copyright
Copyright of country/region names for fiction
<p>I am working on a PC game that I intend of selling at some point in the future. The story of the game is revolving around a tribe that used to live in Europe. The name of the tribe is quite popular today and there is even a region with the same name in Greece today. I would like to know if it is legal to use names like that for my game story, or am I better off with changing the name so I wont get sued... </p>

<p>While countries can be quite sensitive about names - see the recent fuss about Macedonia - in reasonable law such names are considered facts. Facts are not subject to copyright. That means you can't be successfully sued in most countries.</p>

<p>Obviously it wouldn't be a smart move to sell software which mentions the name Macedonia in Greece. While you could probably win that lawsuit, it might need escalation to European courts, and such a small market really isn't worth the risk.</p>
