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[[quoteright:350:[[VisualNovel/TheGreatAceAttorney https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/herlock_sholmes_0.png]]]]
[[caption-width-right:350:Pictured here without his sidekick, [[Literature/SherlockHolmes Dr. John Wilson]].]]
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-> '''Princess Clara:''' Oh my god! It's *Beep* Mouse!\\
'''Captain Hero:''' I should have known you were behind this, [[WesternAnimation/MickeyMouse Mickey]] *Beep*.
-->-- ''WesternAnimation/DrawnTogether''

You have a great idea for a character name. But there's a problem -- someone else had the idea first. And they used it... a long, long time ago. Like, before you were born. The character may not even be that well-known (or known at all) ''today''. Too bad -- you missed your chance. Better change the name before airtime, or you'll find yourself knee deep in the paperwork of a trademark infringement lawsuit.

If word gets out online, the original name may still be used by the {{fan|Nickname}}s. Efforts to have this listed as a violation of intellectual property are no doubt pending. ''However'', certain uses are (at least in the United States) covered under what are known as [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fair_use Fair Use Laws]].

We have a page about {{MediaNotes/Trademark}}s if you're ''really'' interested in how they work and are used.

The same reasoning behind many a StealthPun.

This is one reason why a character might be RenamedToAvoidAssociation. Contrast CaptainErsatz, where the writers ''are'' trying to use an already existing character but can't. See also BrandX, BlandNameProduct, DisneyOwnsThisTrope, YouWannaGetSued, LawyerFriendlyCameo, AKA47, ProductDisplacement, and ClumsyCopyrightCensorship.
----
!!Examples:
[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
* ''Manga/HitomiChanIsShyWithStrangers'': At one point in chapter 42, Kaoru gets Hitomi and Yuu to play some kind of video game. While the controllers are mostly covered up by the characters' hands, what little we can see indicates that they're Platform/NintendoSwitch controllers.
* Whereas he's always Jeep in the manga, the anime version of [[Manga/{{Saiyuki}} Cho Hakkai's]] cute little dragon/car was creatively renamed Hakuryu ("white dragon") for the anime versions.
* ''Anime/LupinIII'' was renamed to Edgar de la Cambriole when it aired in France because of complaints from the estate of Creator/MauriceLeblanc, the author of the original ''Literature/ArseneLupin'' stories. The trademark problems are also notoriously the reason for why the show never came to the US for so long. The first few ''Lupin'' films that did leak out of Japan substituted names like "[[InconsistentSpelling Rupan]]" and "Wolf" to get around it.
** And as the story goes, Maurice Leblanc and Arsene Lupin ironically invoke this themselves, as Creator/ArthurConanDoyle thought Lupin's nemesis, an {{Expy}} of Sherlock Holmes, was a little too close to this trope than that one (by the name of Herlock Sholmes, and an assistant named Wilson). And that was after Leblanc actually put Holmes in a couple of stories, prompting Conan Doyle himself tell Leblanc to knock ''that'' off.
* The American dub of ''Anime/MegaManNTWarrior'' changed the [=NetNavi=] [=AquaMan's=] name to [=SpoutMan=], unarguably to avoid invoking [[ComicBook/{{Aquaman}} the other guy's name]]. While Aqua Man kept his name in both ''VideoGame/MegaMan8'' and the ''VideoGame/MegaManBattleNetwork'' games[[note]]Except for the sixth game, where they instead call him [=SpoutMan=] as in the anime dub - albeit the rerelease in the ''Legacy Collection'' removes this change[[/note]], it seemed best to avoid using the name on TV.
* Really weird example in ''Manga/{{Bakuman}}'': The manga is about two manga artists working for the (real-life) magazine ''[[Magazine/ShonenJump Weekly Shōnen Jump]]'', from the company Shūeisha, and it's published in that actual magazine. However, the anime changes the name of the magazine to ''Weekly Shōnen Jack'' from Yūeisha, even when they show real-life editors of the magazine that keep their name in the anime. You'd expect Shūeisha to grant them rights to use the trademarks when negotiating the anime adaptation, right?
* PlayedForLaughs in an episode of ''Manga/LuckyStar''. Kagami is trying to find a ''Anime/CodeGeass'' comic for Konota, but all utterances of the title or the name "Lelouch" are partially bleeped out, while the cover of the comic itself is blurred. Even so, the audience can still make out what she's asking for. It goes a step further in one episode where Konata and her father have an extended conversation about the ''Franchise/{{Gundam}}'' franchise (naturally with lots of bleeping). At one point they even show heavily pixelated pieces of official artwork from several series like ''[[Anime/MobileSuitVictoryGundam Victory]]'' and ''[[Anime/MobileSuitGundamWing Wing]]''.
* Trademark issues with [[Franchise/ConanTheBarbarian a barbarian]] and [[Creator/ConanOBrien a TV host]] forced ''Detective Conan'' to be renamed to ''Manga/CaseClosed'' in North America.
* ''Manga/BillionaireGirl'': In the first chapter, the protagonist owns a ''Dlee'' computer. The logo is similar to the real-life Dell logo.
* ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventure'':
** The English localizations use this extensively, thanks to the [[ReferenceOverdosed copious references]] to famous songs and musicians. Sometimes the translators find clever ways to preserve the references, like changing [[Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureDiamondIsUnbreakable Josuke]]'s [[Music/PinkFloyd Crazy Diamond]] into ''Shining'' Diamond, calling Captain Tennille 'Captain Dragon' (Daryl Dragon is the real name of 'Captain' from ''Music/CaptainAndTennille''), or using homophones (such as calling Made in Heaven 'Maiden Heaven'). Most of the time, though, they just resort to using synonyms (like calling Music/KingCrimson 'Emperor' Crimson and turning Weather Report into Weather Forecast), sticking to nicknames ('FF' and '[=D4C=]' are used in both original and localization, but the latter insists they are the full names and not merely shorthand for Music/FooFighters and [[Music/{{ACDC}} Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap]][[note]]which is subtitled as "Filthy acts, at a reasonable price" when spoken in ''VideoGame/JoJosBizarreAdventureAllStarBattle'', ''VideoGame/JoJosBizarreAdventureEyesOfHeaven'', and ''[[UpdatedReRelease JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: All Star Battle R]]''[[/note]]), or changing names outright (turning Sticky Fingers into 'Zipper Man' to reference his zipper powers).
** There is at least ''one'' instance where the trope is subverted and a brand name is shamelessly used. In the first chapters/episode of ''[[Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureStardustCrusaders Stardust Crusaders]]'', the jailer wails about how Jotaro suddenly has an issue of ''Magazine/ShonenJump'' in his cell. This is a perfectly legal plug because ''[=JoJo=]'' is published by Shueisha and appears in ''Shonen Jump''. Also, because Viz holds all U.S. ''[=JoJo=]''-related manga and anime licenses ''and'' has the American rights to ''Shonen Jump'', the plug gets preserved in the American release (both anime and manga) of ''Stardust Crusaders''.
** In ''[[Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureStoneOcean Stone Ocean]]'', Ungalo's Bohemian Rhapsody has the power to bring fictional characters to life and at one point does so with a Disney World guidebook. This includes Mickey Mouse who only appears briefly as a mouse tail in the shadows. All the public domain characters associated with Disney like Pinocchio or Snow White & the Seven Dwarves are heavily stylized and redesigned as so not to resemble their Disney counterparts. When the anime adapted the same story arc, they were redesigned further, and references to Disney were AdaptedOut entirely (such as a scene where Anasui complains about not seeing Mickey Mouse in Disneyland). Interestingly, a reference to ''ComicBook/SpiderMan'' was changed to reference ''ComicBook/{{Batman}}'', likely because the anime was licensed by Warner Bros. Japan.
* ''Anime/Danganronpa3TheEndOfHopesPeakHighSchool'' [[ZigZaggingTrope zig-zags this]] by having one character, Franchise/{{Gundam}} Tanaka, never use his first name (which was used extensively in [[VisualNovel/Danganronpa2GoodbyeDespair its predecessor]]) presumably for this reason. Instead, he goes with Tanaka the Forbidden One, which references a ''[[Manga/YuGiOh different]]'' series, and ends up using his real name in the finale anyways. This is likely the same reason his name was officially romanized as "Gundham" in ''Danganronpa 2'', with a silent "h".
* Although the cute ArtificialIntelligence {{spider tank}}s from ''Manga/GhostInTheShell'' were called Fuchikomas in the original 1989 manga, the developers of the 1997 Platform/PlayStation video game adaptation were apparently able to trademark the name and likeness of the Fuchikomas. This is why later adaptations of [=GitS=] have to resort to {{Captain Ersatz}}es: Tachikomas in ''Stand Alone Complex'', Uchikomas in ''Solid State Society'', and Logicomas in ''Arise''.
* Perhaps the king of this trope is ''Anime/AnimeGataris'', a show all about getting into anime and related media. Since you can't have a show about discussing anime without the shows themselves, the series gets around the massive amounts of {{Shout Out}}s inevitably going to be made by using nameswapped versions of the titles.
* ''Literature/FullMetalPanic'' centers on a paramilitary organization named Mithril, which is explicitly acknowledged as a reference to ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'' in the original light novels. In the AnimatedAdaptation, where they couldn't get away with such a blatant reference, there's a scene where a civilian looks up the name online and gets a BrandX version of Website/{{Wikipedia}} that uses text from the real thing but has all the references to Creator/JRRTolkien altered to more generic names like ''The Lord of the Flame''.
* In ''Literature/NoGameNoLife'', when Sora and Shiro are transported to a near-perfect replica of Tokyo, Sora reassures her by convincing her that it's like playing "[[Franchise/{{Persona}} Pe*sona]]", "[[VisualNovel/SteinsGate Ste*ns;Gate]]" or "[[VideoGame/AkibasTrip Akibas*rip]]". The anime version of the scene also includes Chie, Makisa and Kati, with black boxes over their eyes, as well as a yellow background that is highly similar to the background used on the menu screens in ''VideoGame/Persona4''.
* Some explicit references found in the ''Manga/MyHeroAcademia'' manga are absent in the anime. For example, at the beginning of the entrance exam for U.A., in the manga the various kinds of enemies and obstacles are described as being like the enemies from ''Franchise/SuperMarioBros'' games, with silhouettes depicting the four variants of robots used as Goombas, Koopas, Piranha Plants and Thwomps and a silhouette of Mario dealing with them. In the anime the "video game" aspect of the exam is instead shown with a pixelated Present Mic dealing with the robots (shown in their actual designs). Midoriya comparing his WallJump ability to VideoGame/MegaManX was also removed from the anime.
** For the English versions of the anime, Creator/{{Funimation}} changed Shihai Kuroiro's hero name from Vantablack to Vantadark, since Vantablack is a trademarked name for a substance which Anish Kapoor has the exclusive right to use in art. [=FUNi=] also changed Mirio Togata's move "[[Film/ThePhantomMenace Phantom Menace]]" to "Phantom Threat".
** The 259th chapter includes Manga/ChainsawMan in a big group shot. The trailer for the anime's sixth season shows that he's been changed to avoid resembling him (though both manga are printed under Shueisha, the anime rights are owned by different studios).
* ''Franchise/JamesBond'' is public domain in Japan, but not in America. Therefore, when the anime and manga for ''Manga/MoriartyThePatriot'' are released in America, James Bond becomes "James Bonde" and "Moneypenny" becomes "Moniepeny."
* ''Manga/Bastard1988'' originally featured a beholder but after complaints from the Japanese branch of {{Creator/TSR}}, he became Suzuki Dogezaemon and was given comical arms and legs. The name is a pun on word "dogeza", meaning "apologizing on hands and knees", and "gaze".
* ''Manga/PopTeamEpic'': At the start of Episode 5, the "WesternAnimation/SteamboatWillie" parody is censored with footage of a boat. Later on in the episode, a skit with Popuko doing her impression of [[CensoredForComedy Mi**ey]], she only does it via her shadow.
* Downplayed by ''Manga/SgtFrog''. While references are abundant in both the manga and the anime, the latter has more restrictions and mecha shows outside of ''Franchise/{{Gundam}}'' and ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion'' aren't mentioned usually. For example, a gag where in the manga Keroro compares Fuyuki sleeping under a kotatsu to [[Anime/UfoRoboGrendizer Grendizer in his Spazer]] is changed in the anime so that he compares him to [[Anime/MobileSuitGundam0083StardustMemory the GP-03 Dendrobium]] instead.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Card Games]]
* The ''TabletopGame/LegendOfTheFiveRings'' card game suffered from this big time when the International Olympic Committee decided to enforce its ownership of five linked rings. The cards have a different back now, and you have to use sleeves if you want to use old and new cards...
* This is the main reason why ''TableTopGame/YuGiOh'''s green cards had to be renamed past the first edition. While the original Japanese's "mahou kaado" is generic and still in use today, its original direct translation to "Magic Cards" turned out to be [[TabletopGame/MagicTheGathering a tad problematic]]. Hence why they are known today as "Spell Cards" instead.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Comic Books]]
* The reason why Creator/MarvelComics made sure to publish a comic with a character named ComicBook/{{Captain Marvel|MarvelComics}} every few years was so that the trademark didn't lapse and Creator/DCComics couldn't swoop in and use it with ''[[ComicBook/{{Shazam}} their]]'' [[ComicBook/{{Shazam}} Captain Marvel]] (purchased from Creator/FawcettComics) -- the ''original'' Captain Marvel. DC renamed the character Shazam for good in 2011 "[[IAmNotShazam since that's what a lot of people thought he was called anyway]]". This has applied to several other Marvel characters: Characters/SpiderWoman, Characters/{{Warlock|1967}} and Penance for example.
* Creator/JohnByrne intended to have a character named Dreadface appear in the ''ComicBook/NextMen'' comic as an exaggeration of the type of names Marvel gave characters. A few months before the character was due to make his first appearance, an issue of ''ComicBook/FantasticFour'' came out [[RedundantParody featuring a character called Dreadface]]. The ''Next Men'' character was hurriedly renamed.
* Several examples involving {{Intercontinuity Crossover}}s:
** A ComicBook/{{Batman}}/[[ComicBook/ThePunisher Punisher]] crossover introduced a villain who later turned up in ''ComicBook/{{Nightwing}}''. The writers dealt with the "where I met this guy before" story by having Nightwing have a rare memory lapse about the other guy ("Out-of-town psycho vigilante. Want to say 'the Puncturer'?") Even if WordOfGod claims that a comic crossover is "In Continuity," the characters involved will never speak of it again for legal reasons. They did get away with it concerning that very same crossover, though with the other guy in the Batsuit - Jean-Paul Valley, in his dementia, actually names Jigsaw (a major Punisher villain) as one of those who got put away. It's still in the ''[=KnightsEnd=]'' trade paperbacks!
** The events of ''ComicBook/MarvelVersusDC'' have been acknowledged in subsequent comics, such as when Access, a character created for the crossover and who is co-owned by both companies ([[ExiledFromContinuity explaining why he rarely shows up anymore]]), later appeared in an issue of ''ComicBook/GreenLantern''. However, the events of the crossover could only be vaguely alluded to in subsequent stories, such as when ComicBook/BlueBeetle debuted synthetic webbing he claimed to have gotten from "[[ComicBook/SpiderMan this guy who just drifted through from some alternate universe recently]]." Also, in the aforementioned ''Green Lantern'' issue, Access stopped just short of explicitly mentioning the Marvel Universe.
--->'''Access:''' I'm supposed to be the gatekeeper between this universe and the...uh, none of this means a thing to you, does it?
** Likewise, Creator/KurtBusiek's "Syndicate Rules" story arc in ''[[ComicBook/JusticeLeagueOfAmerica JLA]]'' is an explicit sequel to ''ComicBook/JLAAvengers'', but with the caveat that he couldn't actually refer to ComicBook/TheAvengers by name. It's mentioned in the storyline that the Justice League recently teamed up with a group of heroes from another universe to defeat Krona, but the heroes in question are never named or shown. The events of the crossover are again referenced in ''ComicBook/{{Trinity 2008}}'', but [[ComicBook/GreenLantern John Stewart]] merely refers to the Avengers as "others" who helped the Justice League stop Krona. On the Marvel side of things, the crossover is acknowledged in ''The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe'', which again stops short of actually naming the DC heroes and villains. Easter eggs include mention of a certain "league of justice-seeking super heroes" from another reality and [[ComicBook/CaptainMarvelMarvelComics Monica Rambeau]]'s entry referencing a battle against an [[ComicBook/GreenLantern "extradimensional emerald gladiator" whose powers come from will]].
** And in the backmatter of ''ComicBook/DarkCrisis: Big Bang'', Barry Allen's list of new multiversal worlds he's discovered includes an Earth where he ''thinks'' all the heroes have been "[[ComicBook/AmalgamUniverse amalgamated]]", although he isn't sure about the details. It does not appear on panel.
* One of the characters in ''ComicBook/RisingStars'' originally had the superhero name "Flagg" until somebody noticed the previous use of that name in Creator/HowardChaykin's ''ComicBook/AmericanFlagg''. Creator/JMichaelStraczynski settled the matter amicably with Chaykin, and [[LampshadeHanging wrote the name change into the comic]], having the character renamed "Patriot" by his corporate sponsors because [[ShoutOut "some guy named Chaykin had the rights to 'Flagg'"]].
* The Creator/MarvelComics hero Characters/ShangChi was created as the son of literary villain Literature/FuManchu back when Marvel had licensed the rights to the character. This led to an awkward situation where Marvel has 100 percent ownership of Shang-Chi, but is legally barred from ever referring to his father by his most famous name. For instance, there is a humorous moment in ''ComicBook/BlackPanther'' where [=T'Challa=] tries to refer to him as "The Infamous Fu Manchu," only to be interrupted as soon as he reached the "F" in his name. Writers have since gotten around this by referring to him by various pseudonyms, and Creator/EdBrubaker eventually went so far as to have him disfigured beyond recognition in an issue of ''ComicBook/SecretAvengers''. Brubaker made his real name "Zheng Zu," with previous names, including "Fu Manchu," being aliases.
* Literature/FuManchu also (doesn't) appear(s) in Creator/AlanMoore and Kevin O'Neill's ComicBook/TheLeagueOfExtraordinaryGentlemen, alongside dozens of named and unnamed cameos and characters from centuries of literature and popular culture.
** In a case of art-imitating-life, issue #5 had to be recalled and reprinted over concerns that a period advertisement would invite legal challenges from the competition due to the word "Marvel" being associated with a.. product of dubious repute. (This was either a coincidentally - or carefully - selected Real Advert or a deliberate attempt to goad both publishers, depending on the source)
** The OGN ''Black Dossier'' moved the League's adventures ever closer to the present day, and had to write around characters including Literature/JamesBond and Emma Peel (the former typically "Jimmy", the latter using her maiden name). In a multi-faceted, transatlantic and cross-media invocation of this trope, the DC Comics-published volume was originally supposed to include a 45" record with an in-universe performance by a Creator/JackKerouac character. After being cleared by the legal department, the record was scrapped (possibly due less to copyright concerns than creative bad blood), ultimately leading the works' creators to change publishers for future adventures.
** The culminating three-piece tale - ''Century'' - spanned a considerable period of time and brought the copyright-baiting cleverness up to the present, ultimately featuring a showdown including [[Franchise/HarryPotter the boy who lived]], among others.
* A ''ComicBook/{{Spawn}}'' villain named "Overkill" was renamed "Overtkill" for this reason.
* When Creator/ToddMcfarlane bought the assets of comics publisher Eclipse, he presumed that this included full ownership of their flagship title ComicBook/{{Miracleman}} and promptly began work to integrate the character into ''Spawn''. Several legal battles later, and the hastily renamed 'Man of Miracles' did not play as large a part as intended. (''Miracleman'' was itself a revised name for Marvelman - itself a distancing from Captain Marvel - over concerns about a non-Creator/MarvelComics-published title with 'Marvel' in the title.)
* Creator/MilestoneComics' villain "Holocaust" from ''ComicBook/BloodSyndicate'' was forced to have his name changed because of the ComicBook/XMen villain of the same name[[note]]The X-Men villain, ironically, would subsequently have his name changed to "Nemesis", although they later changed it back again[[/note]]. The change occurred at the end of a miniseries featuring the character, ''My Name is Holocaust''; the last scene had the character agreeing to have his name changed for the sake of publicity, and the last line was "Your name is ''Pyre''." Oddly enough, when the character appeared in ''WesternAnimation/{{Young Justice|2010}}'', he was referred to by his original name.
* In the ''ComicBook/YoungbloodImageComics'' team's first appearance, Badrock's codename was "Bedrock". Creator/RobLiefeld decided to change the name to avoid confusion with the setting of ''WesternAnimation/TheFlintstones'' (after a visit from Creator/HannaBarbera's lawyers.)
* Oreo is very protective of their trademark cookies, hence ComicBook/MartianManhunter's snack of choice being retconned into "[[BlandNameProduct Chocos]]." ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheBraveAndTheBold'' took it a step further by replacing them with a generic brand of chocolate chip cookies.
* The ''[[ComicBook/JusticeLeagueInternational Justice League Europe]]'' character Crimson Fox was originally called "La Renard Rouge" ("The Red Fox"). However, the creators of a British indie comic called ''Redfox'' objected, and asked Creator/NeilGaiman of all people to convince the ''Justice League'' editors to change the new heroine's name. It worked, and the character has been known as Crimson Fox ever since, despite [[NonIndicativeName not having any crimson on her costume]].
* ''ComicBook/HackSlash'' had Dr. Herbert West of ''Film/{{Reanimator}}'' as a significant character for a three-issue arc. "HP Lovecraft's Re-Animator" was proudly emblazoned on the cover of one issue; there was evidently some issue with the "Re-Animator" trademark, as next two covers called him "Herbert West, that guy who likes to re-animate stuff."
* An interesting example is the comic book ''Steed & Mrs Peel'', based on the TV series ''Series/TheAvengers1960s''. While the TV series creators came up with the title ''first'', they [[ComicBook/TheAvengers can't use it for a comic]].
* Similarly, ''Secret Origins'' #32 tells the ComicBook/PostCrisis origin of the ComicBook/{{Justice League|Of America}}. When ComicBook/TheFlash suggests "The Avengers" as a possible name for the group, he gets this response:
-->'''Characters/BlackCanary:''' Nah. People would confuse us with the ''other'' guys. You know--[[BaitAndSwitch John Steed and Emma Peel]].
* ''ComicBook/ProjectSuperpowers'' makes ample use of Golden Age superheroes who have long since lapsed into the public domain. However, though the characters themselves are public domain, in several cases their ''names'' are owned by DC or Marvel. This necessitates referring to ComicBook/{{Daredevil}} as "'Devil", [[ComicBook/AntMan Yellowjacket]] as "Jack", the ComicBook/BlueBeetle as "Big Blue", and so forth.
