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Underground > Creation >

Lovecraft Domain?

00:29 / 31.03.03

i have been laboring under the impression that Lovecraft's stories are for one reason or another public domain. Is this true? If it is true, can anyone point me to a place where I can prove that it is true for certain?

i know that people are able to write "lovecraftian / cthulu mythos" stories, but can you out and out adapt them without owing money to an estate? I heard stewart gordon talk about all his lovecraft movies and he said they were public domain.

After that, i suppose we could use this threadspace to discuss the domain of lovecraft in any other manner... like say, what kind of curtains does cthulu prefer in his living room?

oh, wait, that's domocile, isn't it.

06:25 / 31.03.03

Stories themselves are all copyrighted by Arkham House, which I guess means August Derleth and his heirs and assigns.

However:

http://www.ozones.com/postbros/cthulu.html

I dunno about his curtains, but we know what sort of music he likes!

07:46 / 31.03.03

I was under the impression that Lovecraft's writing was public domain - it's available on several websites and I don't recall seeing any copyright notices or anything..

But then yeah, in published editions they're always copyrighted to Derleth etc.

I think it's safe to say though that Arkham House are generally nice folks who have neither the inclination nor the means to try and sue people for writing Lovecraftian stories.

Possibly Lovecraft's actual writing is copyright, but names, places, gods etc. mentioned within it are free to all...? That would make a kind of sense.