off of those of White Wolf or another author.
cs... 'fair use' has nothing to do with this whatsoever... you really need to do your homework and learn the stuff serious writers make it their business to know about: www.copyright.gov www.uspto.gov go to those two sites and bone up on trademark and copyright rules 'n regs... and stop trying to get someone here to give you their blessing to go ahead and write what you want, when only a literary attorney can give you the real skinny on it... so, it'll cost you some bucks... so what?... being a writer involves running a business, allowing for overhead expenses and such... if you want to make money with your writing, you have to spend money... period!
I checked out the Trademark FAQ section. I can, and maybe should change the name of the Cam, as far as story telling goes, and that would pretty much sever any tangible ties to Masquerade (other than the clear illusions in the nature of the clans, but I think I'd be clear there). But for the sake of argument, I should ask how on earth can Camarilla, the word, be a trademark? It is neither good nor service. Although White Wolf's Camarilla Fan Club IS a service, and that complicates things. Camarilla is a part of the Masquerade line, but in the same sense the "USS Enterprise" is a part of Star Trek lore. I do not think Roddenberry could trademark USS Enterprise...the Navy would have something to say about it if he had tried. As such, it seems to me that Camarilla could qualify as intellectual property, and subject to copyright, but by that logic someone could copyright or trademark the word "the." There have to be limits, and the limits are what I'm interested in. It’s vital, because everything I write is going to skirt copyright because I only write when I come across a story that displeases me. I have no desire to write other than to redress an aesthetic wrong. I’m not trying to write a werewolf story because I actually like Werewolf: the Apocalypse. This is why Lovecraft is almost a muse to me: I hate everything I read of him and by him.
Camarilla is too short to be subject to copyright. Again, prior use or other meaning doesn't necessarily prevent trademark rights from being acquired. To use your own example, U.S.S. ENTERPRISE is in fact a registered trademark of Paramount.
Nothing. There's no conflict. If you used it as a trademark for goods and services that were similar to what Paramount offers with respect to Star Trek you'd have an issue.