* Marvel used to publish a ''Franchise/{{Godzilla}}'' comic book series (''ComicBook/GodzillaKingOfTheMonsters1977''), but eventually lost the rights. They were able to use the character a few more times by having him mutated off-screen and then never actually calling him "Godzilla".
* When Marvel brought MediaNotes/{{the Golden Age|OfComicBooks}} hero Amazing-Man into their continuity, they were forced to change his moniker to the Prince of Orphans thanks to DC now having a [[ComicBook/JusticeSocietyOfAmerica JSA]] character with the name Amazing-Man ([[LegacyCharacter several of them, in fact]]). They can still use his civilian name of Johan Aman, though.
* The ''ComicBook/MarvelNOW'' ''[[ComicBook/TheAvengersJonathanHickman Avengers]]'' relaunch introduced a new hero named Smasher, who has the civilian identity of Izzy Dare. It was initially heavily implied that she was the granddaughter of British comic book hero ComicStrip/DanDare, but subsequent reprints and collections of her debut issue [[OrwellianRetcon retroactively declared Izzy's last name to be "Kane"]] instead, revealing that her granddad was actually the [[MediaNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfComicBooks Golden Age]] hero Captain Terror.
* The old ''Series/DoctorWho'' comics printed in ''TV Comic'', from the tenures of the First and Second Doctors, were only allowed to use the name of the show, the TARDIS and a likeness of Creator/WilliamHartnell or Creator/PatrickTroughton, and thus [[IAmNotShazam named him "Dr. Who"]] and gave him a pair of grandchildren, John and Gillian, who were ''sort'' of CaptainErsatz versions of the actual companion, Susan, but were really just [[RidiculouslyAverageGuy Ridiculously Average Grandchildren]] with none of Susan's alien-ness. This was given the {{Deconstruction}} treatment in some of the Eighth Doctor comics, in which the Doctor, under the influence of a NegativeSpaceWedgie, dreams about travelling the universe with John and Gillian in a LighterAndSofter universe with BlackAndWhiteMorality where no-one ever dies. This was also parodied in a Ninth Doctor comic in which "Dr Who" and "Rosie Taylor" ([[FashionDissonance dressed in a beehive hairdo and go-go boots even though she's from 2005]]) go on a {{Retraux}} adventure.
* For a few years in the mid-2000s, DC Comics did not have the rights to the name ComicBook/{{Superboy}}, as they were in legal contention at the time. This was a major problem, since Superboy was an active and popular DC character. There was also a character they had just brought back named [[Characters/SupermanSuperboyPrime Superboy-Prime]]. They solved the first problem by going ahead and killing the heroic Superboy in ''ComicBook/InfiniteCrisis''. Superboy-Prime was renamed "[=SuperMAN-Prime=]" -- which made sense for the character since he didn't like being treated as a boy -- in ''ComicBook/GreenLantern'' story ''ComicBook/SinestroCorpsWar'' and aged up during the finale and throughout ''ComicBook/CountdownToFinalCrisis''. When the legal hurdles were solved, Superboy and Superboy-Prime were restored to normal during the ''ComicBook/FinalCrisis'' tie-in "ComicBook/LegionOfThreeWorlds".
* ''ComicBook/{{Superman}}'': In 1985 DC decided that Superman should be the only survivor of Krypton and killed Characters/{{Supergirl|TheCharacter}}. In 1988 John Byrne deemed it unwise to let the trademark expire and came up with a non-Kryptonian Supergirl. Eighteen years and ''four'' non-Kryptonian Supergirls later DC gave up, revoked the "Last Child of Krypton" policy and reintroduced Supergirl as Kara Zor-El, Superman's Kryptonian cousin.
* ''Franchise/{{Transformers}}'':
** ''ComicBook/TransformersShatteredGlass'': In this mirror universe, one character is named Sephie Beller, a technophile, Decepticon fangirl, and aspiring {{Transhuman}}. Sephie is short for Josephina, which is more commonly abbreviated as Josie. In the original G1 continuity, Josie Beller was paralyzed in an accident, and after a WeCanRebuildHim moment, re-emerged as the Transformer-hating Circuit Breaker. However, the rights to ''Transformers'' comics have changed hands over the years, and IDW cannot use either the name Josie Beller or Circuit Breaker, because Creator/MarvelComics still has the rights to them (they made sure to have her appear first in ''ComicBook/SecretWarsII'' just for that reason).
** '''ComicBook/TheTransformersMarvel'': The comics explained the Dinobots' unusual alt modes were scanned in the Savage Land, a Marvel location inhabited by real dinosaurs. For the [[ComicBook/Transformers84 Secrets and Lies miniseries]] published by IDW, narrator Counterpunch says that there's some apocrypha about real dinosaurs being around [[AnachronismStew 60 million years after their extinction]] and depicts the Dinobots' sources as fossils, [[RetCanon similar to the IDW continuity]]. WordOfGod confirms that they couldn't use "the Original Location", so they went with the change.
* PlayedForLaughs in the ''ComicBook/WarOfTheRealms: ComicBook/JourneyIntoMystery'' mini-series. A TV show based on ComicBook/WonderMan's life is pitched, with ComicBook/TheVision renamed "The Apparition" for licensing reasons.
* In ''ComicBook/SpiderVerse'' #2, two Spideys dash off to reload their webbing during the final battle. As they do, they start talking about some of the other Spider-Men they've seen, but they list them as [[Theatre/SpiderManTurnOffTheDark the one who wouldn't stop singing show-tunes]], [[Series/TheElectricCompany1971 the one who kept trying to teach English]], [[Creator/TobeyMaguire and two]] who [[Creator/AndrewGarfield were unmasked]] and resembled [[Film/SpiderManTrilogy the guy from]] ''Film/{{Seabiscuit}}'' and [[Film/TheAmazingSpiderManSeries the guy from]] ''Film/TheSocialNetwork''.
* In ''ComicBook/JackStaff'', Paul Grist's legal settlement with the copyright owners of the old British supervillain the Spider (whom Grist had written into the comic in the mistaken assumption that he was public domain) primarily involved a promise never to refer to the character as "the Spider" again, but only by the civilian pseudonym Grist had already given him of "[[SignificantAnagram Alfred Chinard]]". This is a particularly lax example as the rightsholders seem to have no problem with the early issues in which he is explicitly identified as the Spider still being included unaltered in the TPB collections.
* The last time that Marvel's ''ComicBook/{{Micronauts|MarvelComics}}'' (Commander Rann, Mari, Bug), were referred to as such was in two 1996 issues of ''Cable''. In followup appearances, in ''Captain Marvel'', ''X-Factor'' and ''Universe X'', they are called the "Microns". In the ''Realm of Kings: Son of Hulk'', story arc, they are known as the Enigma Force. Additionally, the team no longer includes Mego toy based characters such as Acroyear, Biotron, and Microtron. Commander Rann's outfit no longer resembles his Space Glider toy counterpart very much. Fortunately, the term Microverse dates back to ''ComicBook/FantasticFour'' issues from TheSixties. Strangely enough, in the early issues of the original comics, Bug was known as Galactic Warrior in the character roll calls (but never in dialogue), but his design was so unlike his toy counterpart that they could simply drop the Galactic Warrior toy connection.
** Another Bill Mantlo creation, ''ComicBook/RomSpaceKnight'', has a similar issue. Basically, since it was based on [[MerchandiseDriven an action figure]], but the action figure was incredibly vague, Mantlo created Rom's [[MyRealDaddy origin, abilities, supporting cast, villains, personality, non-costumed appearance, storyline, setting, and nature.]] Basically, the only things Marvel lost when the rights reverted were the name "Rom" and his armor design. Therefore, elements of Rom's series have popped up with some frequency, and Rom himself has appeared a few times -- he's just never wearing his armor, and they aren't allowed to call him "Rom." Conversely, when IDW started writing a ''Rom'' series, they had to basically make the character InNameOnly, because otherwise they'd get sued by Marvel -- though he still turned out mostly being pretty similar.
* The ComicBookAdaptation of ''Film/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtlesIITheSecretOfTheOoze'' got around the Ninja Rap scene with Music/VanillaIce by replacing him with an unnamed rapper who looked nothing like him.
* When Creator/MarkWaid brought Quality Comics' speedster Quicksilver into ''ComicBook/TheFlash'', he was renamed Max Mercury due to the better known [[Characters/MarvelComicsQuicksilver Quicksilver]] over at the competition. It was later established that Max had used many identities in his 170 years as a superhero, and had indeed been called Quicksilver back in the 40s.
* ''ComicBook/{{Animaniacs}}'': One story features a Franchise/{{Godzilla}} {{Expy}} named Gigantasaurus a.k.a. [[spoiler:Leon]].
-->'''Wakko:''' He looks just like G--\\
'''Yakko:''' Whoa, you can't say that!\\
'''Dot:''' That name is © and ™, you know.\\
'''Wakko:''' Someone's trademarked Granny?\\
'''Yakko:''' Those Looney Tunes lawyers at Warner Bros. trademark everything.\\
'''Dot:''' Go figure.™
* The "Family Reunion" arc in ''ComicBook/TheMuppetShowComicBook'' prominently features Scooter's athletic, fun-loving sister ... who is referred to throughout as "Scooter's sister" because Boom Studios was unsure if having the comic book license to ''Franchise/TheMuppets'' included being allowed to use elements from ''WesternAnimation/MuppetBabies1984''. Only in her absolutely final scene (after considerable legal negotiations behind the scenes) does she sign a letter to the gang "Skeeter".
* Creator/JackKirby's ''ComicBook/CaptainVictoryAndTheGalacticRangers'' was a StealthSequel to his ''ComicBook/NewGods'' saga, but had to change or leave unmentioned certain names due to the comic being printed under Pacific Comics instead of DC. As a result, Captain Victory's grandfather is named Blackmass instead of Darkseid, his home planet is Hellikost instead of Apokolips and his deceased father isn't given a name, but is heavily implied to be Orion due to Blackmass noting how stubborn and defiant he was as well as Captain Victory being shown escaping the destruction of Hellikost using a device he constructed based on a design his father created, the contraption in question clearly being Orion's Astro-Harness.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Comic Strips]]
* ''ComicStrip/{{Peanuts}}''. Charles Schulz originally named his comic strip, which starred a set cast of children characters, ''ComicStrip/LilFolks'' but had to change the title as it had sounded too similar to two other comic strips already published at the time: Al Capp's ''ComicStrip/LilAbner'' and the lesser known (and now pretty much unknown) ''Little Folks.'' To avoid confusion and trademarks issues, Creator/UnitedFeatureSyndicate settled on the name "Peanuts" (much to Schulz' dismay, but went along with this new title anyways), named after the peanut gallery featured in the ''Series/HowdyDoody'' TV Show.
** Snoopy was originally planned to be called "Sniffy," but found out that this same name had already been used for another canine character in an already existing comic strip. That was when Schulz decided to change the dog's name to "Snoopy" instead.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Films -- Animation]]
* ''WesternAnimation/HolidazeTheChristmasThatAlmostDidntHappen'': Rusty is Rudolph's brother, but the latter isn't mentioned by name because he actually isn't a public domain character.
* An early scene from ''WesternAnimation/MonstersInc1'' featured Sully and Mike running into obvious Godzilla knock-off Ted on their way to work. According to the director's DVDCommentary, the original plan was to give a full ShoutOut complete with roar, but since they couldn't get the okay to do so, they went the other way and played the RuleOfFunny. You ''see'' a large reptilian leg but ''hear'' a giant chicken.
* Helen from ''Franchise/TheIncredibles'' was usually referred to as "Mrs. Incredible" instead of "Elastigirl" (no hyphen) outside the context of [[WesternAnimation/TheIncredibles1 the first film]] during its original release due to Creator/WarnerBrothers owning the trademark on the name "Elasti-girl" (with hyphen). Rita Farr from ''ComicBook/DoomPatrol'' had been using the latter name since she was created roughly 40 years before the former. The dispute was amicably settled out of court. Later on, the DC "Elasti-girl was renamed "Elasti-woman", and by the time of ''WesternAnimation/Incredibles2'', the "Elastigirl" name was now commonly seen outside the film.
* When the [[Franchise/DisneyPrincess Disney Princesses]] made an appearance in ''WesternAnimation/RalphBreaksTheInternet'', [[{{WesternAnimation/Brave}} Merida]] is portrayed in the movie as being TheUnintelligible, due to her "being from [[{{Creator/Pixar}} the other studio."]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
* ''Film/AngryVideoGameNerdTheMovie'' is about the Nerd investigating the story behind the infamous Platform/{{Atari 2600}} game, ''VideoGame/ETTheExtraTerrestrial''. Except in the film, the game is presented as "[=EeeTee=]: The Extra-Special Alien". The review at the end of the movie was later released as an episode of [[WebVideo/TheAngryVideoGameNerd the original show]], with the [=EeeTee=] presentation removed and the real ''E.T.'' being shown.
* Sparks of controversy often flare up on the Internet regarding the title controversy of Creator/JamesCameron's ''Film/{{Avatar}}'' and the live-action adaptation of the TV series ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'', with the latter film simply being titled ''Film/TheLastAirbender''. [[CommonKnowledge Despite popular belief]], legal action was not involved in the title change--Cameron has no more right to the word "Avatar" than Creator/{{Nickelodeon}}--but both parties agreed that their films could be hurt by the name confusion and Nickelodeon, having an alternative title to fall back on, decided to change their film's name. Interestingly enough, Cameron began writing the script for ''Avatar'' in the 90s, meaning that his ''Avatar'' came first. This is also why "Avatar" was dropped from the show's SequelSeries, ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'''s title in most markets.
* In the original script drafts for the first ''Film/BackToTheFuture1'', the time machine's Flux Capacitor was powered by Coca-Cola, in a shout-out to the secrecy of Coca-Cola's formula.
* Brazilian movie ''Bingo'' does this to [[Series/TheBozoShow Bozo the Clown]], given it is inspired by one of the actors who played him. Not only the name is changed (there is even a NoCelebritiesWereHarmed version of his creator), but the hair is blue, with a mostly red costume.
* ''Film/ChipnDaleRescueRangers2022'' noticeably portrays [[Film/SonictheHedgehog2020 Ugly Sonic]] in a way so that he is ''only'' seen from the knees up, preventing the viewers from ever seeing whether or not he is still wearing red sneakers on his feet.
* ''Film/Deadpool2016'' features an appearance from Bob, Agent of Hydra, who as his name implies, works for [[Characters/MarvelComicsHydra Hydra]] in the comics. However, since Hydra is part of the ''Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse'' (having appeared in the various ''Captain America'' and ''Avengers'' movies), and this was about two years before Disney (owner of Marvel) bought out Fox's film rights (Fox had the rights to Deadpool), the movie omitted any reference to Bob being a Hydra agent (he's very clearly shown to be an agent of ''something''; what it is is never referred to).
* FanFilm ''Film/DirtyLaundry'' never explicitly states who its main character is, but TheReveal at the end makes it patently clear that we've been watching ComicBook/ThePunisher in action the entire time, as if the [[VigilanteMan gruesome vigilante justice]] didn't give it away already. It even stars Creator/ThomasJane, the same actor who played Frank Castle back in ''Film/ThePunisher2004'' (that, and it was his idea and he bankrolled it). They don't show Frank with a gun as is typical of his appearances, but he does sneak in a line that is all but a dead giveaway.
--> ''"Do you know the difference between justice and punishment?"''
* The producers of the Creator/ArnoldSchwarzenegger film ''Film/{{Eraser}}'' had to spend several thousand dollars to rename (by changing every instance in the negatives, as well as re-dubbing dialog) the corporation which the BigBad led that had committed contractor fraud from Cyrex to Cyrez, as it turned out there was a real corporation, microprocessor manufacturer Cyrix, with an incredibly similar name to what they originally used.
* When trying to provide a cliche name for the chain diner in ''Film/GhostWorld'' Terry Zwigoff and Daniel Clowes had to go through a couple dozen possibilities before they found one not currently in use by a real restaurant.
* ''Film/TheHobbit'' trilogy:
** In ''Film/TheHobbitAnUnexpectedJourney'' Gandalf mentions two Blue Wizards, but adds that he forgot their names. This is a clever cop-out of a potential lawsuit, as their names ''were'' mentioned in ''Literature/UnfinishedTalesOfNumenorAndMiddleEarth'', a book which Warner Brothers has no legal right to use.
** The entire Necromancer subplot is a more complicated example. Warner Brothers can use anything mentioned in ''Literature/TheHobbit'' or ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'', including appendices, and the basic outline of the whys and whats of Gandalf's doings around ''The Hobbit'' can be drawn from that -- but the more detailed account is in ''The Quest of Erebor'' [[note]]also published in ''Unfinished Tales''[[/note]] (written as, essentially, Gandalf's perspective on ''The Hobbit''), which was off limits. The end result is that the Necromancer subplot is in broad strokes the same as in ''The Quest of Erebor'', but ''has'' to be different in the details because if it wasn't they'd be adapting something they don't have the right to.
* In ''Film/{{Idiocracy}}'', all water, drinks, milk and liquids in the world, with the one exception of Toilet Water, has been replaced by a fictional green sports drink, [[TestosteronePoisoning Brawndo, the Thirst Mutilator!]]. They use it to water plants, feed babies, you name it. Although the brand [[{{Defictionalization}} was]] fictional, it is mentioned that it "tastes like Gatorade". [[WordOfGod According to Mike Judge]], they had originally planned to use Gatorade, but Gatorade didn't want to be associated with the film, especially since they would play such a major role in the plot. And thus the fictional Brawndo was born.
* When Fox adapted Creator/AlanMoore and Kevin O'Neill's ComicBook/TheLeagueOfExtraordinaryGentlemen into the questionably-received film [[Film/TheLeagueofExtraordinaryGentlemen LXG]], several changes were made to avoid having to risk the wrath of potential copyright infringement, including ditching Literature/FuManchu entirely. The filmmakers were also compelled by the estate of Creator/HGWells to not use '''THE''' [[Literature/TheInvisibleMan Invisible Man]] (despite him only gaining a first name in the comic; before 1999 he was NFN Griffin) and instead feature "an" Invisible man, Rodney Skinner, who stole Griffin's formula...
* ''Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse'':
** The World's Fair scene in ''Film/CaptainAmericaTheFirstAvenger'' features a cameo from Jim Hammond, the Golden Age Characters/{{Human Torch|1939}}, which also doubles as an ActorAllusion to Creator/ChrisEvans's previous role as Johnny Storm, the Human Torch of the ComicBook/FantasticFour, in the ''Film/FantasticFourDuology''. As Marvel Studios did not have the rights to the Fantastic Four (and thus the rights to use the name "Human Torch") at the time, Hammond only appears in in his test tube and is labeled as the "Synthetic Man".
** In a reverse of the comics example, ''Film/TheAvengers2012'' was [[MarketBasedTitle renamed]] to the rather clunky ''Marvel Avengers Assemble'' in the UK to avoid confusion with [[Series/TheAvengers1960s the home-grown TV show]].
** One of ComicBook/DoctorStrange's most famous enemies, even present in the ''Videogame/MarvelVsCapcom'' games, is the EldritchAbomination Shuma-Gorath. But given the name came from ''Literature/{{Kull}}'', Marvel could have some problems with those who own filming rights to Creator/RobertEHoward's creations, so a tentacled monster in ''Film/DoctorStrangeInTheMultiverseOfMadness'' that is clearly evoking Shuma-Gorath received the name of a one-shot octopus villain who faced [[ComicBook/SubMariner Namor]], Gargantos.
* Music/MichaelJackson Films:
** ''Film/ManInTheMirrorTheMichaelJacksonStory'' was not given Music/MichaelJackson's authorization. While the producers initially got around it by having the actor portraying Jackson re-enact most of the poses used in his album covers and posters, they hit a brick wall when it came to his music. As a result, they could only mention the names of the songs and albums, while scenes showing Jackson on stage used horribly unfitting music that didn't sound even remotely close to the originals.
** In ''Film/MichaelJacksonsThisIsIt'', During the brief snippet of "[[Music/HistoryPastPresentAndFutureBookI [=History=]]]" that played during "They Don't Care About Us", a piece of music heavily resembling "Great Gate of Kiev" is played. In the original clip of the rehearsal that was leaked online, the original "Great Gate of Kiev" is played, but was replaced in the film due to sample clearance issues.
* In the original script for ''Film/NationalLampoonsVacation'', Walley World was indeed supposed to be Ride/{{Disneyland}}, but they couldn't secure the license to use the park's name (most likely because the film pokes fun at it), and it became the fictional Walley World. The film still includes shout-outs to Creator/{{Disney}}, such as naming the park owner Roy Walley (referring to Roy Disney, the company's former executive and Walt's nephew).
* Possibly the UrExample of this is ''Film/{{Nosferatu}}''. It's ''also'' [[UnbuiltTrope a prime example of how this trope can blow up in your face]]. Creator/FWMurnau wanted to make a direct adaptation of [[Creator/BramStoker Bram Stoker's]] ''Literature/{{Dracula}}'', but Stoker's widow refused permission. Murnau and his team decided to [[CaptainErsatz change the names of the characters]], simplify the plot, and try to pass it off as an original film. Stoker's estate saw through it in an instant and sued Prana Film for copyright infringement, [[CreatorKiller resulting in the company going bankrupt from paying back the royalties]]. All copies of the film were going to be destroyed as part of the settlement, and the only reason it's not a [[MissingEpisode lost film]] is because fans [[KeepCirculatingTheTapes kept circulating the tapes]].
* This was ''obviously'' the plan with ''Film/TheWildWorldOfBatwoman'', trying to cash in on the popularity of ''Series/Batman1966''. DC got wise to it and, for the longest time, it was renamed ''She Was a Hippy Vampire'' and had an extra scene added to reveal that the girls were "synthetic vampires". Years later, DC didn't really give two shits about this film and, by the time it showed up on ''Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000'', it was restored to its old title.
* ''Film/{{Witchboard}}'' was originally going to be titled ''Ouija'' before the producers learned that Ouija is a trademark of Hasbro. The title was changed, but characters within the film still refer to the device as a 'ouija board'.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Literature]]
* Michael [=McGarrity=]'s ''Hermit's Peak'' had a fake company with a name that had been researched as unused... then it turned out to be used. A second printing changed the name.
