From the Q&A: Isn't the Cthulhu Mythos in the public domain?

[MOB]

From our Fan Use and Licensing Q&A:

Q: Isn’t H.P. Lovecraft/Cthulhu Mythos in the public domain?

A: Because H.P.Lovecraft died over 70 years ago, his individual writings are now in the public domain. However, the Mythos was/is a shared creation—even in HPL's lifetime ("the Lovecraft Circle"). Many of the writers HPL collaborated with lived on much later into the 20th century, e.g. Clarke Ashton Smith (d.1961), August Derleth (d.1971), Robert Bloch (d.1994), etc. Certain elements of the Mythos are theirs, or have been created by other still-living authors including Brian Lumley, Ramsey Campbell, Sandy Petersen, and others. What these writers created in the Mythos won't enter the public domain until they have been dead for 70 years.

Q: So you're not trying to claim you "own" the Mythos?

A: We make no claim that we "own" the Mythos, never have. We don't claim to own the Mythos in general, although certain elements of it including storylines, names, creatures, characters, descriptions, and depictions are Chaosium IP. We do own the Call of Cthulhu RPG, and and are obliged to protect it. We also have agreements in place with living authors such as Ramsey Campbell and Brian Lumley, as well as the estates representing Lin Carter, August Derleth, Clark Ashton Smith, and other important Mythos creators.

Q: Can you advise me on what is and what isn't considered to be in the public domain for H.P. Lovecraft and the Mythos in general?

A: Sorry, for the sake of our SAN we can't assist with general enquiries about which elements of the Cthulhu Mythos reside in the public domain and which remain in copyright. The matter is complicated by a number of factors, including the incomplete or contradictory records connected to the copyrights of the original Mythos stories, the divergent and contradictory copyright laws of the various countries in which Mythos works are or have been published, and the sharing of content that went on between the authors in Lovecraft's original circle and some Mythos authors today.

There are a number of sites online that discuss the status of Lovecraft's copyrights. On the other Mythos authors, the works of living writers such as Ramsey Campbell and Brian Lumley clearly remain in copyright, while the status of works by authors who have passed away can vary wildly.

[DreadDomain]

This is a timely reminder, and I am sure it is no accident, with the release of the Cthulhu Eternal SRD and the announcement by Green Ronin regarding the kickstarter of the upcoming AGE based Cthulhu game. 

BRP (used as a broad term) being one of my favorite engine, it's both pleasing to see it influencing and spawning so many other games but it makes me a bit uneasy how close some of these games are. On the other hand, I suppose it's good for the fans, more choices, and could also be good for Chaosium as long as they keep high quality, high production value supplements. People not digging 7E, could still buy 7E supplements and use them with their systems of choice.

On 2/4/2022 at 2:40 AM, MOB said:

We also have agreements in place with living authors such as Ramsey Campbell and Brian Lumley, as well as the estates representing Lin Carter, August Derleth, Clark Ashton Smith, and other important Mythos creators.

I didn't know that! I will look into them. Some of these names I am less familiar with.

Edited February 4, 2022 by DreadDomain

[The Ancient One]

I was wondering why there were alternate names for the mythos creatures in the Fall of Delta Green book. Also is this why other companies have to go through Chaosium in order to get their Lovecraft-based game published, even if it doesn't use the BRP system? I read on Wikipedia's Call of Cthulhu article that other companies had to get the license from them in order to make their games, like Pelgrane Press with Trail of Cthulhu or Steve Jackson Games with their out-of-print Cthulhupunk.

[umlauthuth]

On 2/6/2022 at 11:41 PM, The Ancient One said:

I was wondering why there were alternate names for the mythos creatures in the Fall of Delta Green book. Also is this why other companies have to go through Chaosium in order to get their Lovecraft-based game published, even if it doesn't use the BRP system? I read on Wikipedia's Call of Cthulhu article that other companies had to get the license from them in order to make their games, like Pelgrane Press with Trail of Cthulhu or Steve Jackson Games with their out-of-print Cthulhupunk.

Short answer: so it's not awkward when you're hanging out at GenCon.

Long answer: Trail uses a number of elements which are derived from non-public-domain sources (like Derleth, CAS, Bloch, Howard, and CoC books itself) so licensing via Chaosium is sort of a "one-stop shop" for all those "mythos" elements. Cthulhupunk came out in '95, before HPL was in the public domain in the US (and IIRC when Arkham House was still claiming copyright). And, in both cases, they're not just ground-up "Lovecraftian RPGs" but adaptions of Call of Cthulhu to different mechanics. 

[Numtini]

On 2/6/2022 at 11:41 PM, The Ancient One said:

I was wondering why there were alternate names for the mythos creatures in the Fall of Delta Green book

This is usually a facet of a critter being in Lovecraft's works, but a name being from someone else, usually Derleth. If you get into researching it, there's a lot of how many shoggoths can dance on the head of a pin about whether or not different critters are the same or just similar and merged in the game. I've spent an inordinate amount of time with a Lovecraft ebook open in one window and the Harms' Mythos Encyclopedia in another looking at where things came from. (Which is probably a way of saying you were an English major without saying you were an English major.)