how close can you get to a copyrighted character/idea? (not fanfiction)

I ask this because i need to know how vague i need to be on some of the types characters, i am using for inspiration. there are a couple worlds in my story, mainly minor. but characters from many genres will hopefully make the scene. its hard to explain what i mean without explaining this one story concept.

1. Ideas cannot be copyrighted.

2. Specific characters can be copyrighted, but types can't be. So a superhero who wears a cape is okay, but using Superman isn't.

3. Remember that a character can be trademarked as well as copyrighted. And even a public domain character might still be trademarked. For example, the original Mickey Mouse will fall out of copyright in 2024, but it's still trademarked (and later versions of Mickey will still be copyrighted).

So be careful.

If you're writing it for your own entertainment, you can do anything you want. Things get problematical if you actually try to publish work that contains copyrighted or trademarked characters and/or material.

Characters can't be "copyrighted" at all. Copyright is for works.

Characters can be and are trademarks in many cases. Unless you're doing obvious parody or just vague types, it's best to avoid characters that are conspicuously licensed in commercial properties.

>4 paradoxosalpha:

Characters can't be "copyrighted" at all.

Yes, they can. It's called "derivative copyright", and applies if the character is distinctive and well-developed enough.

>5 lilithcat:

Not really. An identical character could be a basis for claiming derivative copyright, but the copyright would still be applied to the work in which the character appears, not the character itself. The character itself could be a trademark (but wouldn't have to be for derivative copyright to be a consideration).

so let me see if i got this right.
say my version of the elderscrolls world, but i switch it around as in give argonians a new name and different appearences. i could give them a different life style. maybe some came here and the world itself is only briefly mentions by different name altogether. make it my world
its more inspired by than based off.

a new name and different appearences {sic}. i could give them a different life style

I don't know what "elderscrolls world" or "argonians" are, but using different names, appearances, and lifestyles sounds sufficiently different that it would avoid copyright issues. But your publishers will likely want to run it by their lawyers in any case.

my idea is to generalize the idea. tear it down to core of what it is and make it my own, yet still inspired by something else initally.

>9 vegetarianveggie: You can be inspired by anything you want. Look at all the movies inspired by real stories. The thing you can't do is write the exact item/storyline that's being used by the game system.

kay thanks

Actually you can use the same storyline too -- plots aren't copyrightable. But if you use the same storyline, in a very similar world, with nearly identical characters, then you are asking for trouble.

But you didn't want to do that anyway, so you should be fine. :)

... I have a tag in my library for borrowed plots. I run into them on a fairly regular basis.