* The Franchise/StarWarsExpandedUniverse has a weird meta-example. The ''ComicBook/TalesOfTheJedi'' comic series featured a story arc ''The Tale of Nomi Sunrider'' and the eponymous character went off to become pretty important (as in "Head of the Jedi Order in the current era"-important), as did her relatives. However, a real-life company came up with a claim for "Sunrider" and Lucasfilm reacted enough for some legal issues to arise. For the following years Sunrider family was pretty much forgotten and most notably suspiciously absent from the ''VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublic'' video game, which references about everything else from the ''TOTJ'' series. (Most prominently, the character eventually named Bastila Shan was originally supposed to be Vima Sunrider, an established character from ''TOTJ''.) Lately, however, Lucasfilm clarified that the agreement was reached that allowed Sunriders to appear and be mentioned within stories themselves, as long as the name does not appear in the title of the work in any way. The strangest part, though, is that nobody seems to know who the real-life company that made the dispute ''is'', or what kind of claim they actually had to the "Sunrider" name. Nomi appears in ''VideoGame/StarWarsTheOldRepublic'', but appears under the name "Nomi Da Boda".
* Another weird meta-example happens in ''Literature/ThePrincessBride''. Goldman, who allegedly is abridging Morgenstern's classic novel, interrupts the narrative from time to time to explain why he was cutting stuff out. The Miracle Max scene involves Fezzik and Inigo having to go get certain ingredients for the miracle pill, and Goldman explains that it feels a little like the Wizard of Oz making Dorothy go get the Wicked Witch's broom, but that the original version of ''The Princess Bride'' actually predates ''Literature/TheWonderfulWizardOfOz'', so, although it was ''really'' Baum ripping of Morgenstern, it comes off the other way round. (In reality, it was Goldman giving a ShoutOut to Baum.)
* In Creator/TomWolfe's ''Literature/TheBonfireOfTheVanities'', characters ride around in [=BMWs=] and Mercedes but eat at "Texas Fried Chicken" and use their "Global Express" charge cards to pay for things.
* German youth book series ''Literature/{{TKKG}}'' with four heroes with their names starting with T, K, K and G respectively, had to rename the athletic protagonist from ''Tarzan'' to the more bland ''Tim''.
* Creator/StephenKing wanted the reader to know that, even though Mike Hanlon was scared of the monster in the movie ''Film/{{Rodan}}'', the form of a giant flying creature that Literature/{{It}} took when it tried to kill him was NOT Rodan, only fitting the spirit of the creature.
* PlayedForLaughs in ''Literature/MyBrotherIsASuperhero.'' When Zack gets superpowers, it also causes three glowing stars to appear on his chest. Therefore, he decides to call himself Starman!...until Luke informs him that [[ComicBook/StarmanDCComics DC Comics has that name copyrighted]]. Okay, so he'll call himself Star Boy! [[ComicBook/LegionOfSuperheroes Wait, they own that one, too]]? Finally he settles on "Star Guy."
* It is very common for ''Literature/SherlockHolmes'' pastiches that could run afoul of the ''very complicated'' copyright/public domain situation to engage in this by never referring to Sherlock Holmes and John Watson by name. They'll be exactly like Holmes and Watson in every way, but will only be called "the detective and his companion" or something like that. Creator/NeilGaiman famously exploited this trend to set up TheReveal in his own pastiche, ''Literature/AStudyInEmerald''; the main characters never being named seems like an attempt to avoid legal trouble, but it's really because [[spoiler:they ''aren't'' Holmes and Watson. They're ''[[BigBad Professor Moriarty]] and [[TheDragon Sebastian Moran]]'', and the whole story has been a PerspectiveFlip of sorts]].
* A ''Literature/LegionOfNetHeroes'' series was originally named after its lead characters, Airwave and Vigilante Guy. Airwave, however, was already the name of several (admittedly obscure) DC characters, and the author decided better safe than sorry and as of the third issue renamed the character to "Decibel Dude".
* In the original webcomic version of ''Literature/DiaryOfAWimpyKid'', Greg was into ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'', but when the books were published, Kinney changed the name to ''Magik and Monsters''. Besides the names, they are basically the same. In the same vein, a reference to ''Literature/EncyclopediaBrown'' was replaced with the fictional ''Sherlock Sammy''.
* Creator/PhilipJoseFarmer's ''Literature/AFeastUnknown'' has two main characters obviously based on ''Franchise/{{Tarzan}}'' and ''Literature/DocSavage'', but renamed as "Lord Grandrith" and "Doc Caliban", respectively.
* In ''Literature/ArseneLupin'', Sherlock Holmes was renamed to "Herlock Sholmes" after Sir Arthur Conan Doyle threatened to sue Maurice Leblanc.
* ''Literature/GoblinSlayer'' is directly inspired by ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' gameplay and uses a lot of this to stay under the copyright radar. At one point in volume 2, Goblin Slayer's party runs into what is clearly a [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beholder_(Dungeons_%26_Dragons) Beholder]]: The "Giant Eye" has a lot of eyes and one large central one that produce EyeBeams of AntiMagic and {{Disintegrator Ray}}s, and even says bits of the word "Beholder" as PokemonSpeak. When asked what it is, Lizard Priest calls it one of those monsters which you do not name. This works in story in the sense that the monster is that unspeakable, but [[LeaningOnTheFourthWall it also serves as a commentary]] on how persistent Creator/WizardsOfTheCoast is at making sure nobody can use the term "Beholder" but themselves.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
* In ''Series/AgentsOfSHIELD'' (and the Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse in general, prior to Phase 4) characters that would be called mutants in the comics are called "gifted" instead or are replaced by [[ComicBook/TheInhumans Inhumans]]. This is because Marvel lost the ability to use the word "mutant" when they sold the rights to the ''ComicBook/XMen'' franchise to [[Creator/TwentiethCenturyStudios 20th Century Fox]]. This also meant that the few mutant characters Marvel did retain the rights to, like Molly from ''Series/Runaways2017'', had to undergo {{Adaptation Species Change}}s for their TV incarnations.
* Real life example in season 2 of ''Series/BabylonFive''. Sheridan mentions his concerns about a secret government agency called Bureau 13. Unfortunately, there was actually a role playing game (that JMS was unaware of) called Bureau 13: Stalking the Night Fantastic. While no legal action occurred JMS decided to never use the name again.
* ''Series/{{Castle|2009}}'':
** One episode had an extended discussion about roofies without ever using the drug's trademark name "Rohypnol", everyone used the drug's non-trademarked generic name of "flunitrazepam".
** In another episode, Castle's agent tells him that he might be about to get an offer to write books about "a certain British spy" who uses lots of gadgets. Everyone manages to get through the entire episode without actually saying "Film/JamesBond"; InUniverse, it's because they're trying not to jinx the contract.
** There was also an episode where Alexis is setting up a profile for Martha on a popular social networking site; Martha tells Castle that she's getting a "Website/{{My|Space}} Website/{{Face|book}}" account. Castle starts to say "It's actually called--", but Alexis cuts him off before he can say the name, saying "Don't bother, I've been correcting her all morning". By playing on Martha's eccentricity and unfamiliarity with technology, they manage to write several scenes in which the site is discussed without ever saying either of the real (and trademarked) names, and leaving it unclear which service Martha is actually using.
%%* {{Lampshade|Hanging}}d in ''Series/TheColbertReport'''s 2010 [[UsefulNotes/OlympicGames Vancouverage]].
* ''Series/{{CSINY}}'':
** In "Sanguine Love," a tube of [=ChapStick=] is found at the crime scene and the name is shown in plain view on screen, but the detectives consistently refer to it as "dry lip balm."
** The references to Facebook pages as "profile pages" in "Who's There?" and "Brooklyn Til I Die" without saying the name of the site.
* The final scene of ''Series/{{Daredevil|2015}}'' Season 3 was a nod to the storyline from the comics where a Japanese scientist named Professor Oyama gave [[Characters/DaredevilCentralRoguesGallery Bullseye]] an adamantium-reinforced skeleton. However, due to adamantium being mostly associated with the ''ComicBook/XMen'' franchise (whose [[Film/XMenFilmSeries film rights]] belonged to [[Creator/TwentiethCenturyStudios 20th Century Fox]] until Disney bought the company in 2019), the show changed the name of the metal Oyama used to "cogmium."
* On ''Series/TheDickVanDykeShow'' Laura writes a children's book which it turns out is identical to a book from her youth, "The Mouse in the Mudhole". This time the editor ''does'' catch the inadvertent plagiarism, and mentions that it happens all the time to first-time children's book authors. Then he says he wrote his own story to go with the illustrations, about a lad who goes into the woods and goes to the animals' houses, sits in their chairs, eats their porridge...
-->'''Rob:''' Ollie, isn't that ''Literature/{{Goldilocks}}''?\\
'''Ollie:''' ''Goldilocks'' was with bears. Mine is with [[Literature/TheThreeLittlePigs three little pigs]]! [[OhCrap Oh dear.]]
* ''Series/DoctorWho'':
** The story "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS10E5TheGreenDeath The Green Death]]" features an evil corporation called Global Chemicals. In the [[Literature/DoctorWhoNovelisations novelisation]], they were Panorama Chemicals, because the real Global Chemicals complained.
** There have been assorted periods throughout ''Who'''s history where Creator/TerryNation, enticed by the possibility of having a show or movie entirely about Daleks, had barred ''Who'' from using them entirely. In the 60s, this resulted in the BBC desperately hunting for the next big thing, and greenlighting the Ice Warriors and the Yeti. (The Cybermen also got a boost around this time.) After Nation's death, his estate got similar dollar signs in their eyes, and it took lengthy negotiations to ensure the Daleks' presence in the 2005 revival. (Had those negotiations been unsuccessful, the Time Lords' opponents in the Time Wars would've been a race called the Toclafane, a name which later got recycled for the revival's Series 3 finale.)
** Elsewhere in the Franchise/{{Whoniverse}}, Reeltime Pictures produced a line of direct-to-video films featuring monsters and supporting characters from ''Doctor Who''. The video ''Shakedown'' features the return of the Sontarans. One character is familiar with them from a previous adventure (which would later be recounted in a Literature/DoctorWhoNewAdventures novel of the same name), where they had been defeated by a travelling Time Lord whose name the character can't remember. The Dentist, or something.
** Creator/BBVProductions produced a series of audio dramas starring Creator/SylvesterMcCoy and Creator/SophieAldred as "The Professor" and "Ace" ("Professor" had been Ace's nickname for The Doctor). The BBC did not find this sufficient, so they were eventually renamed The Dominie and Alice.
** Creator/ColinBaker and Nicola Bryant did a series of videos as The Stranger and Miss Brown, although those eventually developed in a way that made it clear that they did not take place in the ''Doctor Who'' universe.
** The Australian TV series ''Series/{{K9}}'' has the rights to the title character, and anything else from scripts written by Bob Baker. However, nothing outside of those scripts is fair game--including the character's ''appearance'', which was created not by Baker but by Tony Harding. Consequentially, seconds after K9 is introduced, he is badly damaged, erasing most of his memory and necessitating the rebuilding of his body into a copyright-friendly form. Didn't stop them from sneaking in (clearly visible) drawings of a Sea Devil, a [[Recap/DoctorWhoS17E4NightmareOfEden Mandrel]] and an [[Recap/DoctorWhoS9E2TheCurseOfPeladon Alpha]] [[Recap/DoctorWhoS11E4TheMonsterOfPeladon Centauran]] in the episode "Curse of Anubis" though--of those, only the Mandrel is fair game.
** The Australian series is also why K9 was only allowed cameos in Series 1 and 2 of ''Series/TheSarahJaneAdventures''--Baker felt having K9 as a regular on another show would hurt the chances of another network picking up his ''K9'' series, which was also about the character helping plucky youngers solve alien-related mysteries. K9 the character was allowed to be a lot more prominent in Series 3, as ''K9'' the show had finally been greenlit--only to quickly disappear again once Baker had trouble getting a second season off the ground.
** Early on, Creator/BigFinish found themselves in the unenviable position of trying to update an unfilmed classic series script featuring the Master, without having the rights to actually use the Master. Fortunately, the story was one of many where the Master would use a deeply tenuous alias that was a SignificantAnagram of their title, in this case Professor Stream, so Big Finish simply reworked the story to avoid any ''explicit'' reference to Professor Stream's true identity and got the voice actor to do a performance heavily inspired by Creator/AnthonyAinley.
* In ''Series/{{Farscape}}'', the space mission on which the astronaut hero John Crichton got sucked through a wormhole was under the auspices of IASA, the '''Inter'''national Aeronautics and Space Administration. This was because NASA refused to allow its name and logo to be used in the show unless they were given [[BackedByThePentagon more influence over content]] than the showrunners were willing to put up with.
* Parodied in an episode of ''Series/{{Frasier}}'', in which Roz comes up with a great idea for a children's story and manages to sell it to a publisher -- unfortunately, it turns out that the idea she's given them was ''Literature/{{Heidi}}'', which her mother used to read to her as a child. And the reason that her publisher didn't pick up on it is that he's younger than she is.
* ''Series/{{Hannibal}}'' is produced by the De Laurentiis Company, who own the rights to the novels ''Literature/RedDragon'', ''Literature/{{Hannibal}}'', and ''Literature/HannibalRising'', while MGM owns the rights to ''Literature/TheSilenceOfTheLambs''. This effectively means that no characters from ''The Silence of the Lambs'' can be used in the series unless a deal is struck (which MGM has, as of this writing, continuously refused). But the writers have worked around it by creating [[CaptainErsatz doppelganger characters]] such as Miriam Lass for Clarice Starling, Franklyn Froidevaux for Benjamin Raspail, and Kade Prurnell for Paul Krendler.[[note]] "Kade Prurnell" being an anagram of "Paul Krendler".[[/note]]
* In ''Series/ItsAlwaysSunnyInPhiladelphia'', the Philadelphia Phillies mascot is repeatedly referred to as the Philly Phrenetic in the gang's story, despite being called the Philly Phanatic in real life. It's {{lampshade|Hanging}}d at the end of the episode, when Charlie complains about having to do this to avoid being sued by Major League Baseball.
* ''Series/TheJacksonsAnAmericanDream'' re-enacted Music/MichaelJackson's infamous 1984 Pepsi commercial accident but avoided legal issues by simply not mentioning Pepsi at all or using their logos.
* PlayedForLaughs by ''Series/KamenRiderZiO Supplemental Plan'' episode 6.5, when the characters, bemoaning the fact that Sota Fukushi (Gentaro) and Ryo Yoshizawa (Ryusei) couldn't appear in the Fourze episodes because they were filming ''Film/{{Bleach}}'', had every instance of Fukushi, Yoshizawa and Bleach's names bleeped out like a curse word.
* During the NBC run of ''Series/LateNight'', one of the show's most popular recurring players was Larry "Bud" Melman, an awkward old man played by character actor Calvert [=DeForest=]. When Creator/DavidLetterman jumped ship to rival network CBS to host ''[[Series/TheLateShowWithDavidLetterman The Late Show]]'', NBC argued that a number of the {{Running Gag}}s used on ''Late Night'', including the character of Larry, were their intellectual property and thus could not be used on the new series. Letterman got around this by continuing to feature [=DeForest=] as essentially the same character, just with his real name.
* The trailer for ''Series/LegendsOfTomorrow'' has Rip Hunter tell the gathered heroes that he's seen "[[Franchise/{{Superman}} Men of Steel]] die and [[Franchise/{{Batman}} Dark Knights]] fall." This is because Creator/TheCW was not at the time allowed to use those two characters in the "Series/{{Arrowverse}}". Superman has since appeared on ''Supergirl'' and received [[Series/SupermanAndLois his own show]], and Batman appeared in the ''Series/{{Crisis on Infinite Earths|2019}}'' crossover.
* ''Series/MythBusters'':
** They once tested some tropes associated with [[Franchise/{{Batman}} Nocturnal-Echo-Locating-Flying-Mammal-Man]].
--->'''Jamie:''' [[SubvertedTrope Batman?]]\\
'''Adam:''' [[YouWannaGetSued Yeah. Shhh!]]
** On the other hand, many movies, TV shows, etc. are explicitly referenced (with occasional clips) in the show; entire episodes have been devoted to myths from specific series, including ''Film/JamesBond'', ''Series/{{MacGyver|1985}}'', ''Series/BreakingBad'' (Vince Gilligan and Aaron Paul even made guest appearances), and ''Series/DeadliestCatch''.
** However, in general, the [=MythBusters=] genericize (read: cover the labels of) all the ''products'' they use in their testing. This isn't just because of trademark concerns, but also to ensure that viewers don't try to repeat the [[DontTryThisAtHome sometimes-dangerous experiments themselves]]. The only exception they made was in the "Diet Coke and Mentos" experiment, because the myth centered on ''those specific brands''.[[note]]They hadn't cleared any ''Star Wars'' properties for the episode, so when Adam turned a Light Saber hilt into a nozzle and Mentos dispenser, he pondered on-camera "What am I allowed to call it, a "plasma sword"?[[/note]]
** Naturally, Adam had to have some fun with it in one particular episode that required [[AndSomeOtherStuff two highly dangerous compounds]]:
--->'''Adam:''' "This ingredient is made of Blur. And this has some Blur in it, too. Blur is very dangerous; you don't wanna mix Blur with Blur."
* In 1971, Norway's NRK introduced a nameless marionette and asked the viewers to name it. After it had became famous as "Titten Tei", Andre von Drei, the freelance designer who had retained the rights to his work but was not involved in the naming, tried selling duplicates of the marionette as "TV Doll".
* ''Playmakers'', an Creator/{{ESPN}} dramatic series about players on an UsefulNotes/AmericanFootball team that overall painted a very unflattering picture of the sport, only ever made reference to "the League" in order to avoid the notice of the UsefulNotes/NationalFootballLeague. Unfortunately, the NFL ''did'' notice, and [[https://sports.vice.com/en_us/article/bmee43/playmakers-the-show-the-nfl-killed-for-being-too-real forced ESPN]] to cancel the show despite strong ratings.
* ''Series/RedDwarf'':
** The episode "Kryten" features a joke about how a crew of long-dead women (who were basically skeletons with clothes and hair) had "less meat on them than a Chicken [=McNugget=]." The producers muted the "Mc" before broadcast to avoid litigation from [=McDonald=]'s, and the edit remained on all home video releases except the SpecialEdition.
** However, Pot Noodles have been slated on several occasions (with Lister even preferring ''dog food'' over them), mainly because [[ActorAllusion Craig Charles]] [[RealLifeWritesThePlot himself despises them]]. They drew the line at showing a Pot Noodle, though. When Lister discovered the universe's only edible Pot Noodle, the pot is actually of something called "Lot o' Noodles".
* In a slightly bizarre reversal of this trope, ''Series/TheSixMillionDollarMan'' once featured a villain named Barney Miller. Later, an unrelated cop show called ''Series/BarneyMiller'' hit the airwaves, and became so popular that when producers of ''Series/TheSixMillionDollarMan'' brought back their villain, they decided to {{Retcon}} his name to "Barney ''Hiller"'' to avoid confusion with the later, but better-known, character.
* The name "Franchise/{{Superman}}" is spoken just once in the first episode of ''Series/{{Supergirl|2015}}''. He's otherwise referred to as Kara's cousin. However, as the series goes on, he is openly referred to as "Superman," seemingly without any issue. Granted, this is less an example of this trope and more of an excuse to give more prominence to the title character, which would falter a bit if she was constantly referencing the most famous superhero in existence. Superman himself makes a physical appearance in the show's second season. He did have two season one "appearances". In one, he was an amorphous red and blue blob seen falling from the sky at a great distance and in the second he was a pair of dummy legs with blue tights and red boots on a slab.
* ''Series/{{Temps de chien|2023}}'': One of the channels that report on the incident from the first episode (which consisted of Antoine, the series' main character, attacking a dog in self-defense while being live on TV) is called "TDV". The logo's font is similar if not identical to the one for the real-life channel Creator/{{TVA}}.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Music]]
* The band ''Green [[HeavyMetalUmlaut Jellö]]'' were enjoined to change their name by Kraft Foods, makers of Jell-O. They changed their name to ''Green Jellÿ''... which is still pronounced "Jello".
* Music/TheKinks' "Lola", in some of its releases, alters the line "when you drink champagne and it tastes just like Coca-Cola" to "cherry cola" because the BBC wouldn't play the song if it mentioned a commercial product. The band had to interrupt an American tour so the alternate version could be recorded.
** Music/ChuckBerry's "Maybellene" suffered the same fate, despite its deliberately misspelled title.
** Likewise, the Amazing Rhythm Aces had to change a line in their hit "Third Rate Romance" ("They went to the Holiday Inn/Family Inn").
** And Paul Simon's "Kodachrome" was simply banned completely, since the brand name was used so often in the lyrics and in the title of the song.
** This is also the reason why the song "Does the Spearmint Lose its Flavor (on the Bedpost Overnight)" was renamed "Does Your Chewing Gum Lose its Flavor (on the Bedpost Overnight)".
** The Cadillac and little Nash Rambler in the Playmates' "Beep Beep" become a limousine and a "bubble car".
* Post-Waters Music/PinkFloyd couldn't fly an inflatable pig balloon at their concerts anymore, because Roger claimed it was his idea and he was the copyright holder. So, they simply [[TakeThat added testicles to it]].
* When Music/TheJacksonFive were signed to Motown records, the company trademarked their name. When they eventually left the label for more creative control, they were forced to rename themselves and became The Jacksons. Speaking of The Jacksons, their song "Heartbreak Hotel" was renamed "This Place Hotel" on subsequent releases, to avoid issues with the famous Music/ElvisPresley song of the same name.
* The band Music/RelientK is named after the car they use -- a Plymouth Reliant K -- but to avoid trademark issues, they just changed the spelling.
* The punk band "Redd Kross" started life as "Red Cross", with the expected symbol as their logo... until [[UsefulNotes/TheRedCross the International Red Cross]] informed them that they were [[SeriousBusiness potentially violating the Geneva Conventions, and United States law, by using a "protected symbol" on anything other than a medical facility]].
* The Scottish indie rock band Captain America was a favorite of Music/KurtCobain, who sported one of their T-shirts in a photo shoot. Under pressure from Marvel Comics, they changed their name to Eugenius.
