Interesting tidbit

[kindofdoon]

From TSL's (then KQIX) FAQ, 2002:

"Is this legal?

The only elements we are utilizing from the previous King's Quest games are the names of principal characters and the names of some in-game locations. All other elements of the game(plot, art, music, dialogue, etc.) are purely our own. As we interpret Title 17 of the United States Code, this does not constitute an infringment of Copyright, because the game indeed is our own, and the ratio of "borrowed" material to original content is very small. If, however, Sierra On-Line does request that we stop the project because of Copyright issues, we will continue the project under a different title(probably "Royal Quest IX") and with different but similar character and location names(for example we may use "Princess Rose" instead of Princess Rosella or "the Land of the Emerald Islands" instead of the Land of the Green Isles). However, the underlying plot will remain the same, so that veteran King's Quest players will feel "at home" despite the changes."

http://web.archive.org/web/20021009130507/www.kq9.org/info/faq.php

[Fierce Deity]

I'm glad that the circumstances didn't have to come to that. Calling Princess Rosella by the name Princess Rose would have been communicable to King's Quest fans, but it would have taken away from the authenticity. Also, The Emerald Isles sounds like something out of the Wizard of Oz, so that would have been degrading to the KQ universe. At least The Silver Lining is an original name that has a meaning in the plot, and the characters and settings can stay the same.

[Lambonius]

It's still copyright infringement if you copy the appearance of characters and locations, even if you do change the names. 

[KatieHal]

Something we know much better now! Not to mention how difficult it wouldve been to do so anyways.

[snabbott]

Yeah - when the Vivendi C&D hit, there were endless discussions about "fair use" and changing the names. It was made very clear that it would still be copyright infringement, but people didn't bother to read that far.

I think there was some talk about stripping out all KQ references after the Activision C&D. I'm glad it didn't come to that - plus, it would have been MUCH longer before you would have seen anything!

[Lambonius]

It really would have been impossible given the nature of TSL's design, which is deeply rooted in homage almost more than it is in telling an original story (so far, anyway.)