* In 1974, Camel recorded their only instrumental concept album, ''Music Inspired by The Snow Goose'', a top fan choice, and often regarded as their greatest accomplishment. The qualifier "''Music Inspired by...''" was included in the title as a result of legal threats by Paul Gallico, author of the short story on which it was based. Plans to include narration or write a few lyrics, which could have brought the album closer to being considered legally as a derivative work, were also excluded largely a result of this.[[note]]In 1976, ''The Snow Goose'', orchestrated by Ed Welch, narrated by Spike Milligan and featuring the London Symphony Orchestra, was released by RCA. Paul Gallico lived just long enough to help write it, but not hear it recorded. Those who know about it mostly do so via recountings of this very example, and the album itself has had three rather limited releases and never came anywhere near charting. Given that his initial opposition was apparently driven by antipathy to smoking and the supposition that Camel were named after the cigarettes (they weren’t, in spite of the ''Mirage'' cover design), it would appear that Gallico could have thought better of this.[[/note]] Camel also spent some time at lawsuits drawn over the cover graphics on the album prior to that, ''Mirage'', which were inspired by the Camel cigarette packet design. Legal thrusts from R.J. Reynolds Tobacco lead on to abortive talks on cross-promotion and sponsorship, and eventually no action was taken and Camel just avoided using such graphics in later releases.
* In 2006, the supergroup Supernova was formed after picking a lead singer via the reality show / singing competition ''Rock Star''. However, an already-existing band of that name (best known for the song "Chewbacca" from the ''Film/{{Clerks}}'' soundtrack) was granted an injunction against them. Since they couldn't entirely abandon a name that was already so heavily promoted, the band named themselves after their season of the show and became Rock Star Supernova.
* Millencolin's debut, initially released only in Scandinavia, was titled ''Tiny Tunes'', and even had cover art parodying the logo of ''WesternAnimation/TinyToonAdventures''. When it saw release in the U.S., it had different cover art and became ''Same Old Tunes'', a title that both steered clear of Warner Brothers' trademark and reflected the fact that fans who already had an import of the album wouldn't be hearing anything new from this one. For similar reasons, the song "Disney Time" from the same album was retitled "Diznee Time".
* Metal / garage rock band Speedealer started out as REO Speedealer, obviously parodying the name of Music/REOSpeedwagon. After getting a cease and desist notice, they had to drop the "REO".
* Ironically, Music/REOSpeedwagon themselves were able to avert this trope by naming themselves after an old car from a defunct company.
* Likewise Jefferson Airhead, who ran into trouble with [[Music/JeffersonAirplane Jefferson Starship]] and became simply Airhead.
* Britpop band Verve became The Verve after a run-in with the jazz label Verve.
* The Music/WeirdAlYankovic song "I'll Sue Ya" mentions the name of the companies listed, but in the video, the lyrics are changed so that they read different but are pronounced the same. The liner notes to the album contain the correct spelling.
* dada's 1993 hit "Dizz Knee Land".
* Likewise, 80s rock band "D.A.D." was originally called Disneyland After Dark, but they shortened it to an acronym after complaints from Disney.
* Hip-hop group the X-Ecutioners were originally known as the ComicBook/XMen. Take a wild guess why they had to change it. Their original name is still occasionally referenced in song lyrics, most notably in Music/LinkinPark collaboration "It's Goin' Down."
* Electronica group Death In Vegas were originally billed as Dead Elvis, but it turned out there was already a record label called that [[note]]Both got the name from ''Dead Elvis: A Chronicle of a Cultural Obsession'', a non-fiction book by Greil Marcus about Music/ElvisPresley's cultural influence in the late 70s[[/note]] -- ''Dead Elvis'' became the title of their first album instead.
* Death From Above 1979 were originally Death From Above, and released two [=EPs=] under that name. The "1979" was added to their name due to a legal dispute with the record label DFA. [[note]]DFA Records was originally Death From Above Records, but started abbreviating the name [[DistancedFromCurrentEvents after 9/11]].[[/note]] DFA's copyright lawyer initially rejected the new name Death From Above 1979 until label owner [[Music/LCDSoundsystem James Murphy]] told them he didn't have a problem with it and didn't want the dispute to hold up the release of their album. [=DFA1979=] were able to change their name to simply Death from Above again in 2017, but added 1979 back to their name in 2021.
* Music/UncleKracker originally planned to use Cracker as his {{stage name|s}}, until the band of that name objected. Cracker (the band) would later include a TakeThat in their song "What You're Missing" - "That's 'Cracker' with a 'C', not 'K', or 'Uncle', understand?".
* Though they say it plenty of times in the song, Music/TheyMightBeGiants' "[=NyQuil=] Driver" is officially known as "AKA Driver" and is the only song on its album (''Music/JohnHenry'') without printed lyrics.
* Hot Water Music briefly had to change their name to The Hot Water Music Band for their album ''Forever And Counting'', because a band called Hot Water released their debut album titled ''Hot Water Music'' that same year - though Hot Water formed well after Hot Water Music did [[note]](and both artists were making a ShoutOut to an anthology of short stories by Creator/CharlesBukowski)[[/note]], Hot Water's label, Creator/ElektraRecords, apparently held copyright to the name/title. The ''Forever And Counting'' cover art pointedly put much more emphasis on the "Hot Water Music" part of the name than those two added words, most likely because the name change would confuse fans otherwise. Hot Water broke up later that same year, so Hot Water Music was free to use their original name again. A later reissue of ''Forever and Counting'' slightly altered the cover text to Hot Water Music as originally intended.
* The Three O'Clock originally formed under the name The Salvation Army, and released a self-titled album before legal issues with the actual Salvation Army forced them to change their name -- they got their new name from the time they usually scheduled their rehearsals. They would later reissue the ''Salvation Army'' album under the name Befour Three O'Clock.
* There was a Swiss feminist punk band called Kleenex, who quickly had to change their name to [=LiLiPUT=] for obvious reasons.
* The Music/IronMaiden song ''To Tame A Land'' (from the Piece of Mind Album) was based on Frank Herbert's ''Literature/{{Dune}}''. The band has told the story of how Frank Herbert (or his agent) gave them a less than warm response when they said they wanted to name one of their tracks after his book as well as including an excerpt. The answer was: "Frank Herbert doesn't like rock groups. Especially not hard rock, and especially not groups like Iron Maiden". The song still includes some thinly disguised references to Mau'dib and Arrakis.
* There are two different performers named "Sean Paul". One is a hip-hop artist who is a member of a hip-hop group called "The Youngbloodz", while the other is a reggae / dancehall singer. The former called himself "Sean Paul of the Youngbloodz" for a while, but is now known today as "Sean P".
* Music/KingCrimson did a rendition of "Mars: The Bringer of War" from Gustav Holst's ''The Planets'' suite in their early live act. The composer's estate objected to a rock band performing an adaptation of his music[[note]]another adaptation of "Mars" had already been prevented from being released on the British LP of Love Sculpture's ''Forms & Feelings''. It did, however, appear on the U.S. release[[/note]], so for the ''In the Wake of Poseidon'' album, the piece was slightly altered and renamed "The Devil's Triangle."
* pre)Thing initially wanted to call themselves rustandthesuperheroes - It turned out Creator/HannaBarbera owned the copyright to the word "superhero" at the time, so they had to pick a new name. The cover of ''22nd Century Lifestyle'' still had the text "rustandthesuperheroes" in small print under the album title though.
* At the height of their popularity on the UK series ''Byker Grove'', Creator/AntAndDec released a best-selling single or two as their characters, PJ and Duncan. After leaving the series they were forced to abandon the name under which they had sold so many records and record under their own names, as they no longer had the rights. Nonetheless they were able to bring their popularity with them as performers and then as presenters.
* Music/VerucaSalt intended to title a song "Levolor", after the brand name on Nina Gordon's window blinds - for legal reasons the song was released as "Number One Blind", but the name of the company is still sung in the lyrics.
* The Wrens were at one point going to call themselves Low, only learning [[{{Music/Low}} there was already another band called that]] ''after'' pressing a batch of 7" singles with "Low" printed prominently on the label. They resorted to hand-stamping each copy with "The Wrens" and trying to make it look like ''Low'' was always intended as the title of the single itself.
* Music/DavidBowie: Several reissues of Bowie's Creator/RCARecords material on other record labels mimic the original LP labels, but replace the RCA logo due to the inevitable rights issues. A promotional Creator/{{Rykodisc}} release of ''Music/TheRiseAndFallOfZiggyStardustAndTheSpidersFromMars'', which collects both the remastered CD and a mock-RCA LP with [[StylisticSuck added surface noise]], swaps out "RCA" for "RYK," while Creator/{{EMI}}'s 2010-2013 reissues of that album, ''Music/AladdinSane'', and ''Music/StationToStation'' replace it with "BOWIE." Creator/ParlophoneRecords' 2015-2018 reissues of the 1969-1987 catalog, meanwhile, go a step further and use renderings of "Bowie" in the same style as the original logos, covering Creator/PhilipsRecords, Creator/MercuryRecords, and Creator/EMIAmericaRecords in addition to RCA[[note]]EMI America and Parlophone were originally sister labels, but the dissolution of EMI in 2012 led to Creator/WarnerMusicGroup buying Parlophone, with Creator/UniversalMusicGroup owning the old EMI branding[[/note]]. The technique is also carried over to Bowie's posthumous {{remix album}}s and BoxedSet-exclusive compilations.
* In 1992, record label Epic Records formed an imprint for releasing soundtrack albums -- because there was already a musician going by the stage name of Epic Soundtracks (best known as a member of PostPunk group Swell Maps), they ended up going with [[XTremeKoolLetterz Epic Soundtrax]].
* For the first few years of their existence, Testament went by the name Legacy. About a month before releasing their first album, they learned there was already a group called Legacy and they'd have to change their name: As a nod to this, their debut was titled ''The Legacy''.
* Music/TheWeeknd omitted the third "e" from his {{stage name|s}} due to a band from his home province of Ontario having used the name "The Weekend".
* For satirical purposes, Robby Roadsteamer intended to title his debut album ''Music/OKComputer''. The indie label he was signed to was wary of being sued by either Music/{{Radiohead}} or Creator/{{EMI}} and vetoed the title; as a compromise it was ultimately released as ''Okay Computer'', with the front cover still featuring white scribbles on it in the vein of the artwork for ''OK Computer''.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Pinballs]]
* Creator/WilliamsElectronics' ''Pinball/{{Taxi}}'' was originally going to have Creator/MarilynMonroe as one of the passengers. Just before production, however, management got worried about a lawsuit from the Monroe estate, so "Marilyn" was renamed "Lola" and [[AdaptationDyeJob had her hair changed from blonde to brunette.]] Advertisements still referred to her as "Marilyn," however, and it is believed that a few ''Taxi'' machines with the "Marilyn" art are in circulation.
* Creator/{{Sega}}'s ''Pinball/{{Sapporo}}'' was released to commemorate the 1972 Winter Olympics in Sapporo, Japan. Since Sega did not get a license from the UsefulNotes/OlympicGames, it uses a generic skiing theme instead. The only nod to the Games is on the backglass, where a woman is prominently featured holding a flaming torch.
* Similarly, Creator/{{Mylstar}}'s ''The Games'' tried to tie into the 1984 Summer Olympics without a license. Players were urged to get gold medals in the Javelin, Shot Put, Discus Throw, Hammer Throw, and Pole Vault, while the backglass showed athletes competing in front of various world flags.
* Several of Creator/DataEast's games, like ''[[Pinball/LethalWeapon3 Lethal Weapon 3]]'' and ''[[Pinball/StarWarsDataEast Star Wars]]'', used the phrase "Tri-Ball" to avoid infringing on Creator/WilliamsElectronics' trademark for "multiball." ''Pinball/LastActionHero,'' which came out a year later, used "M-Ball" for its multiball modes, which supported up to ''six'' balls.
* The celebrated ''Pinball/HighSpeed'' duology uses artwork that clearly features the flagship supercar Lamborghini was producing at the time of the games' release (the Countach in the original, the Diablo in ''The Getaway: High Speed II''), but since the car is never actually named in-game, Williams got away with it.
* Due to the fierce competition pinball companies had in the 90s, each major manufacturer sometimes responded to trademarks with their own trademarks. Those familiar round bumpers that propel the ball away from themselves are one such case: Creator/WilliamsElectronics claimed "jet bumpers" and "thumper bumpers." In response, Creator/{{Gottlieb}} trademarked "pop bumpers," with "active bumpers" being the (rarely used) generic term. Jersey Jack Pinball deals with the existing trademarks (some of them have lapsed from disuse, but others are still active, most notably "pop bumpers," which Creator/{{Stern}} now owns) by having context-specific names. For instance, these bumpers in ''Pinball/TheWizardOfOz'' represent the haunted forest, so the bumpers are referred to as "trees" or "tree bumpers" and the area as the "forest."
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Podcasts]]
* ''Podcast/TheAdventureZoneBalance'' voluntarily did this with its [[ComicBook/TheAdventureZone graphic novel adaptation]]. The podcast originally started with the cast playing a pre-written ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' campaign but diverged very quickly. Still, there were a few location names from the pre-written campaign that were either changed or eliminated with the graphic novel; Klarg, for example, became G'nash. The Creator/McElroyBrothers decided ''Balance'' had become so much its own thing that it would be better to remove the ''D&D'' names and terms in adaptation, despite having full permission to use them.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Pro Wrestling]]
* Wrestling/{{WWE}} used to be the World Wrestling Federation (WWF), but it changed its name after a suit by the World Wide Fund for Nature, whose US and Canadian branches still go by the organization's original name of World Wildlife Fund (also WWF). They used to have an agreement, but it went sour after the wrestling promotion changed its logo. All previous mentions of "WWF" were bleeped out from old clips. Also, the "scratch" version of the WWF logo was blurred out of clips, since it was specifically named in the lawsuit, but the original block-style logo was allowed to remain. Old mentions of the "World Wrestling Federation" were allowed to stand as well; it was only when it was referred to as the "WWF" that it was bleeped.[[note]]There's less 'confusion' over Full Name versus Initialism...[[/note]] This is no longer the case; since 2012, as part of a new agreement, WWE can now show clips from the Wrestling/AttitudeEra uncensored and unedited, but can no longer use any version of "WWF" or the old logos in future products. So although they don't have to blur and bleep old footage, all new material must talk about the company as though its name was always WWE, even when talking about historical events that happened before the name change. Even when the actual footage being discussed outright says WWF. The company even introduced a new version of the 80s/early 90s block logo that leaves off the F for retro themed products.
* In the late 1990s, Wrestling/VinceRusso had the brilliant idea to introduce a wrestling vampire named [[Wrestling/DavidHeath Gangrel]]. It was a great idea...that Creator/WhiteWolf already had when making the Gangrel vampire clan in ''TabletopGame/VampireTheMasquerade''. Allegedly a writer was given a White Wolf book as reference material and didn't realize that half the clan names were invented by the publisher. The Wrestling/{{WWE}} (then the WWF) was able to get a deal that kept his name for the small token of putting White Wolf's name at the beginning of every broadcast (and video game) he appeared in. When Gangrel showed up years later on ''Raw'' in a one-off appearance, White Wolf sued WWE for trying to infringe upon their trademark; they lost due to the fact that they couldn't prove that the usage of the name for that one-shot appearance was enough to be infringing. In the WWE Encyclopedia, his entry is "David Heath (Known in WWE as Gangrel)".
* Also in the encyclopedia, one time flagship TV show "Superstars of Wrestling" goes unmentioned in the TV timeline, presumably due to the issues surrounding THAT trademark. Why they didn't use the alternate name "Superstars" is unknown. This same dispute means that "Superstars of Wrestling" banners are blurred and episodes of the show itself tend not to be shown until the "of wrestling" was dropped.
* The trademark for "Wrestling/HulkHogan" is jointly owned by Creator/MarvelComics, creators of ''ComicBook/TheIncredibleHulk'' because when Hogan began working for the WWF, Wrestling/VinceMcMahon (then most visible as an announcer) got carried away and began referring to him as "The incredible Hulk Hogan". Needless to say, Marvel gave Vince a call...
** Which is why, when Wrestling/{{WCW}} hired Hogan in the mid-'90s, they used the Wrestling/NewWorldOrder angle to change his full ring name to "Hollywood" Hulk Hogan; the announcers routinely just dropped the "Hulk" part of his name and called him "Hollywood Hogan", which meant Marvel didn't see as many royalties.
** A similar incident occurred with WCW, who introduced a character called "[[ComicBook/SpiderMan Arachniman]]", who dressed in a yellow-and-purple colored costume[[note]]evoking ''Spider-Man'' villain The Shocker[[/note]]. Needless to say, Marvel was not amused.
* Since the advent of [[Wrestling/TotalNonstopActionWrestling TNA]] and the various independent promotions in the United States, the names of wrestlers who jump ship from one promotion to another can often change because of trademark claims. One of the most famous subversions of this is Jay Reso: while employed by WWE, he was known as Wrestling/{{Christian}}. When he left the company, thanks to owning the trademark to his pre-WWE name -- Christian Cage -- he was able to use that name elsewhere. (When he returned to WWE, he dropped the "Cage" and went back to just "Christian".) Other examples:
** When Wrestling/TheDudleyBoys went to TNA, they were forced to give up the Dudley name because WWE owned practically every ECW-related trademark and copyright; they became Team 3D (named after their finisher, which was originally called the Dudley Death Drop). Bubba Ray and Devon became Brother Ray and Brother Devon, and (during his brief stint in the company) Little Spike Dudley became Brother Runt.
** TNA does this with some incoming wrestlers in order to be able to exclusively own the trademark to a ring name (in some cases, this also allows a wrestler to keep their independent circuit ring name). Amusingly enough, the best examples of this were all part of their women's division: [[Wrestling/KiaStevens Awesome Kong (Amazing Kong elsewhere)]], Wrestling/VelvetSky and Wrestling/AngelinaLove (Talia Madison and Angel Williams, respectively), Wrestling/MadisonRayne (Lexi Lane or Ashley Lane), and Roxxi Laveaux (Nikki Roxx).
** Like the aforementioned Dudley Boys, almost all of TNA's August 2010 Pay-Per-View Hardcore Justice is filled with Writing Around Trademarks. To name a few examples, the Wrestling/{{ECW}} alumni are always referred to as EV 2.0, the promotion they became famous in is referred to only as "the Philadelphia promotion", wrestler Justin Credible is referred to only as P.J Polaco (his real name), and two members of the FBI (which they interestingly were able to use) were called "Tony Luke" (Wrestling/TonyMamaluke) and [[Wrestling/LittleGuidoMaritato Guido Maritato (Little Guido in ECW)]].
* A quickly resolved trademark dispute (apparently initiated by former promoter Jim Crockett) led to WWE briefly changing the spelling of Wrestling/RicFlair to "Rick Flair."
* An interesting reverse is the case of one of WCW main faces Wrestling/{{Sting}}. Steve Borden had actually purchased the trademark before the more widely known singer had. This means that every performance the singer gives he has to pay a royalty to Borden for use of the name (Steve isn't a dick about it, and it's apparently a token amount like $1 and occasional concert tickets).
* Wrestling/KurtAngle's finisher was originally called the Olympic Slam. Eventually, it became known as the Angle Slam.
* Billy Jack was required to change his name to Billy Haynes, and eventually Billy Jack Haynes, after Tom Laughlin threatened legal action for using the same name as Laughlin's movie character. The in universe explanation was that Billy wanted to honor his father's name once he won the [[http://www.wrestling-titles.com/us/pnw/nwa/pnw-h.html NWA Pacific Northwest Heavyweight Title]].
* When Wrestling/CodyRhodes left WWE, he was unable to use his full "Cody Rhodes" name for several years because it was still owned by WWE. The workaround was to go by just "Cody" in the meantime, but he also occasionally had some fun with it, such as by bringing his wife with him to ringside so they would be introduced as "Cody and Brandi Rhodes".
* When Wrestling/{{Edge|Wrestler}} left WWE for [[Wrestling/AllEliteWrestling AEW]] in 2023, he couldn't take his longtime ring name with him as WWE still holds that trademark, so he is billed under his real name of Adam Copeland. However, the trademark of his longtime nickname "The Rated R Superstar" was found to have lapsed, so he has been able to continue using that. Throw in the fact that he's long used the RealSongThemeTune "Metalingus" by Alter Bridge, and the only real difference in his presentation in AEW from his WWE days is the lack of the Edge name.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Radio]]
* Disc jockey and host John S. Gemperle first became known throughout Philippine airwaves as "Papa Jack" on 90.7 Love Radio where he hosted a couple of late-night radio programmes about relationships and romance. Trademark issues with Love Radio station owner Manila Broadcasting Company--who [[DisneyOwnsThisTrope owns the rights]] to the "Papa Jack" moniker--forced Gemperle to adopt the thinly-disguised "Papa Jackson" when he moved to 106.7 Energy FM.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
* ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'':
** A Tolkien-related lawsuit is the reason why the game has Balors instead of Balrogs and treants instead of Ents. {{Hobbits}} were renamed to halflings, which is apparently OK even though ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'' uses it as a synonym for hobbits (the word "halfling" existed before Tolkien's works, however). At least in earlier editions, the D&D Halflings still bear a much-too-close resemblance to Tolkien's Hobbits, particularly with their division into Hairfoots, Tallfellows and Stouts (with Tolkien's Hobbits being Harfoots, Fallohides[[note]]meaning "paleskins"[[/note]] and Stoors). In what is either an {{homage}} or a deliberate insult (or maybe just a LampshadeHanging), the [=4e=] Monster Manual illustration of a treant looks ''exactly'' like Treebeard as shown in Ralph Bakshi's version of the movies.
** The ''Deities & Demigods'' book had to be revised when the owners of trademarked deities complained. The Cthulhu Mythos was believed to be in the public domain, so Creator/{{TSR}} assumed they could legally use it without any special permission. However, Arkham House, which held the copyright on most Cthulhu books had already licensed the Cthulhu property to the game company Creator/{{Chaosium}}. They were required to provide a credit to the game company Chaosium. Later they removed Cthulhu and several other gods so as to not contain such an overt reference to one of their competitors. For this reason, the first and second printings have generally been in greater demand by D&D fans and collectors.
** Same scenario with Michael Moorcock's Melnibonéan mythos, except that TSR actually did get permission from Moorcock beforehand. Moorcock apparently had forgotten that Chaosium already held the license to those characters when he gave TSR the go-ahead to use them.
** Creator/PhilFoglio did a ''ComicStrip/WhatsNewWithPhilAndDixie'' cartoon for TSR's ''Magazine/{{Dragon}}'' magazine that included a trip to the legal department. The staff there was very choosy with words: "Have you seen my engagement 'circular metal band?'" "The phone is 'circular metal banding'!!" At which point Phil's avatar asks [[https://web.archive.org/web/20150428205807/http://www.airshipentertainment.com/growfcomic.php?date=20080504 "Are you still having trouble with the Tolkien estate?"]]
* Third-party ''Dungeons & Dragons'' products using the OGL (including ''TabletopGame/{{Pathfinder}}'' and its own third-party products) are not allowed to use the actual name ''Dungeons & Dragons''. Consequently, these products consistently refers to "The World's Oldest Roleplaying Game" when talking about their relation to ''D&D''. Everyone knows what is being referred to, especially since Wizards of the Coast themselves have been known to refer to D&D with the phrase in advertising, but unlike Dungeons & Dragons it is not trademarked. Similarly, since the OGL only covers RPG products and not other media like novels or miniatures, monsters that were created for ''D&D'' and brought over to ''Pathfinder'' have to be referred to by alternate names (like sea devils for sahuagin or brain collectors for neh-thalggus); this is partially the reason why most such creatures were renamed for ''Pathfinder'''s Second Edition.
** As ''Pathfinder'' Second Edition transitions from the OGL to the ORC license (which isn't tied to Wizards of the Coast's IP and doesn't allow for said IP's use), it's undergoing a large amount of this--ranging from simply not using the original names anymore where Paizo can reasonably claim they did more with the concept (e.g. aboleths/algollthus, kytons/velstracs) to reworks that sever ties to D&D and replace them with new concepts (e.g. dragons) to outright retconning especially D&D-iconic concepts from the canon (e.g. drow).
* In an example on the other side of the coin, SPI produced a role playing game called [=DragonQuest=] in 1980; when they went bankrupt in 1992, Creator/{{TSR}} picked it up and ran it as an alternate line to ''Dungeons and Dragons''. Because of this, the Japanese RPG series ''VideoGame/DragonQuest'' had to be renamed ''Dragon Warrior'' in North America until Creator/SquareEnix finally secured the name in 2005.
* When Greg Stafford brought a new game system (no longer ''TabletopGame/RuneQuest'') to Glorantha (with the help of Robin Laws), he wanted to name it ''[=HeroQuest=]'' based on the mighty mythical quests people went on to gain power. Unfortunately, the ''[=HeroQuest=]'' board game was still under trademark, and so ''Hero Wars'' came out instead. Eventually, the trademark lapsed and the second edition of the game used the ''[=HeroQuest=]'' name, although it is generic and not limited to Glorantha. Then in 2020, Hasbro wanted to reissue the cult classic board game, having long before acquired original publisher Avalon Hill. A deal was struck wherein the RPG was renamed ''[=QuestWorlds=]'', allowing Hasbro to freely use the ''[=HeroQuest=]'' name. In exchange they gave up any residual rights to the third edition of ''[=RuneQuest=]'', which had actually been published by Avalon Hill under a complex deal with Chaosium (which itself had merged with ''Hero Wars''/''[=HeroQuest=]''/''[=QuestWorlds=]'' publisher Moon Design, fully reuniting the ''[=RuneQuest=]'' and Glorantha rights.
* In one Open Gaming License product, "mind flayers" and "illithids" (which are not open gaming content) were referred to in the supplement as brain-eating tentacle-faced things. The ''Literature/FightingFantasy'' gamebook series pulled a similar trick with its own versions of the mind flayers. To get around the TSR trademark, Ian Livingstone called his equivalents "Brain Slayers."
** Strangely enough, in a case of cross-medium and franchise geek culture influence, it appears that the words are only trademarked when tied to the specific monster. ''Series/TheMandalorian'' references "a mind flayer", but there it appears to be some sort of torture device or specialist. (Presumably, it's unrelated to the Quarren, who resemble illithids.)
* Creator/GamesWorkshop has found itself Writing ''Into'' Trademarks, following a legal battle with miniatures company Chapterhouse Studios. Chapterhouse ''didn't'' write around the trademarks and sold miniatures and components explicitly for the ''Warhammer'' lines. While the courts found them liable to pay damages to Games Workshop, it also set the precedent that Games Workshop did '''not''' have the control they desired over their existing properties. This led to:
** ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer}}'' being reinvented as ''TabletopGame/WarhammerAgeOfSigmar''. The original setting had a rich and unique take on stock fantasy tropes, but was still very derivative of real-world cultures and had strong Tolkien influences. This meant that third-party miniature companies could produce figures for knights or elves that would fit right in with the ''Warhammer'' World, [[CrackIsCheaper often for significantly cheaper]] than Creator/GamesWorkshop's official products. So instead of High Elves, Orcs or Dwarfs, ''Age of Sigmar'' will feature more copyright-friendly Highborn Aelfs, Orruks and Duardin, and even basic undead units will be Deathrattlers and Deadwalkers rather than skeletons or zombies.
** ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'' underwent a similar, though much less extensive, rebranding process -- which, since most of their factions were already fairly specific, mostly amounted to changing the names of the few Imperial institutions that were still in plain English to CanisLatinicus. Thus the Space Marines became the Adeptus Astartes (which they already were, but it wasn't the common name of the faction until the change), the Imperial Guard became the Astra Militarum and their stormtroopers the Militarum Tempestus (presumably to avoid the wrath of [[Franchise/StarWars a franchise]] that had been bought by [[Creator/{{Disney}} a company with even more lawyers]]), the Eldar became Aeldari (as the term "Eldar" is lifted straight from Tolkien's works) and the Tau inexplicably gained an apostrophe in their name. Amusingly, even in-universe everyone refuses to use Astra Militarum unless they're doing official paperwork for practical reasons; it's basically "Imperial Guard plus some other things technically in the same chain of command". Individual soldiers are still called Guardsmen, for example.
* ''Rolling Realms'' is a roll & write game by Creator/StonemaierGames, with the concept that each of the game's modules are themed to a game from Stonemaier's back catalogue. For ''Red Rising'', their only licenced game as it is based on [[Literature/RedRising the book series of the same name]], rather than re-licencing the property it is instead referred to as ''The Society'', the name of the dystopian government in ''Red Rising''.
* When both ''TabletopGame/{{Shadowrun}}'' and ''TabletopGame/{{Earthdawn}}'' were published by FASA, ''Earthdawn'' was explicitly the Fourth World to ''Shadowrun'''s Sixth World, with the idea that the Horrors who had harrowed Thera would return to the Sixth World when the mana tides were at their peak, and that certain metaplot events of the latter (such as [[spoiler: Dunkelzahn's death]]) were deliberate attempts to delay this. Due to ''Shadowrun'' eventually ending up at Catalyst Game Labs, though, ties to Thera and the Horrors had to be downplayed. However, recent editions have turned back to the idea of "Terrors" from the Fourth World returning, and even referenced the bridge they were building on the Metaplanes to cross over in earlier editions.
* ''TabletopGame/{{Ponyfinder}}'' is a commercial game without Hasbro's authorization, so Everglow isn't ''quite'' Equestria -- but the rules are designed to make it easy for fans who so choose to use it to play ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'', and several elements and characters are strongly based on canonical ones tweaked just enough not to infringe on copyright laws.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Theatre]]
* In the ScreenToStageAdaptation of ''Film/SecondhandLions'', Princess Jasmine's name was changed to Samira to avoid copyright conflict with the princess of the same name from Disney's ''WesternAnimation/{{Aladdin}}'', whose stage musical also premiered at Seattle's 5th Avenue Theater.
* Similarly, in Music/AlanMenken's ''Film/AChristmasCarolTheMusical'', Young Scrooge's fiancée Belle is renamed Emily (after her original actress, Emily Skinner) to avoid conflict with Disney's ''WesternAnimation/BeautyAndTheBeast'', the stage version of which had premiered earlier the same year and which was also scored by Menken.
* ''Theatre/TwistedTheUntoldStoryOfARoyalVizier'' refers to its Princess as Princess and Jafar as Ja'far (given that it's one big Disney parody). Similarly, [[spoiler:the other Disney villains that appear]] go unnamed, although their costumes leave no doubt as to who they're supposed to be. It also doesn't refer to [[Theatre/{{Wicked}} the other thing it's a parody of]] by name, calling it "a book about a misunderstood green girl."
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Toys]]
* In ''Franchise/{{Transformers}},'' sometimes older characters' names are used and trademarked by companies other than Creator/{{Hasbro}}, so new versions of the character must be renamed. Trailbreaker has become "Trailcutter" and "Trailblazer", Runabout is now "Over-Run", and for a long time Bluestreak was "Silverstreak" before Hasbro finally managed to get the "Bluestreak" trademark back. There's also Shockblast (Shockwave), Hardshell (Bombshell), Skyblast (Skyfire), Skrapnel/Sharpshot (Shrapnel), and Twinferno (Doublecross; sometimes you can't even get close!) Ever since they realized this was happening (there was a long stretch when older characters were effectively never revisited, so nobody thought to check), Hasbro has used an assortment of tricks to try to prevent it:
** Newer Transformers' names are typically nonsense words that are easier to defend as trademarks, preventing other companies from using them -- it's not likely anyone else is going to try to trademark "Heavytread" or "Deadlift."
** Older Transformers with names that haven't been lost yet but easily ''could'' be are usually slightly renamed into things that are easier to trademark, through the use of prefixes (toy versions of Ratchet and Scrapper are ''technically'' named "Autobot Ratchet" and "Constructicon Scrapper") or XtremeKoolLetterz (a new version of Scattershot was called "Scatt'''o'''rshot").
** And once Hasbro grabs a name, any name, they make a point of using it as much as possible. ''Anime/UnicronTrilogy'' Megatron kept renaming himself to Galvatron and back so Hasbro could keep both names in active use. Similarly, new characters often have the same names as completely unrelated older characters just so Hasbro can have a claim to the name--''[[Anime/TransformersArmada Armada]]'' Perceptor had nothing whatsoever to do with [[Franchise/TransformersGeneration1 Generation One]] Perceptor, but he helped hold on to the trademark until Hasbro decided years later to make a new Perceptor toy.
** When Hasbro decided to make a toy for the previously ToylessToylineCharacter Straxus from ''ComicBook/TheTransformersMarvel'', the toy was called "Darkmount" after the character's fortress (despite having a name that was theoretically easy to trademark). The supposed reason was because an Austrian company, Stadlbauer, held "Strax" as an international registered trademark for toys since 1966 and had registered the trademark in the United States in 2009. Hasbro probably did not want to risk a lawsuit over the name being a sound-alike, hence the rename.
** The movie introduces Hot Rod, who becomes Rodimus Prime. He ran into this problem for a while: we didn't heard the name "Hot Rod" since TheEighties until the late 2010s, a non-Prime Rodimus was simply Rodimus rather than Hot Rod, even if he's explicitly the G1 incarnation. A comic featuring TheGreatestStoryNeverTold taking place behind the scenes of the movie, before his change, had to work around it: he's not Rodimus Prime yet, but they ''can't'' call him Hot Rod, so ''the entire story manages to never call him by name.'' Hasbro has since regained the trademark to Hot Rod, with the character going by that name in ''[[Film/TransformersTheLastKnight The Last Knight]]'' and ''[[WesternAnimation/TransformersCyberverse Cyberverse]]'', as well as in his ''[[Toys/TransformersStudioSeries Studio Series 86]]'' toy.
** On rare occasion, the answer to "why is the new version of X named something else?" isn't this: [[Anime/TransformersRobotsInDisguise X-Brawn isn't named Brawn]] ''purely'' because [[XMakesAnythingCool X-es are cool]], according to WordOfGod. Also, ''Armada'' had a fairly major character who in the US was named Wheeljack. ''[[Anime/TransformersEnergon Energon]]'', a direct sequel to ''Armada'', went on to unexpectedly introduce a character who looked essentially identical to G1 Wheeljack (and was called that name in the Japanese dub), but had no connection to the ''Armada'' character (who was called "Rampage" in Japan). There was no way to do ArcWelding: ''Armada'' Wheeljack was a ''former'' Autobot with a grudge for his having been left behind in a battle. ''Energon'' "Wheeljack"... wasn't. Hasbro collectively sighed and called the Wheeljack lookalike "Downshift." This also happened to another ''Energon'' character who was clearly patterned after ''[[Anime/TransformersVictory Victory]]'' Star Saber. However, both Hasbro ''and'' Takara had already used that name for one of the MacGuffin[=s=] in ''Armada'', and so the character was renamed to "Wing Saber".
** In all advertising and packaging, his name isn't "Jazz". It's "''[[InsistentTerminology Autobot]]'' Jazz". "Jazz" cannot easily be trademarked because it is such a generic term[[note]]Reportedly, Bob Budiansky toyed with naming the character ''Jazzz'' (with three Zs). Had he done so, he might have saved Hasbro quite the trouble[[/note]].
** Jetfire/Skyfire's earliest design itself has underwent an OrwellianRetcon because... It's the [[Anime/SuperDimensionFortressMacross VF-1S]] bought from Creator/{{Bandai|NamcoEntertainment}}[[note]]As of a 2013 lawsuit (over a ''non-transforming'' Jetfire-themed redeco of a ''Franchise/GIJoe'' Skystriker), Harmony Gold (the owners of ''Anime/{{Robotech}}'' and thus the rights to ''Anime/{{Macross}}'' outside of Japan) can no longer sue Hasbro over the character of Jetfire/Skyfire. This has resulted in more Jetfire toys that bear a closer resemblance to the original toy, culminating in a 2021 Funko Pop that was literally a SuperDeformed Valkyrie. On the other hand, the fact that Hasbro had only bought the rights to the original VF-1S toy allowed Harmony Gold to release a 2022 VF-1S figure in Jetfire's colors[[/note]].
** In one particularly problematic instance, Hasbro discovered that it had lost the trademark to "Bumblebee" shortly before the first of the Creator/MichaelBay films hit the theater, necessitating some quick legal scrambling on their part. This was also the reason why the ''Unicron Trilogy'' did not have a Bumblebee but instead had a Hot Shot. Hot Shot in ''Armada'' was originally going to be called Bumblebee, but Hasbro was unable to secure the trademark. As such, by the time they had regained the trademark to Bumblebee, Hot Shot had already become a DecompositeCharacter.
** WordOfGod states that the pteranodon Dinobot Strafe from ''[[Film/TransformersAgeOfExtinction Age of Extinction]]'' isn't named Swoop like the G1 Dinobot because he's too different from Swoop to be considered the same character... But the G1 Swoop had toys named 'Strafe' and 'Ptero' at the time, this coupled with a Tiny Turbo Changer toy released in 2018 of what's distinctively the movie pteranodon character under the Swoop name suggests it was this trope in effect.
** The franchise's very name is subject to this, as "Transformers" is too descriptive and generic a name to be easily trademarked. Hasbro gets away with this by insisting that it's a property name and not a description of what the characters do, hence why robots changing their form is almost never referred to as "transforming" but is instead called "converting" or "shifting."
* This is also true of ''Franchise/GIJoe'' toys; either due to a desire to strengthen a trademark claim, or due to having lost the trademark between the ''RAH'' line's original shutdown and later revival, several characters either had their codenames changed (As with Transformers, a Joe called "Shockwave" became "Shockblast"), or in a manner similar to "Autobot Jazz", are carded with names like "Sgt. Bazooka" or "Albert 'Alpine' Pine". Sometimes they do both: the latest figure of the character once known as Thunder was called "Sgt. Thunderblast". A few years later, a figure of "Dreadnok Thunder" came out (based on a character previously called Thrasher) -- so apparently the name "Sgt. Thunder" didn't pass trademark. And they didn't want to use "Dreadnok Thrasher" for some reason.
** Speaking of GI Joe, a funny incident occurred when the line introduced a stealth bomber pilot named 'Ghostrider'. It was fine to sell him under this name as a toy, but the licensed Marvel comic had to deal with the fact that they [[ComicBook/GhostRider already had one]]. Writer Larry Hama got around it, and played it for laughs, by never having the cast actually say his name, usually getting only as far as "Ghost...something" or just completely forgetting it. But it works--he's a stealth pilot, so his job is to not be noticed, right?
* When the ''Sylvanian Families'' toy line was relaunched in the United States and Canada, the distributor renamed the franchise ''Calico Critters'' because "Sylvania" happens to be the name of a manufacturer of electrical products.
* Tamiya has an entire line of UsefulNotes/WorldWarII light vehicles without the manufacturers' names - the German (Volkswagen) Type 82 Kubelwagen, the British (Austin) 10 HP Utility, the US Army (Ford) Staff Car - while others like the Jeep MB and Citroen Traction Avant carry full manufacturers' licensing.
** VW is ''notorious'' for not wanting its products to be seen as war machines. At one point the ''entire product line before 1948'' was CanonDiscontinuity.
*** Of course, Volkswagen's stance ''does'' make sense, of sorts, once you learn who [[UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler one of the company's founders was...]] Being one of the few entities to survive intact from [[ThoseWackyNazis the Third Reich]] is [[NeverLiveItDown a bit hard to live down.]]
* Mattycollector.com's 12-inch ''Franchise/{{Ghostbusters}}'' figures' Proton Packs come equipped with "Shippard valves" (read: "Clippard valves"). ''WesternAnimation/TheRealGhostbusters'' toyline avoided this by licensing the ECTO-1 from Cadillac and the Highway Haunter (a yellow Beetle) from Volkswagen; the cars' boxes carried disclaimers.
* Prior to 1965, "yo-yo" was trademarked by Duncan, and competing companies had to call their products by awkward euphemisms like "spinning string top." In 1965 the Royal Top Company successfully sued for the right to use the term on the grounds that it had become part of common English. It's apparently still trademarked in Canada, though.
* As Wham-O ''still'' owns the trademark on the word "Frisbee", this has led to several entities having to dodge the term.
** The makers of ''WesternAnimation/TheSecretOfNimh'' had to change the main character's name from the original Frisby to Brisby.
** ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' episode "A Tale of Two Springfields" has Bart refer to a "Novelty Flying Disc".
** The ''WesternAnimation/AdventureTime'' episode "Up A Tree" obtrusively refers to a "discus".
** This was played with in the ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'' episode "Sand Castles in the Sand", where [=SpongeBob=] and Patrick decide to play a game of Small Plastic Disk That You Throw (Small Plastic Disk That You Toss for short). In "Company Picnic", the Krusty Krab group is on a picnic when [=SpongeBob=] makes a game by covering a paper plate with mustard and Mr. Krabs says that they can toss it around like "one of those things that you toss around."
** Pretty much any non-Wham-O entities who seek to sell or distribute their own version of a tossable pie-tin has to do this. ''Summer Fun Disc'' is what Burger King called the toy in its ([[FollowTheLeader equivalent of]]) "Happy Meals" in the 1990s.
** The sport of [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultimate_(sport) ultimate]] is so-called instead of its original name "ultimate Frisbee" due to the Wham-O trademark still in effect. Other names for the sport include "ultimate disc" or "flatball".
* One intermission video for the fourth ''Manga/YuruYuri'' concert has the cast playing a block-stacking "balance game". When Creator/RumiOokubo asks if it isn't simply a game of Jenga (with the brand name being [[SoundEffectBleep replaced]] with "\Akkari~n/") Creator/ShioriMikami responds that while it might seem like that, it's really something completely different.
* From ''Toys/TheGrosseryGang'', Tasteless T'''o'''basco Sauce's name is one letter off of real Tabasco Sauce, a trademarked product. He also shares a modified version of the diamond logo, only in different colors and the edges chopped off to make a hexagon.
* Brazilian toy maker Tec Toy had the license for the ComicBook/MonicasGang 1988 hit animated movie ''A Estrelinha Mágica''[[note]]The Magic Little Star[[/note]], but Estrela had the trademark for toys with the word "star". They worked around it by [[http://blogtectoy.com.br/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/estrelinha8.jpg removing the word from the box.]]
* Third-party sellers specialising in handmade and/or aftermarket dresses for [[Literature/AmericanGirlsCollection American Girl]] dolls had to avoid using any American Girl trademarks due to legal pressure from Creator/{{Mattel}}, and that's despite previous precedent ruling the use of copyrighted material for reference purposes [[https://h2o.law.harvard.edu/cases/5198 legally permissible under fair use]]. Given how it isn't worth the trouble to take on a major corporation, most sellers simply had no choice but to yield, instead either using the generic term [[http://www.catholicsupply.com/christmas/fcdolldress.html "18-inch doll"]][[note]]While most 18-inch dolls have comparable dimensions to an American Girl and are indeed made as such, others are significantly different.[[/note]] or even going so far as to censoring the dolls' faces to allay any legal fears.
* This is often the case for toys based on Creator/MarvelComics properties, such as Creator/{{Hasbro}}'s Marvel Legends line:
** If a character has a name that is distinct and easy to trademark like "[[Characters/MarvelComicsPeterParker Spider-Man]]," "[[Characters/MarvelComicsSteveRogers Captain America]]," "[[Characters/MarvelComicsBruceBanner The Incredible Hulk]]," "[[Characters/MarvelComicsMagneto Magneto]]," "[[Characters/MarvelComicsThanos Thanos]]," "[[Characters/MarvelComicsDoctorDoom Doctor Doom]]," "[[Characters/MarvelComicsDeadpool Deadpool]]," "[[Characters/MarvelComicsKamalaKhan Ms. Marvel]]," "Characters/LukeCage" or "Characters/ShangChi," they are usually fine. However, characters with names taken from preexisting terms or real world things are harder to trademark, usually leading to their names being presented as something like "[[Characters/CaptainAmericaHeroes Marvel's Falcon]]," "[[Characters/MarvelComicsBeast Marvel's Beast]]," "[[Characters/MarvelComicsValkyrior Marvel's Valkyrie]]," "[[Characters/MarvelComicsRogue Marvel's Rogue]]," "[[Characters/DominoMarvelComics Marvel's Domino]]," "[[Characters/IronManHeroes Marvel's War Machine]]," "[[Characters/TheWasp Marvel's Wasp]]," "[[Characters/MarvelComicsJubilee Marvel's Jubilee]]," "[[Characters/BlackCatMarvelComics Marvel's Black Cat]]" or "[[Characters/MarvelComicsSunspot Marvel's Sunspot]]" on the packaging for legal reasons.
** Due to the popularity of the ''Videogame/MarvelVsCapcom'' video games, several figures and accessories inspired by the Capcom versions of Marvel's characters have been produced. However, for legal reasons, this is rarely made explicit on the packaging, such as when Hasbro produced an ''MVC'' [[Characters/IronManHeroes War Machine]] figure but marketed it as a comic version despite the fact that the character only ever wore that specific suit of armor in Capcom's games[[note]]In the games, War Machine is a PaletteSwap of Iron Man's Modular Armor due to the fact that in the installment he debuted in, Iron Man was unavailable because of licensing reasons[[/note]]. Additionally, when they produced a 90s ComicBook/IronMan figure that included an accessory that was obviously the proton cannon from games, it was referred as a "plasma cannon" on the packaging.
* When Toys/FunkoPop figures made as convention exclusives are released outside the US, for legal reasons the stickers on the boxes are altered to avoid using the convention names. For example, Wondercon exclusives are referred to as "Wondrous Con Exclusives", while the San Diego Comic-Con exclusives are "Summer Convention Exclusives".
* When [[Creator/ToddMcFarlane McFarlane Toys]] did a DC Multiverse wave based on the ''ComicBook/CrimeSyndicate2021'' mini-series, Ultraman was referred to as "Superman of Earth-3" on the box, seemingly due to existence of the ''Franchise/UltraSeries''.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Video Games]]
* ''VideoGame/ANNOMutationem'' was originally developed to be an Website/SCPFoundation game like ''VideoGame/SCPContainmentBreach''. It was reworked into an original property in order to avoid potential issues with the SCP IP, while still maintaining references of the original marker, such as renaming Sigurros (SCP-239) into Sigrid and keeping her RealityWarper powers, and using the design of The Reptile (SCP-682) while referring it as The Varanus.
* ''VideoGame/BanjoTooie'': In the original Platform/Nintendo64 version, Kazooie tells Loggo, a talking toilet, that he should call a plumber to get himself unclogged, and suggests [[Franchise/SuperMarioBros Mario]]. In the Platform/XboxLiveArcade port, because Creator/{{Rare}} no longer works under Creator/{{Nintendo}}, Mario is merely alluded to as "That Well-Known Italian one."
* O.D. from ''VideoGame/BloodstainedRitualOfTheNight'' is a [[CaptainErsatz dead ringer]] for [[VideoGame/CastlevaniaSymphonyOfTheNight Alucard]] with slightly different colour scheme, voiced by the same actor in both English ''and'' Japanese versions, and [[spoiler:fights exactly like the guy]]. It's a miracle they managed to get away with it.
* ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaRondoOfBlood'' and ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaPortraitOfRuin'' feature a monster called Dogether that resembles a Beholder minus the eye stalks. It is named after Suzuki Dogezaemon from ''Manga/Bastard1988'' (see the Anime and Manga folder).
* ''VideoGame/CityOfHeroes'' has a sidequest featuring an obvious pastiche of ComicBook/DoctorStrange and the DC Comics character ComicBook/DoctorFate, originally named [[{{Portmanteau}} Dr. Stephen Strangefate]]. As this had already been used in the [[ComicBook/AmalgamUniverse Amalgam Comics]] character, later versions changed his name to [[MyNaymeIs Doctor Fayte]].
* Some of the games included in ''VideoGame/ClubhouseGames: 51 Worldwide Classics'' are based on popular trademarked games, but have been slightly tweaked to get around copyrights. For example, Last Card is a variation of TabletopGame/{{Uno}}, and ''Connect Four'' is referred to as "four in a row".
* This might be the case with the Fox in ''VideoGame/CodeNameSteam'', as she amounts to a gender-flipped Franchise/{{Zorro}}, a character who has some difficulties surrounding his copyright status.
* The CompilationRerelease ''Disney Classic Games: {{VideoGame/Aladdin|VirginGames}} and VideoGame/TheLionKing'' doesn't refer to the Platform/SegaGenesis, Platform/SuperNintendoEntertainmentSystem, or Platform/GameBoy by name, instead using the terms "Console S" (as in "Sega"), "Console N" (as in "Nintendo"), and "Handheld" due to the consoles' names being trademarks of their manufacturers.
* The ''VideoGame/DragonQuest'' games up to ''VII'' were titled ''Dragon Warrior'' in the US, due to a tabletop RPG using the former name.
* VideoGame/DukeNukem was briefly renamed ''Duke Nukum'' after someone discovered the Duke Nukem character in ''WesternAnimation/CaptainPlanetAndThePlaneteers''. The name ultimately had never been trademarked, so the original name was quickly restored.
* ''VideoGame/EpicBattleFantasy'' series: ''VideoGame/BrawlRoyale'' and ''VideoGame/EpicBattleFantasy1'' both directly used characters and music from other media. The [[CompilationRerelease Epic Battle Fantasy Collection]] versions of both games would replace the characters with {{Expies}} and use original soundtracks by Phyrnna and [=Forger343=], for ''Brawl Royale'' and ''[=EBF1=]'', respectively.
* ''VideoGame/FateGrandOrder'':
** Edison's Noble Phantasm is literally the [[Creator/TwentiethCenturyStudios 20th Century Fox]] logo, except that it says "EDISON 19th CENTURY" instead and the signature music intro gets cut off after the first three notes.
** Despite the entire Foreigner class being heavily associated with the works of Creator/HPLovecraft, the game goes out of its way to never fully mention any major name from the Franchise/CthulhuMythos. Hokusai might be linked to a "God of the Abyss" who lives at the bottom of the sea, has a major tentacle motif, and is prayed to with ia ias and fhtagns, but the word "Cthulhu" itself is never uttered. BB comes closest, doing things like openly renaming her boss form "[=BBthotep=]", but even she doesn't manage to say the full name.
** Even the writers and staff behind the game have admitted that revealing the True Names of ''WebComic/LearningWithMangaFGO'''s Rider and Assassin out loud would cause... problems. As such, the comic makes no secret of what they are (zany, [[HistoricalGenderFlip genderbent]] gag characters based on Creator/GeorgesMelies and [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._Edgar_Hoover John Edgar Hoover]]) but stops short of ''actually saying it''. And when the time came for them to show up in the game itself, they opted to become {{Assist Character}}s for their Berserker friend (also a zany, genderbent gag character, but of the completely fictional and copyright-free Myth/PaulBunyan) so they could appear without having to introduce themselves in full.
* Creator/CyberConnect2 was practically forced to do this for their self-published ''VideoGame/FugaMelodiesOfSteel'', given its nature as a {{Prequel}}. While they were able to use terms and locations from ''VideoGame/SolatoroboRedTheHunter'', they could not refer to [[spoiler:Baion, Red, or]] any other pre-established ''VideoGame/LittleTailBronx'' characters by name thanks to them being owned by Creator/BandaiNamcoEntertainment. [[spoiler:It shows in the final episode for the "Comedies of Steel" spin-off series, as Baion is referred to as "The Hooded Man" the entire time, with only his eyes remaining obscured.]]
* Part of the reason why ''VisualNovel/TheGreatAceAttorney'' wasn't released outside of Japan during its initial 2015 release until its 2021 CompilationRerelease was due to the presence of Literature/SherlockHolmes as a major secondary protagonist, as while the series is perfectly within the Public Domain in Japan, it was a bit rockier in the United States at the time. Eventually, the ''Literature/ArseneLupin'' route was taken and Holmes was renamed into Herlock Sholmes, along with John and Iris Watson into the Wilsons. Nothing else from the Holmes canon was changed, however; for instance, he still lives at 221B Baker Street and the characters directly named after those in the books such as [[Literature/AStudyInScarlet Enoch Drebber]] still retain their names in full. Additionally, the Strand Magazine is referred to as the ''Randst'' Magazine in both versions due to the actual Strand Magazine still being published past a 1998 revival.
* ''VideoGame/Hitman3'' had featured contracts that were made by various gaming channels. Their SevenDeadlySins season contained the "Season of Sloth" written by Mike Channell, Jane Douglas, and Andy Farrant of ''WebVideo/OutsideXbox''. However, because Xbox is technically trademarked, as well as the game sold on multiple platforms, they were mentioned instead as their sister channel Outside Xtra.
* XBLA title ''Trenched'' was changed to ''VideoGame/IronBrigade'' after a lawsuit was threatened by a European company which owns a WWI-themed board game of the same name.
* The western release of ''VideoGame/JoJosBizarreAdventureAllStarBattle'' had to change many character names to stay out of trouble with trademark laws, although many of the changes still count as musical [[ShoutOut Shout Outs]] (for instance, "[[Music/TheRollingStonesBand Sticky Fingers]]" to "Zipper Man", a reference to the Stand's zipper-based abilities and the cover of the album featuring the song "Sticky Fingers" showing a man's zipper prominently) while others are more straight-forward references to the Stand's appearance and powers ("Music/{{Aerosmith}}" to "Lil' Bomber). These names would also be later added into the dub of the anime. [[Music/{{ACDC}} "Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap"]] is either referenced with the phrase "Filthy acts at a reasonable price", or with its nickname '[=D4C=]', with the glossary mockingly claiming that "nobody knows what this mysterious abbreviation means."
* The computer game ''The Last V8'' is clearly based on ''Film/MadMax1'', which had a LicensedGame on the NES.[[note]]Ironically, the NES Mad Max game is itself a [[DolledUpInstallment reskinned version]] of the computer game ''Road Raider'' ([[MarketBasedTitle known as]] ''Motor Massacre'' in Europe), which was clearly based on Mad Max.[[/note]]
* Because of the scene in the original ''Film/{{Gremlins}}'' including ''WesternAnimation/SnowWhiteAndTheSevenDwarfs'', the ''Gremlins'' world in ''VideoGame/LEGODimensions'' replaces it with ''Stud Silver and the Seven Microfigures''.
* Similar to ''Film/TheHobbit'' example in film section, ''VideoGame/TheLordOfTheRingsOnline'' uses flashbacks to show Sauron in his beautiful form, which he used to beguile the Elves into crafting Rings of Power. He used the name "Annatar", but the works that mention it are not covered by the game's license, so a close Sindarin form of "Antheron" is used instead.
* A famous example (though in terms of copyright rather than trademark) is the ''VideoGame/JungleHunt'' controversy. When Taito originally released the game (as ''Jungle King''), it was an obvious take on the ''Franchise/{{Tarzan}}'' stories and included the famous "Tarzan call" (which was a pretty impressive feat for the early 1980s). Unsurprisingly, Taito got taken to court by the estate of Creator/EdgarRiceBurroughs, so they had to hack in some changes to please the courts. Tarzan and the yell were out, a British guy in stereotypical pith helmet and gear is in, and the result is ''Jungle Hunt''.[[note]]There is also a third version of the game called ''Pirate Pete'', although the setting in that version is '''completely''' different.[[/note]]
* For a while, Marvel Comics licensed games were affected by an executive order that prevented the use, or even any ''mention'', of characters whose film rights belonged to [[Creator/TwentiethCenturyStudios 20th Century Fox]] (namely the ComicBook/XMen and ComicBook/FantasticFour franchises) from being used in cartoons or video games.
** ''VideoGame/AvengersAcademy''[='=]s writers were able to sneak in a few references, such as Viv Vision saying the last spot on [[ComicBook/{{Champions|MarvelComics}} her hypothetical team]] belongs to "[[Characters/MarvelComicsCyclops a guy who shoots lasers from his face]]," [[Characters/MarvelComicsSteveRogers Captain America]] talking about [[Characters/MarvelComicsDoctorDoom a genius who runs his own country and has an army of robots]], or [[Characters/SHIELDDirectors Nick Fury]] discussing [[Characters/MarvelComicsMagneto an unnamed prisoner who needs to be kept in a cell made out of non-metal materials]].
** ''VideoGame/MarvelVsCapcomInfinite'' also snuck a reference to the X-Men member [[Characters/MarvelComicsStorm Storm]] into one of ComicBook/BlackPanther's pre-fight quotes by having him refer to her as "My queen."
** ''VideoGame/LegoMarvelSuperHeroes'' was created before the executive order went out, so it featured characters from both franchises prominently. So when [[VideoGame/LegoMarvelSuperHeroes2 the sequel]] was produced after the order went into effect, a lot of dancing around names and references had to be done in order to tie back to the first game. For example, Nick Fury vaguely brings up "the last purple-hatted cosmic tyrant" that came to Earth in reference to the first game's BigBad, [[Characters/MarvelComicsGalactus Galactus]]. And when Gwenpool finds out she will be narrating the game's bonus missions, she asks about "[[Characters/MarvelComicsDeadpool the guy who did it last time]]".
* Creator/{{Sega}}:
** [[CommonKnowledge It was commonly believed]] that Sega renamed their [[Platform/SegaGenesis Mega Drive]] console the [[MarketBasedTitle Genesis]] in North America because another company, a manufacturer of hard disk drives, had already trademarked the name "Mega Drive". However, this was not actually the case; Sega co-founder David Rosen didn't care for the Mega Drive name and renamed it "Genesis", seeing the console as representing "a new beginning" for the company.
** The European logo for the Platform/SegaDreamcast was changed to blue from orange due to the German game company Tivola already using an orange swirl as their logo.
* ''Franchise/MegaMan'':
** ''VideoGame/MegaManUnlimited'' was originally called ''Mega Man 10'' until Capcom made an actual ''VideoGame/MegaMan10'' in the series. Also, Trinitro Man was originally called Nitro Man, but was renamed to distinguish itself from the official one.
** ''Rockman X'' has TheDragon VAVA, [[CaptainErsatz whose design and name are very similar to the character]] [[Franchise/StarWars Boba Fett.]] Because of their similar first names, when the series was released stateside as ''VideoGame/MegaManX'', he was renamed ''Vile'' to avoid any naming lawsuits. This resulted in a snag later on when ''VideoGame/MegaManZero'' introduced Dr. Vile, who had to be renamed to Dr. Weil stateside for obvious reasons.
** In ''VideoGame/MegaManBattleNetwork4RedSunAndBlueMoon'', the group of scientists keeping tabs on the asteroid situation are called NAXA (ANSA in the original Japanese script), a clear riff on the real life NASA and JAXA space agencies from the U.S. and Japan, respectively.
* ''VideoGame/Onmyoji2016'' was eventually retitled to ''Onmyōji Original Fantasy RPG'' in Japan to avoid trademark infringement with Baku Yumemakura's series of unrelated novels.
* In ''VideoGame/OperationDarkness'', Herbert West, the mad scientist with the ability to revive the other characters, had his surname altered to ''East'' for the English localization. The original story ''Literature/HerbertWestReanimator'' is in the public domain, but given a legal incident with ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' using Lovecraft's public-domain characters mentioned above, they probably wanted to be safe.
* ''VideoGame/{{Overwatch}}'' has a recurring summer event beginning in 2016 that is obviously based on the UsefulNotes/OlympicGames, but avoids actual references to the Olympics, using the phrase "Summer Games" and a logo that resembles fireworks.
* ''VideoGame/PetalCrash'' character Strelitz's species was originally listed as "Tiefling", [[https://twitter.com/PetalCrash/status/1316845760516825089 until the devs found out]] that the term was actually owned by Creator/WizardsOfTheCoast and their use of it was not covered under [=WotC=]'s Open Game License, and had to be changed in a later update.
* The Game of the Year edition of ''VideoGame/PlantsVsZombies'' had to make a few changes. The Dancing Zombie was changed from an {{homage}} to Music/MichaelJackson's "Thriller" to a generic [[GratuitousDiscoSequence disco dancer]] with an afro, and the original Almanac entry for the Zomboni was replaced with a tongue-in-cheek disclaimer / EnforcedPlug:
-->Not to be mistaken for a Zamboni® brand ice resurfacing machine. Zamboni® and the image of the ice resurfacing machine are registered trademarks of Frank J. Zamboni & Co., Inc., and "Zomboni" is used with permission. For all your non-zombie-related ice resurfacing needs, visit www.zamboni.com!
* This is the reason why the Japanese phenomenon ''Pocket Monsters'' was renamed ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'' in the West, as there was a toy line (with an accompanying TV series and an NES game) titled ''Toys/MonsterInMyPocket''. Thankfully, it was already a PortmanteauSeriesNickname in Japan, with pretty much ''everyone'' over there already calling it that anyway; many variants of the Japanese logo would go on to include the nickname written underneath.
* Up until the mid-[=2010s=], racing games had to resort to workarounds to avoid mentioning Porsche, due to an exclusivity agreement between Creator/ElectronicArts and Porsche initially signed for ''VideoGame/NeedForSpeed: Porsche Unleashed'' that forbade for 20 years anyone except EA from using the Porsche trademark.
** ''VideoGame/GranTurismo'' for a while didn't have Porsche; instead, they had RUF, which is a manufacturer that uses Porsche bodies with their own machinery. The CTR, for example, is an 80s Porsche 911. The Porsche brand would make its debut in ''Sport'' due to the exclusivity deal expiring.
** ''Videogame/WanganMidnight'' did this too in the fourth installment onwards after some {{Retcon}}ning in the first three games by changing the car used to represent Tatsuya Shima's Porsche 911 Turbo from the Gemballa [=3.8RS=] (which was Nissan [=350Z=] in the overseas version of the first three games) into the aforementioned RUF CTR Yellowbird (although still painted black, hence the nickname). However, ''Maximum Tune 6'' finally uses the Porsche brand, due to the expiring exclusivity deal.
* In the ''VideoGame/PunchOut'' Wii game, Japanese boxer Piston Honda has had his name changed to Piston Hondo. One of his dialogues was also rewritten for the Virtual Console release of the NES game. (However, as "Honda" is a real Japanese name, any attempts by the car company to sue over the use of that name would likely fail.)
* While Sega got the much better end of the deal in the rights split between ''VideoGame/PuyoPuyo'' and its parent series ''VideoGame/MadouMonogatari'', there are still parts of the ''Puyo Puyo'' series that are legally dicey for Sega to use, such as ''Madou Monogatari'' characters that were added to ''Puyo Puyo'' after Sega bought the series. Two such characters, Black Kikimora and Doppelganger Schezo, were added to ''VideoGame/PuyoPuyoQuest'' under the names "Kuroi" Kikimora and "Kuroi" Schezo. "Kuroi" is the Japanese adjective for "black", fitting into Sega's already-established PaletteSwap naming scheme and keeping the meaning of Kikimora's name in particular.
* The MarketBasedTitle ''Franchise/ResidentEvil'' came due to trademark issues surrounding the name ''Biohazard'' [[note]]In addition to being a generic, commonly-used term that likely would have been difficult to meaningfully trademark, another video game (a 1992 game by the name of ''Bio-Hazard Battle'', released in Japan as ''Crying: Aseimei Sensou'') and a band were already using the name as well.[[/note]], which led to Capcom staff holding an internal contest to rename [[VideoGame/ResidentEvil1 the first game]] in the franchise prior to its US and European release.
* ''VideoGame/RobotechBattlecry'' has a variation of this due to the [[ScrewedByTheLawyers legal troubles]] surrounding Harmony Gold and the ''Anime/Macross'' franchise: because Harmony Gold was legally disallowed from making derivative works based on ''Macross'', the story of ''Battlecry'' only covers the first three episodes of the original ''Macross'' anime series -- from the Zentradi's arrival on Earth to the SDF-1's escape into deep space -- before [[TimeSkip skipping forward to after the events of the anime]], with the justification that the protagonist got left behind on Earth when his fighter got PortalCut by the SDF-1's hyperspace fold field.
* The first installment of Creator/{{Sierra}}'s ''VideoGame/QuestForGlory'' series was actually released as ''Hero's Quest'', but was swiftly changed because of Creator/{{TSR}}'s ''TabletopGame/HeroQuest'' boardgame.
** After the release of ''Quest for Glory III: Wages of War'', Sierra's legal team found out that another videogame company had already trademarked the title "Wages of War." So Sierra made plans to reissue the game as ''Seekers of the Lost City'' (a nod to ''Film/RaidersOfTheLostArk''). Before the re-release was completed, though, the company that had trademarked ''Wages of War'' closed its doors. While [=QFG3=] was never released with the new name, the [=QFG4=] in-game documentation uses the revised [=QFG3=] title in its descriptions of the prior installments (though the CD version refers to it properly).
** Likewise, various ''VideoGame/SpaceQuest'' games featured stores like Droids-R-Us and Radio Shock, which were renamed in subsequent versions of the game after legal threats (to Droids-B-Us and Hz So Good, respectively).
** The name ''VideoGame/SpaceQuest'' is also an example of this trope: After releasing the game Sierra found out the name was owned by the Children's Museum of Indianapolis. An agreement was made to pay a small fee to the museum, and from ''Space Quest IV'' on "Space Quest" gets a small space on the box while main character Roger Wilco is emphasized.
* ''VideoGame/{{Scribblenauts}}'' has the same "Frisbee" problem as mentioned above. The item doesn't really have any other name in the public consciousness than that, but it goes with "Flying Disc." The same goes with other properties: "[[Franchise/StarWars Lightsaber]]" won't work, but "Laser sword" does.
* ''VideoGame/SilentHillShatteredMemories'' features a high school which is putting on a school production of… "[[Theatre/{{Annie}} Connie]]''. Unintentionally, that also evokes the (flopped) stage production of a certain, much more tone-appropriate [[Literature/{{Carrie}} novel]].
* ''VisualNovel/{{Snatcher}}'': The original 8-bit versions features people dressed up as [[LawyerFriendlyCameo not-so subtly renamed]] versions of Franchise/KamenRider, [[Franchise/StarWars C-3PO]], a [[Franchise/{{Alien}} Xenomorph]], [[Franchise/PlanetOfTheApes Cornelius]] and [[Series/UltraQ Kanegon]] at the Outer Heaven costume party, along with a bartender dressed as the [[Film/ThisIslandEarth Metaluna Mutant]]. The PC Engine version adds Manga/{{Guyver}} to the mix. They were all replaced by Konami characters in subsequent versions (including the bartender, who dresses up as the Golem from ''[[VideoGame/{{Gradius}} Salamander]]'' in the 32-bit versions), avoiding this altogether.
* ''VideoGame/SonicAndTheSecretRings'' was going to be called ''Sonic Wildfire'' but "Wildfire" had already been trademarked.
* ''VideoGame/StarTropics II'':
** When the game was rereleased on the Wii Virtual Console, the Tetrads were renamed "Blocks," since Nintendo no longer had the rights to ''VideoGame/{{Tetris}}''.
** The yo-yo in the first game was renamed to "Island Star" for the Virtual Console release, due to the former name being trademarked in Canada (it has been a generic name in the United States since 1965).
* Ryu's friendly rival in ''Franchise/StreetFighter'' was simply known as Ken until it came time to make action figures based on the characters. Since the name "Ken" was trademarked by Creator/{{Mattel}} for Franchise/{{Barbie}}'s famous boyfriend, he was given the last name "Masters" and the name was subsequently used in the games as well.
* ''Franchise/SuperMarioBros'':
** In ''VideoGame/PaperMarioTheOrigamiKing'', Mario's companion Olivia says "Shake it like a piece of outdated photographic paper". This is a reference to the Music/OutKast song "Hey Ya!", but with the word "Polaroid" swapped out with something more generic (while simultaneously incorporating a joke about how TechnologyMarchesOn, given that Polaroids haven't been in wide use since the early 2000s thanks to the advent of digital cameras).
** ''VideoGame/MarioKartTour'' features racetracks based on real-life cities, and many of them feature buildings and stadia based on those found in the actual cities. However, to prevent copyright infringement, those places have their names changed. For examples, the Rogers Arena in Vancouver Velocity is renamed "M Arena" (M standing for Mario), while the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium in Madrid Drive is simply called "Stadium" (and obviously, neither the name nor the symbol of Real Madrid appear anywhere around the stadium). This is carried over to the tracks' reappaearance in ''VideoGame/MarioKart8 Deluxe''.
* ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWars'':
** This is the reason why ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsOriginalGeneration'' was localized as ''Super Robot Taisen'' in the West; they were worried about conflicts with ''Series/RobotWars'' at the time.[[note]]''VideoGame/SuperRobotWars 30'' was localized with its original title intact, although by that point the Robot Wars series was already cancelled.[[/note]]
** ''[[VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsAlpha Super Robot Wars Alpha Gaiden]]'' bases much of its premise on the destruction of the ''Excelion'' from ''Anime/{{Gunbuster}}'' and how the Earth Sphere [[AdaptationExpansion plans to deal with the resulting shockwave]]... without actually having ''Gunbuster'' in the game. Since the ''Excelion'' was deemed an [[Anime/SuperDimensionFortressMacross SDF-class ship]] in the first ''Alpha'' and the ''Macross'' series does return for ''Alpha Gaiden'', the ship is referred to as "the SDF-class" when necessary.
** The Black History from ''Anime/TurnAGundam'' is a major plot point throughout the ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsZ'' series. However, ''∀'' wasn't included in ''Jigoku-hen'', so the Banpresto writing staff got around this by adding a single hiragana to the name, changing it from "Kuro Rekishi" (黒歴史) to "Kuro'''i''' Rekishi" (黒い歴史), which has exactly the same meaning.
* The ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBros'' franchise had some trademarks to work around, it being a MassiveMultiplayerCrossover:
** The Motion-Sensor Bomb and Cloaking Device items in the ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBros'' series originally hailed from ''VideoGame/{{GoldenEye|1997}}'' and ''VideoGame/PerfectDark'' respectively. In ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBrosMelee'', the trophies for these items list their first appearance as "TOP SECRET" outside of Japan, the Cloaking Device due to Rare being bought by Microsoft and the Motion-Sensor Bomb for the same reason as well as being from a licensed game.
** Cloud from ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'' was added to ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBrosForNintendo3DSAndWiiU'' as DLC, as well as to ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBrosUltimate'' as part of the base roster, though he came with very limited music tracks and overall content than others (initially though to be due to licensing issues with Creator/SquareEnix, but later clarified to have happened due to the songs being legally tied to multiple companies across the world). This was largely rectified with the addition of Sephiroth as DLC in the latter game, who not only added more songs and a second FF stage, but also several new Spirits.
** In ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBrosUltimate'', when discussing Ryu, Viridi mentions that he's fought "superheroes" before. This is referencing his appearances in the ''VideoGame/MarvelVsCapcom'' series without actually mentioning Creator/{{Marvel|Comics}}.
** Sora from ''Franchise/KingdomHearts'' was added to ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBrosUltimate'' as the final DLC character and is the biggest example of this trope in the series. While Sora and the ''Kingdom Hearts'' series are made by Square Enix, they are also the property of Creator/{{Disney}}, who is infamously protective of their IP and brand image. The long and arduous process of negotiating the usage of Sora is the reason why, despite being the most requested character for ''3DS/Wii U'' in an official fan ballot, the team was unable to include him at the time. While Disney would ultimately sign off on Sora being a ''Smash'' fighter, all references to other Disney properties, save for the lone Mickey Mouse keychain on his keyblade, were excluded.
** Due to changes in international ratings systems around 2020 that prohibited 18+ and non-18+ games from being promoted alongside one another, promotional materials for ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBrosUltimate'' were unable to directly name any 18+ games. This meant that the introductions of Mii costumes like [[Franchise/AssassinsCreed Altair]] and [[Franchise/{{Doom}} Doom Slayer]] didn't show the usual ''Super Smash Bros. Ultimate'' X {franchise} graphic but instead used the characters' names written in a generic font. (This also affects [[Franchise/{{Tekken}} Kazuya]] on the European website, though not in-game.) T-rated games are allowed to be mentioned, but -- probably also due to these changes -- feature disclaimers clarifying as much. Thus, ''Ultimate'' [[SubvertedTrope subverts]] the DemographicDissonantCrossover trope in this instance, though the game also plays that crossover trope straight with playable characters from 18+ games. The Japanese versions of the trailers are unaffected by this.
* This was the reason ''VideoGame/TalesOfEternia'' was released as ''VideoGame/TalesOfDestiny II'' in the US. It made things confusing when an actual ''VideoGame/TalesOfDestiny2'' came out for the [=PS2=]: [[Franchise/MastersOfTheUniverse Mattel]] already had "Eternia" trademarked.[[note]]Although the actual Tales of Destiny 2 [[NoExportForYou never left Japan]], and when Tales of Eternia was [[LateExportForYou finally]] released in Europe on the Platform/PlayStationPortable, the original name was kept.[[/note]]
* ''VideoGame/{{Tetris}}'' fan games use alternate words for clearing four lines at once, as opposed to [[TitleDrop "Tetris"]]. For example, ''VideoGame/NullpoMino'' calls it a "Four", while ''[[VideoGame/TetrIo TETR.IO]]'' calls it a "Quad".
* This is the origin of Lara Croft. The original concept design for the protagonist of ''Franchise/TombRaider'' was a tall man in khakis with a brimmed hat and a satchel. Upon seeing it, one member of the creative team announced "[[Franchise/IndianaJones Where's his whip? We're gonna get sued!]]" So they replaced that character with the now-legendary [[MsFanservice Lara.]]
* {{Lampshade|Hanging}}d to hell and back in the InteractiveFiction game ''Toonesia''. Bud Bunny, Elmer Fuld, Dizzy Duck. Oh, and the Tasmanian Devil. Which is OK because it's a real animal.
* Parodied in ''Totally Accurate Battlegrounds'', where what is obviously a frying pan is called a "shallow pot with long handle"; a [[TakeThat dig]] at ''VideoGame/PlayerunknownsBattlegrounds'' for trying to use frying pans as an ImprovisedWeapon as part of their claim in a lawsuit against other Battle Royale games.
* For the mobile phones version of ''VideoGame/WaiWaiWorld'', ''Film/TheGoonies'' universe was changed to one based in ''Bio Miracle Upa'' (who later appeared in the sequel), and Pentaro was ascended to playable (originally Franchise/KingKong) while his pink lover covers his previous role.
* ''VideoGame/WallyBearAndTheNoGang'' was originally supposed to be called the [[DrugsAreBad "Just Say No"]] Gang, but former first lady Nancy Reagan already trademarked the phrase.
* Since Creator/{{Nintendo}} trademarked the word Platform/{{Wii}}, any game on the system trying for that name but made by a different company would have to do something similar, like ''VideoGame/WeCheer'' or ''We Ski.''
* ''VideoGame/TheWonderful101'':
** One unlockable character is called "Poseman", a hot-blooded hero with a red outfit. This is likely a reference to ''VideoGame/ViewtifulJoe'' (the first installment of Kamiya's Hero Trilogy), which is owned by Capcom and thus couldn't be used. However, there is an EasterEgg that has Wonder-Pink call Sylvia from the game and ask about Joe.
** The game's fifth boss is a homage to ''VideoGame/PunchOut''. Platinum asked Nintendo, the original publisher of ''The Wonderful 101'' and the owners of ''Punch-Out'', if they could use that game's theme for the battle, but were turned down. So they used a SuspiciouslySimilarSong instead.
* The first major ''VideoGame/YokaiWatch'' spin-off ''Yo-kai Watch Busters'' had to be changed in multiple ways when localized for the West, all to remove references to ''Franchise/{{Ghostbusters}}''. The name was changed to ''Yo-kai Watch Blasters'', their car was altered to less resemble the Ecto-1, the Blaster-variant mascots (Jibanyan B, Komasan B, Usapyon B) had their costumes changed from jumpsuits to vests, and the final boss was changed from a parody of the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man to a standard {{Kaiju}} (the name was changed from Whismellowman to Whisped Cream). Interestingly this seems to only apply to Ghostbusters references as references to other movies and shows remained intact.
* Some time after the original release of the FanGame ''VideoGame/YourBizarreAdventure'', copyright concerns led to every character and Stand from ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventure'' being renamed. Several of them are extremely similar to the original (for instance, Star Platinum and The World become "Platinum Sun" and "The Universe"), while others are deliberately ridiculous (for example, Pesci becomes "Pepsi", Pannacotta Fugo becomes "Pancake Fog", and the Joestar family becomes the "[[YourMom Joemama]]" family).
* The fan-made ''VideoGame/DoomII'' GameMod ''[[https://doomwiki.org/wiki/Back_to_Saturn_X Back to Saturn X]]'' was [[TitledAfterTheSong named after a song]] by the band Music/GuidedByVoices, and all the levels were subsequently named after the band's songs. In 2020, the mod was made into an official add-on, available through Bethesda's UpdatedRerelease of the classic ''Doom'' games. Given copyright concerns, in this release the mod was renamed to ''BTSX'', and [[https://doomwiki.org/wiki/Back_to_Saturn_X#Official_add-on_version all the levels had their names changed]]. The new level names typically mimic Guided By Voices's [[WordSaladTitle offbeat naming style]], without actually infringing on the copyright. Similarly, when James Paddock, one of the composers that made the music for the mod, released his songs as an album, he gave it the lawyer-friendly title [[https://jamespaddock.bandcamp.com/album/saturn-x-soundtrack-episode-1 "Saturn X Soundtrack"]].
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Web Animation]]
* ''WebAnimation/BarbieLifeInTheDreamhouse'' has "Generic Flying Discs" instead of Frisbees, since Creator/{{Mattel}} owns Franchise/{{Barbie}}, and Wham-O owns a trademark on the name, "Frisbee". A few minor examples have Ken refer to Ikea as, "a Swedish furniture store", Skipper call Creator/TurnerClassicMovies, "[[TakeThat that channel nobody watches]]", and Chelsea refer to Starbucks as, "some coffee shop".
* PlayedForLaughs in an episode of ''WebAnimation/{{The Champions|2018}}''. During the intro, new Juventus player Matthijs de Light appears and starts saying, "Ever since I was a young boy, I dreamed of playing for Juv--" before a voiceover cuts in and completes the sentence with "[[VideoGame/FIFASoccer Piemonte Calcio]]".
* ''WebAnimation/DSBTInsaniT'': Parodied with this line.
-->'''Andy''': So you're a vending machine that plays music? I'm parched, but I don't want to buy any brand names due to advertising concerns. Do you have generic-?
-->'''Soda Register''': I'm not a vending machine either. I only play music.
* In [[WebAnimation/{{Hololive}} Hoshimachi Suisei's]] stream of ''VideoGame/TalesOfArise'', she mutes the game's original opening theme so she doesn't get a copyright strike from [=YouTube=]. Instead, [[https://youtu.be/g44cUcprdDc she plays her own original song, GHOSTS, over it]], even singing along with it.
* The main cast of ''WebAnimation/HunterTheParenting'' are essentially the main cast of ''WebAnimation/IfTheEmperorHadATextToSpeechDevice'' under different names as a means for Alfabusa to continue making animations featuring said cast, as the latter series had been ScrewedByTheLawyers due to Games Workshops' FanWorkBan.
* While most of the talent who left WebAnimation/{{AkioAIR}} after the company imploded in controversy made new characters or went back to their old ones [[OpenSecret without being able to outright say who they were]] (as is standard in the VirtualYoutuber industry), Athena and MEW got new models and channels but kept their social media accounts and started using the names "Athy" and "Metorial," which were used as nicknames during their Akio days but are not copyrighted by the company the way "Athena Nightingale" and "MEW Horizon" are.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Web Comics]]
* ''Webcomic/ClinicOfHorrors'': a game that Dr. Albright and Bianca frequently play is titled "[[VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIV Last Fantasy Online]]."
* ''Webcomic/SchlockMercenary'''s oft-quoted "Seven Habits of Highly Effective Pirates" was changed to "Seventy Maxims of Maximally Effective Mercenaries" after the author received a letter from the lawyers of Stephen Covey (the RealLife book is ''Seven Habits of Highly Effective People'') about the trademark. Though a fair-use parody argument could be made, the author admitted he was glad for the excuse to make the {{retcon}} because the original choice of title was admittedly lazy, the "seven habits" part was a NonIndicativeTitle since they number upwards of 30, and the new title opens more possibilities for TheMerch.
* Jokingly used in ''Help Desk''. Ubersoft has trademarked the concept of the OK Button, but another company has trademarked the term OK Button. So Ubersoft rewrites its software so that all OK Buttons are now Right On Switches. This is why letting annoyingly cute mascot paperclips name things isn't a good idea.
* ''Webcomic/{{Eatatau}}'' pretty obviously takes place in the ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'' setting, but any name that's Creator/GamesWorkshop copyright gets extra letters added on (e.g. "Tau" becomes "Ttau" and "Kroot" becomes "Kroott"). Darius ignores this for terms like Eldar and Space Marine because they're [[OlderThanTheyThink Older than]] Creator/GamesWorkshop [[OlderThanTheyThink Claims]].
* ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick'':
** Played for laughs in an early comic. Elan encounters a Mind Flayer, only for it to be dragged away by a pair of lawyers sent by [[Creator/WizardsOfTheCoast the spoooooooky wizard who lives by the coast]]. The Beholder scheduled to be in the next comic is then sent away before the lawyers notice. The online comic uses the terms "Mind Flayer" and "Illithid," but they're replaced ("Brain Eater"/"brain-eating abberation" and "Illithoid") in the print version.
** Later, the comic introduces [[http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0044.html Zz'dtri]], a Dark Elf who, as the characters note, comes from a race composed entirely of edgy anti-heroes trying to throw off the race's reputation for evil. When Zz'dtri and his team turn out to be evil, Vaarsuvius defeats him by loudly noting his resemblance to "[[Literature/TheLegendOfDrizzt a certain popular fantasy author's intellectual property]]," causing the lawyers to show up and drag him away. [[spoiler:He then returns [[http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0789.html 700 strips later]], having successfully argued that parody counts as fair use.]]
** For a spell-specific example, the spells "Bixby's Crushing Hand", "Bixby's Evicting Hand", "Bugsby's Cat-Retrieving Hand", "Bugsby's Expressive Single Digit" and "Bugsby's Flicking Finger" are all references to various [=DnD=] spells called "Bigby's [adjective] Hand" (which in 5e became a single spell, "Bigby's Hand", with multiple uses).
** A Beholder makes a more prominent appearance much later in the comic ... but nobody can remember what it's called.
* ''Webcomic/{{Sonichu}}'' acquired infamy for many, '''many''' reasons, but notably combining Pikachu and Franchise/{{Sonic|TheHedgehog}} to create the titular, technically copyright-free character. While the copyright-free claims are dubious, the comic still features a lot of copyrighted ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'' characters.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Web Video]]
* ''WebVideo/AtopTheFourthWallTheMovie'': In [[WebVideo/AtopTheFourthWall the show]], Linkara usually has a reserve of [[Series/DoctorWho Cybermats]] to help maintain general operations around ''Comicron-1''. However, because the name is trademarked by the BBC, Linkara refers to them as "the 'Mats" when talking about them with Harvey Finevoice.
* The Corridor Digital short film ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hsaLDnl_fEs GTA VR]]'' has Creator/StevenOgg reprise his role as Trevor Philips, but he wasn't referred to as Trevor to avoid any potential copyright issues with Take-Two Interactive.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Western Animation]]
* Supposedly, a threat from Creator/BlizzardEntertainment led the staff of ''WesternAnimation/AdventureTime'' to remove the [[BigBad Lich King's]] title and just call him The Lich.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheAmazingWorldOfGumball'': PlayedForLaughs in "The Friend". The "Mentos and Coke" trick is pulled twice, and in both times it is stated to use "non-branded" mints and cola.
* Thorn was originally the name of Rose's alter ego on ''WesternAnimation/AmericanDragonJakeLong''. Turns out the dual identity "Rose and Thorn" already belonged to a DC superhero, and many episodes in the first season had to be re-recorded, changing the name "Thorn" to "Huntsgirl".
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Amphibia}}'': In "Fixing Frobo", the logo on the box Mr. Boonchuy is holding is clearly the Amazon logo, but flipped vertically to avoid trademark issues.
* As mentioned in the "Comics" section, ComicBook/MartianManhunter's snack cookie of choice was originally Oreos (later Choccos), but for his appearances in ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheBraveAndTheBold'' it was changed to ordinary chocolate chip cookies.
* The main plot of the ''WesternAnimation/{{Bonkers}}'' episode "I Oughta Be in Toons" was about WesternAnimation/MickeyMouse being imprisoned and impersonated by a disgruntled former child actor, but because of red tape concerning Mickey's television rights at the time[[note]]This was long before ''Mickey [=MouseWorks=]'', ''WesternAnimation/HouseOfMouse'', ''WesternAnimation/MickeyMouseClubhouse'', and [[WesternAnimation/MickeyMouse2013 the 2013 series]] came along.[[/note]], he isn't actually shown on-screen (he is seen in silhouette at the beginning of the episode and spends the rest of the episode locked in a pet carrier) and he is never addressed by his name (instead referred to as "the mouse" or "the most famous toon in the world"). Strangely, this didn't prevent Mickey Mouse from being mentioned by name in other episodes.
* ''WesternAnimation/DuckTales2017'': In "From the Confidential Casefiles of Agent 22", none of the items relating to ''WesternAnimation/AdventuresOfTheGummiBears'' have the word Gummi attached to them, likely due to trademark issues relating to the original Gummi Bear candies. Thus the Great Gummi become the Great Ones, and the Great Book of Gummi is just the Great Book.
* ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'':
** {{Lampshade|Hanging}}d in the episode "Cool Hand Peter" which uses the names [=McDaniel's=] and Burger Queen, along with food names like "Flame-broiled Bopper", "Diet Conks", "Chicken [=McFingers=]" and "fresh fries". This annoys Quagmire who remarks that everyone knows what they are really talking about and also mentions how nobody owns the trademark for French fries. Since Stewie actually did get a job at [=McDonald=]'s in an earlier episode, this was more making fun of this trope as opposed to the show actually writing around trademarks.
** A similar joke is done at the end of "Halloween on Spooner Street", Stewie offers Brian some of his Halloween candy but reminds him that they can't use the real names due to "advertising concerns". Brian picks a few fake candy names like "Jim & Ms", "Not-a-Finger", "$64,000 Bar", and "Dawkins' Peanut Butter Disc". A frustrated Stewie mutters "God, I hate television." in response.
** Rumors surrounded an original airing of "Brian in Love" after Brian pees in the supermarket, Peter remarks "Geez, Brian, where do you think you are, K-Mart?", which was changed to Payless in all reruns and on the [=DVDs=]. It was debunked as the original airing was always Payless.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheFlintstones'' was originally called ''The Flagstones'', but a similar last name was already being used by the comic strip ''ComicStrip/HiAndLois''.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'''s ''Film/TheWizardOfOz'' parody included the song "We resemble but are legally distinct from the Lollipop Guild".
* The ''WesternAnimation/{{Beetlejuice}}'' cartoon's own Oz spoof described the land that Lydia lands in as "The Land of PublicDomain." The Beetles claim that they'd sing to Lydia, but that they weren't allowed, as one of them shows her the court order against doing so.
* Hasbro's Franchise/GIJoe franchise had a similar problem when they allowed trademarks on those characters to lapse. It's believed to be the reason why Roadblock was replaced with near-identical cousin Heavy Duty in the ''[[Film/GIJoeTheRiseOfCobra Rise of Cobra]]'' film. And within the action figure line, Rock and Roll was renamed Bench Press. However Hasbro did end up getting a few trademarks renewed since Roadblock was brought back as a prominent character on ''WesternAnimation/GIJoeRenegades'', ''WesternAnimation/GIJoeResolute'', and the live action sequel ''[[Film/GIJoeRetaliation Retaliation]]''.
* Parodied in ''WesternAnimation/InvaderZim''. You remember how your elementary school fundraiser had those cheesy prizes for selling ''x'' products? Well, in Zim's one prize is apparently a box of [[foldercontrol]]

[[folder: adhesive medical strips. ]]
It's not only dubbed over in an instructional video; it's dubbed over in an actual conversation.
* ''WesternAnimation/JohnnyBravo'' had Rudolph in one Christmas episode, but he wasn't referred to by name. Oddly, [[Literature/HowTheGrinchStoleChristmas the Grinch]] ''is'' mentioned by name in the same scene that Rudolph appears in (though he doesn't appear).
* Interestingly when ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague'' writers created a character called Ichthultu, they only did this because they were unaware that Cthulhu was a PublicDomainCharacter. Though it's not according to [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H._P._Lovecraft#Copyright_and_other_legal_issues Arkham House Publishers Inc.]], which was one of the reasons ''WesternAnimation/TheRealGhostbusters'' episode homaging Lovecraft's works called the monster "Cathulhu".
* ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfVoxMachina'' is an animated adaptation of the first campaign of ''WebVideo/CriticalRole'', which was an ActualPlay of a ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragonsFifthEdition'' game (and previously, ''[[{{TabletopGame/Pathfinder}} Pathfinder]]''). As the show was made without any involvement from Wizards of the Coast or Paizo, certain elements copyrighted by them had to be excluded. Gods such as Serenrae and Vecna are only referred to by their titles (The Everlight and the Whispered One, respectively) rather than their names, and most spells are replaced with generic variants (with Bigby's Hand outright being renamed to Scanlan's Hand due to Scanlan's habit of [[CallingYourAttacks singing its name when he uses it]]). Grog's race is given as Half-Giant rather than Goliath.
* An in-universe example in the ''WesternAnimation/KaBlam'' episode, "Won't Stick to Most Dental Work". When Henry opens his own restaurant, he mentions in his letter to June that her lawyers wouldn't let him use the ''[=KaBlam!=]'' name, hence why he had to name his restaurant "Henry's House of [=KaBoom!=]".
* The AnimatedAdaptation of the ''Maisie'' picture books by Aileen Patterson (about an anthropomorphic cat) was called ''Meeow!'' to avoid confusion with the AnimatedAdaptation of the ''Literature/{{Maisy}}'' picture books by Lucy Cousins (about an anthropomorphic mouse).
* ''Westernanimation/MightyDucksTheAnimatedSeries'' has the title team playing a major league and even name drops Usefulnotes/TheStanleyCup. But the name "[[Usefulnotes/NationalHockeyLeague NHL]]" never comes up, nor do the teams the Ducks face represent real franchises. Strangely enough, the NHL ''is'' mentioned in the closing credits. A minor case is how the Ducks arena is "The Pond" or "Anaheim Pond", avoiding mention of the real stadium's naming rights (Arrowhead Pond, now known as Honda Center).
* In ''WesternAnimation/MiraculousLadybug'', Chat Noir's name was changed to Cat Noir in the American dub because the original name didn't sit well with test audiences[[note]](for those who don't know, ''chat'' is pronounced like "shat")[[/note]], but also likely because the literal translation "Black Cat" was already the name of a Creator/{{Marvel|Comics}} [[Characters/BlackCatMarvelComics character]].
* An odd case in ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'': Hasbro had allowed the trademarks on many of the '80s characters to lapse -- including nearly all of the ones Creator/LaurenFaust wanted to use. Thus, the Mane Six are re-imagined versions of classic ponies redesigned and renamed after G3 ones -- Pinkie Pie especially is a lot closer to her original G1 version, Surprise, than her G3 namesake, as is Twilight Sparkle to Twilight, Rainbow Dash to Firefly, Rarity to Sparkler, and Fluttershy to Posey. Oddly, the one that ''did'' get to be modeled on the intended G1 pony, Applejack, is very nearly an InNameOnly version.
** We also have Big Macintosh. The abbreviated version of his name, "Big Mac", is owned by UsefulNotes/McDonalds (which eventually did several Happy Meal promotions for the show), so other characters can only say "Big Mac" sparingly, after they've already said the full "Big Macintosh" version in the same scene.
** BBC got on the show's case with Doctor Whooves, whose name sounds too similar to and is an obvious collection of homages to ''Series/DoctorWho'', so later on the "W" was removed from his name, which was good enough, it seems. The credits for the episode "Slice of Life" credits him as simply "Doctor." Some of the merchandise, most notably the figurines from Funko, still calls him "Doctor Whooves" on the packaging, however.
** Similarly, the estate of UsefulNotes/CocoChanel gave Hasbro some noise about the similarly named Coco Pommel, dropping a Cease and Desist on them and prompting them to drop the first part and only refer to her as "Miss Pommel" from here on out. Perhaps the idea of Miss Pommel ''[[LesCollaborateurs collaborating]]'' with the episode's villain [[HistoricalInJoke hit a little too close to home]].
* ''WesternAnimation/ThePatrickStarShow'': In "[[Recap/ThePatrickStarShowS1E4TheYardSale The Yard Sale]]", a hula hoop is called a "loopy-hoop", because the name "hula hoop" is trademarked.
* Parodied in ''WesternAnimation/RobbieTheReindeer''. Robbie is the son of Rudolph, but every time someone is about to say Rudolph's name they get cut off.
* An example occurs in the ''WesternAnimation/RobotChicken'' sketch "We Are the Victors", depicting U.S. Libertarian Party conventions in various years. The speakers would pep up their crowd by predicting victory, but then due to not getting copyright permissions from various artists, would play a very similar substitute song--such as "We Are the Victors" (for Music/{{Queen}}'s "We Are the Champions"), "We Are a Close-Knit Group" (for Sister Sledge's "We Are Family"), "Friend Choo-Choo" (for The Ojays' "Love Train"), etc.
--> '''Candidate #1''': Don't worry, Sister Sledge, this is not your copyright-protected musical hit "We Are Family". It's something better!
* A similar issue to ''My Little Pony'''s Big Mac happened with the [[DubInducedPlotlineChange Cut and Paste Dub]] of ''WesternAnimation/{{Tugs}}'', ''WesternAnimation/SaltysLighthouse''. [[GeniusBruiser Big]] [[UsefulNotes/{{Scotland}} Mac's]] name was [[ClumsyCopyrightCensorship blacked-out]] and he was referred to as "Big Stack".
* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'':
** LampshadeHanging: In "Simpsoncalifragilisticexpiala(Annoyed Grunt)cious", Sherri Bobbins categorically denies that she is anything like Film/MaryPoppins; she's an original creation like Ricky Rouse or Monald Muck.
** Considering also Treehouse of Horror tale ''The Shinning,'' this is a recurring (if not running) gag.
--->'''Bart:''' You mean "shining"? \\
'''Groundskeeper Willie:''' Shhh! [[YouWannaGetSued Ya wanna get sued]]?!
** In "The Otto Show"
--->'''Bart:''' Otto-Man? You're living in a dumpster?\\
'''Otto:''' Ho, man, I wish. Dumpster-brand trash bins are top-of-the-line. This is just a Trash-Co waste disposal unit.
** Also the "Purple Submersible" in "Last Exit to Springfield", and Lisa in the Sky, but not with diamonds.
** Heck, the episode "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS7E18TheDayTheViolenceDied The Day the Violence Died]]" is all about the problems caused by oversensitive copyright and trademark infringement litigation, and features this trope.
** It pretty much is a running gag, the gag being how ridiculous it is to force people to conform to this trope (and the extra miles the show goes to make it blatantly obvious).
%%** Earlier seasons of the show had no problem mocking or just simply referencing products or people by using their actual names. In later episodes, the show has resorted to replacing real things with spoof versions (i.e. Apple becomes Mapple and Steve Jobs becomes Steve Mobbs).
** In "You Kent Always Say What You Want", Homer orders various toppings on his ice cream, all takes on various names of real candies: Snickles, Gooey Bears, Charlottesville Chew, Nice 'N' Many, Kat Kit, Herschel's Smooches, Mrs. Bad Bar, and Milk Dudes.
** In "Fat Man and Little Boy", Bart throws away some of his toys: Spirogram, Sketch 'n' Etch, Ravenous Ravenous Rhinos, Duopoly, Parchoosey, Humor Putty, and Sock 'em Knock 'em Cyborgs.
** "Covercraft" briefly uses a game called Stack-O as a replacement for TabletopGame/{{Jenga}}.
** In "Double, Double, Boy in Trouble", Lenny gives out robotic vacuums as a party gift. They're not Roombas, but generically-named Vac-U-Bots.
** Season 1's "There's No Disgrace Like Home" couldn't use the term "Jell-O Desserts", so Homer instead called them "gelatin desserts." However, the term "Jell-O" has been used many times since, starting with season 3's "Saturdays of Thunder".
** Downplayed in "Scenes from the Class Struggle In Springfield". On the DVD commentary, it's mentioned Marge was allowed to say that she had a Chanel dress (both the discounted suit and the second one she bought when the first one was ruined), but they couldn't show the actual name ([[SceneryCensor which is why Marge's fingers covered the label and a tree covered the Chanel storefront]]).
* {{Lampshade|Hanging}}d in ''WesternAnimation/SkylandersAcademy'' when it's revealed that Pop Fizz used to be a musician:
-->'''Pop Fizz''': Maybe I'll run into some of my old music pals, like [[Music/TheRollingStonesBand the Bowling Scones]], or [[Music/JimiHendrix Jimi Matrix]], or... other band names that are protected under First Amendment parody rights.
* ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'':
** The titular character was [[WhatCouldHaveBeen originally]] going to be named [=SpongeBoy=], but the show creators discovered that [=SpongeBoy=] was a trademarked pencil brand. Thus, the Y became a B.
** Parodied in the episode "Sand Castles in the Sand" where [=SpongeBob=] and Patrick play with a flying disc they [[InsistentTerminology insistently refer to]] as a "Small Plastic Disc That You Throw" (the joke revolving around the name "Frisbee" is a registered trademark). Deciding that their name for it is too long, they shorten it to "Small Plastic Disc That You Toss".
* ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'' usually avoids naming any distinctive looking technology, including Steven's [[Platform/NintendoGameCube purple cube-shaped gaming system with small CDs]] which plays fictional games besides [[VideoGame/AnimalCrossing one with a cover of small animal people]] we never get to see. When Steven moves out in the finale he leaves behind a box with "his game stuff", though this time its a system transparently resembling the Platform/Nintendo64, including its infamous controllers.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheSuperheroSquadShow'' wasn't allowed to use ComicBook/SpiderMan because of rights issues with Creator/{{Sony}}, but managed to make two vague references to him in the episode "Election of Evil". The Mayor of Superhero City at one point alludes to a hero who got his powers from being bitten by a radioactive bug and at the end of the episode states "[[WithGreatPowerComesGreatResponsibility With great responsibility comes great power....and, uh, vice versa]]."
* In the ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitansGo'' special "Warner Bros. 100th Anniversary" [[Franchise/HarryPotter Hogwarts]] makes an appearance, but is never referred to by name, instead just being called a castle, which is a bit odd since Hogwarts is trademarked by Warner Bros., and ''Teen Titans Go!'' is produced by Creator/WarnerBrosAnimation.
* An episode of ''WesternAnimation/ThomasAndFriends'''s fifth series introduces a BR Class 17 diesel as a character. Originally he was to be named "Paxman", after the manufacturer of the Class 17's twin engines. The problem was that the character, like the real locomotive, suffered engine trouble, and the producers were worried about slandering the Paxman brand. In the episode he's NoNameGiven, while in the merchandise he's "Derek".
* ''WesternAnimation/TopCat'' was known as ''Boss Cat'' in the United Kingdom as there was already a cat food brand called Top Cat. Only the on-screen title was changed (with a very rough cut to a very cheap-looking new title card); the theme tune lyrics continued to use "Top Cat".
* ''WesternAnimation/TheVentureBros'':
** The show frequently included characters from ''WesternAnimation/JonnyQuest'' in its first season or so, killing off Race Bannon and depicting Jonny himself as having turned to drug addiction to deal with the trauma of his childhood. As ''Venture Bros.'' and ''Quest'' share a parent company, there was no ''legal'' problem here, but the names had to be changed later regardless. Warner Bros. was fine with the show ''parodying'' the ''Quest'' characters, but objected to ''Venture Bros.'' using them as major parts of ongoing stories, and so Jonny Quest became Action Johnny (no last name) and Dr. Zin became Dr. Zee.
** A more straightforward version of this is why David Bowie was revealed to be an imposter and then written out: there's a legal difference between making fun of the man, and making him a straightforward and sincere part of your show without permission from Bowie and his estate.
* The reason why ''WesternAnimation/XiaolinChronicles'' renamed the Shen-Gong Wu from [[WesternAnimation/XiaolinShowdown the original series]] is because Creator/WarnerBrosAnimation had no involvement with the second series, while Creator/WarnerBros still owned the rights to the original names of the objects.
* As mentioned above in the Comic Books section, DC eventually dropped the use of the name "Captain Marvel," instead officially renaming their version of the character ComicBook/{{Shazam}}. This caused a bit of an awkward situation for ''WesternAnimation/{{Young Justice|2010}}'', as Cap had appeared in the first two seasons (produced before the name change was officially company policy) under his original name. During his sole appearance in [[WesternAnimation/YoungJusticeRevivalSeries the third season]], he was only referred to by his civilian name, Billy, with the credits calling him Shazam instead of Captain Marvel. Consequently, when Mary Bromfield made her debut in Season 4, she was cut off before she could officially say her codename was "Sergeant Marvel," [[spoiler:and was officially renamed "Black Mary" in the season finale]].
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Other]]
* Nissan Motor Company has its website at www.nissan-global.com because Nissan Computer already owned and used www.nissan.com (as well at .net), having registered it before the former got around to it. Nissan Motors sued, but unlike PETA and [[FunWithAcronyms People Eating Tasty Animals]], failed to get the domain transferred (the fact that Nissan Computer is an actual business helps).
* TCBY was originally called ''This Can't Be Yogurt'', but due to a lawsuit from competitor ''I Can't Believe It's Yogurt!'', they later changed their initials to ''The Country's Best Yogurt''.
* The Debian Linux distribution re-branded Firefox as Iceweasel, because Mozilla owns the trademark and the logo; even though the browser is open source, trademarks are generally not covered by such licenses (in fact, the Mozilla Public License explicitly states that trademark rights are not granted by it as with contributors' copyright and patents). The Debian team also re-branded Mozilla's other projects, Thunderbird and Seamonkey, as Icedove and Iceape for similar reasons. There are also other re-branded versions of Firefox floating around for use in open-source operating systems, such as GNU Icecat and the Trisquel's Abrowser (clever name on that last one, huh?)
** Firefox was originally called "Phoenix", and then "Firebird", but changed the name because both of these were already in use for other software. Phoenix was already trademarked by a BIOS developer, and Firebird was used by a free and open source database program, and as Mozilla Firebird (as it was known at the time) was also free and open source software, so Mozilla changed the name to Firefox for version 0.8 to respect the database as the insistence on including "Mozilla" in the full name was not considered to be above. (When Phoenix was renamed to Firebird, the Minotaur mail/news reader was renamed Thunderbird to go with the new bird name of its browser companion. Unlike Firefox, it retains the mythological bird name to this date.)
** Mozilla owns the trademarks for the official names for their products to protect their own image. The Firefox brand can only be used with an unmodified product. However, they are aware of the need for the [=FOSS=] community to be able to use their products unfettered, so they offer an easy way to compile versions of their products without trademark (which as seen above can then be renamed and relabeled at the desire of the distributor). The trademark-free version of Firefox keeps the Mozilla globe (which is free to distribute) and uses the particular version's code name, which is never trademarked.
* Many businesses parodying the ''Series/PimpMyRide'' name were forced to do this after legal threats by Viacom, owner of the show and the "Pimp My" trademark. ''[[http://www.pimpthatsnack.com/ Pimp That Snack]]'', for example, was once called ''Pimp My Snack''.
* Even with an ad that [[http://madisonian.net/images/kulula.jpg all but lampshaded that they were not the official airline]] for the [[UsefulNotes/TheWorldCup 2010 FIFA World Cup]], and without even referring to the tournament by name, a South African discount airline ''still'' got threatened by FIFA for creating an "unauthorized association" with the tournament because of the ad's imagery. FIFA and other major sports organizations have, lately, required host countries for their major events to implement strict laws to ban so-called "ambush marketing" in order to protect the official sponsors. With what FIFA ended up telling them, they were basically asserting a special trademark on anything culturally related to South Africa, and even the word "South Africa", if used in connection to a reference to football. Of course, they had to lampshade it further with their [[http://www.southafrica.to/transport/Airlines/Kulula-flights/2010/Kulula-football-free-ad.jpg new ad]], discussing an event happening "not next year, not last year, but somewhere in between."
* You may notice around the time of the Super Bowl that a lot of stores and restaurants will be advertising promotions for "The Big Game" or "Super Sunday"; the NFL aggressively enforces its trademark on the name of said game, limiting its use to official sponsors. In fact, they even tried to trademark the phrase "The Big Game", until they remembered that a particularly important college football rivalry game, between University of California, Berkeley and Stanford University, is actually called "the Big Game." (Or you can change some capital letters around, as Creator/StephenColbert did, and call it the "Superb Owl games."
* In Britain, the T.J. Maxx department store chain is called T.K. Maxx to avoid confusion with TJ Hughes department stores.
* This happens often with cars:
** The Hyundai Elantra was once known as the Lantra throughout much of Europe and Australia thanks to the similarly named Lotus Elan, as well as the Elante trim level offered on some of Mitsubishi's cars. When both cars were discontinued by 2001, the name was allowed to be used.
** The Lancia Montecarlo was called the Scorpion in the U.S. thanks to Chevrolet's Monte Carlo being sold there.
** In the early Nineties, GMC released a performance oriented pickup called the Syclone. It's spelled with an "S" because Mercury still held the trademark for "Cyclone". (In fact, they had just made a concept car by that name.)
* During the 2012 UsefulNotes/OlympicGames in London, Nike released an ad about athletes finding greatness in London. But Nike wasn't an official sponsor, so they couldn't make an ad about the games themselves. Their solution? [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kydKkwNjb80 An ad]] that features athletes in places around the world called London (along with shots of various signs that say London)- just not the ones where the games were being held.
** Bookmaker Paddy Power pulled a similar stunt, with ads that proclaimed it was the sponsor of the "biggest sporting event in London this year" ... an egg-and-spoon race in a French village named London.
** In a bigger, non-ad version, ESPN Brazil was not allowed to broadcast the 2013 Confederations Cup. Instead they showed five commenters watching the game, many times reaching {{MST}} levels.
* Southwest Airlines and Stevens Aviation both began using a variation of "Just Plane Smart" as their slogan at around the same time. Instead of taking the matter to court, they decided to settle it with an armwrestling match between [=CEOs=] as a publicity stunt. The CEO of Stevens Aviation won, and promptly granted Southwest the right to use the phrase as well at no charge. The two companies got a lot of good press and raised about $15,000 for charity to boot.[[labelnote:Source]][[https://priceonomics.com/how-southwest-airlines-settled-a-legal-dispute/ How Southwest Airlines Settled a Legal Dispute with Arm Wrestling]][[/labelnote]]
* In August 2003, a Canadian Mike Rowe (no, not [[Series/DirtyJobs that one]]) thought it'd be amusing to register the domain name [=MikeRoweSoft.com=]. However, Microsoft took note and sued in January 2004. But after the publicity, Microsoft settled with Mike and admitted they were overreaching in protecting their trademark.
* There's a costume company that makes a [[Series/TheAddamsFamily Wednesday Addams]] Halloween costume, but never bothered to get approval from Creator/MetroGoldwynMayer. To avoid a lawsuit, it's officially an "Evil Midweek Cutie" costume.[[note]] [[DontExplainTheJoke What day is in the middle of the work week? Wednesday.]][[/note]] There are other costume companies that make costumes [[https://www.inverse.com/article/37613-copyright-dodging-halloween-costumes based on copyrighted characters in all but name]], including (but most certainly not limited to) "[[Film/TopGun Fighter Jet Pilot]]", "[[Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda Elf Warrior Princess]]", "[[Film/AustinPowers Groovey Man]]", and "[[Franchise/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles Pubescent Frog of Silent War]]"
* Engine manufacturer S&S Cycle had to come up with their own designations for the Harley-Davidson clone motors they manufacture, e.g. "[[https://www.sscycle.com/products/t124-stone-gray-engine-with-640-cams/ T-Series]]" (no, not that Creator/TSeries) as a drop-in replacement for the Twin Cam, likely due to the fact that they, along with fellow aftermarket motorcycle parts manufacturer Delkron, were sued in 2005 by Harley for patent and trademark infringement.
* {{Cosplay}} troupes who dress up as popular Franchise/DisneyPrincess characters for birthday parties and other such occasions tend to refer to the characters in question generically, like in the case of Castle & Co. Entertainment. While they can get away with using Rapunzel, Cinderella or the Little Mermaid's names directly (owing to the fact that the Princesses are based on public domain characters to begin with; individual depictions however can be copyrighted), the same is not true with [[Characters/FrozenElsa Elsa]] or WesternAnimation/{{Moana}} due to their iconic status as pop culture figures, so they have to resort to generic terms such as "The Ice Queen" or "Island Princess" instead; [[Characters/FrozenAnna Princess Anna]] does seem to get a free pass for some reason. They do make a disclaimer about the arguably grey-market nature of their work as unauthorised portrayals of Disney characters though, knowing the company's legal zealousness especially with the ''Frozen'' franchise.
* Likewise, non-Disney Halloween costume manufacturers sometimes make their own versions of the Franchise/DisneyPrincess costumes, but can't use any princess's name that isn't in the public domain. For example, the "Little Adventurers" line of princess costumes includes Snow White, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Rapunzel and Tinkerbell by name, but the other costumes in the line are labeled [[WesternAnimation/TheLittleMermaid1989 Mermaid Princess]], [[WesternAnimation/BeautyAndTheBeast Beauty]], [[WesternAnimation/{{Aladdin}} Arabian Princess]], [[WesternAnimation/{{Pocahontas}} Woodland Princess]], [[WesternAnimation/{{Mulan}} Cherry Blossom Princess]], [[WesternAnimation/ThePrincessAndTheFrog Lily Pad Princess]], [[WesternAnimation/{{Brave}} Medieval Princess]], [[WesternAnimation/Frozen2013 Ice Queen and Alpine Princess]], [[WesternAnimation/SofiaTheFirst Purple Amulet Princess]], [[WesternAnimation/ElenaOfAvalor Ruby Princess]] and [[WesternAnimation/{{Moana}} Island Princess]]. Another costume company, Forum Novelties, has their own Elsa costume knockoff which they call "Princess Krystal."
* A small motel in the UsefulNotes/{{Denver}} suburb of Lakewood was, for a long time, called the WesternAnimation/BugsBunny Motel. While their sign included a cartoon rabbit that was careful not to look anything like Bugs, obviously Creator/WarnerBros got to them at some point anyway, and it's now called the Big Bunny Motel.
* The sport commonly known as [[Franchise/HarryPotter Muggle Quidditch]] has officially been renamed "Quadball", since Quidditch is already a registered trademark of Warner Bros., Scholastic, and Creator/JKRowling, not to mention it was done in an effort by quadball associations (and the ''Harry Potter'' community in general) to distance themselves from Rowling's controversial political views.
* The ''Lost Tales from Camp Blood'' shorts on the ''[[Franchise/Fridaythe13th Friday the 13th]]'' DVD and Blu-ray releases feature a nameless killer that vaguely-but-not-quite resembles Jason Voorhees, and the actual name of the titular camp, "Camp Crystal Lake," is never mentioned. This is because those trademarks were with Creator/NewLineCinema at the time, and not Creator/{{Paramount}}, who was behind the releases.
* [[https://www.uefa.com/insideuefa/national-associations/news/0227-0e92b3e42c4d-8dc2771a8958-1000--what-do-europe-s-football-fans-eat/ This article]] about popular foods at association football games across Europe mentions Bovril (a British beef extract prepared into a hot drink) as "beef tea", as Bovril is trademarked.
* On app stores and software distribution platforms, unofficial [[MediaNotes/{{Emulation}} emulators]] tend to avoid mentions of trademarked video game console and/or software brands such as Nintendo and Sony, all despite previous legal precedent per the case with the commercial [=PlayStation=] emulator bleem!. This is mostly due to Nintendo's litigious nature as while they are for the most part unable to take down individual emulators per se (due to them avoiding the inclusion of copyrighted code and/or firmware images), they could see the use of their trademarks as leverage against emulator authors.
* A 2023 commercial for holiday programming on the Canadian channel Creator/WildBrainTV begins with the Nickelodeon Movies logo from ''Film/SnowDay'', but with the Creator/{{Nickelodeon}} logo edited out and replaced with a generic snowball instead, presumably for copyright reasons as the channel is not owned by or affiliated with Nickelodeon.
* Thanks to the Food and Drug Administration ruling that the popular American soft drink Dr. Pepper is a [[ShapedLikeItself "Dr. Pepper-type beverage"]] rather than a cola, numerous competing soft drink companies have been able to get away with introducing their own Dr. Pepper imitations (of which the Coca-Cola Company's "Mr. Pibb" is the most famous[[note]] Coca-Cola originally called it "Peppo" before Dr. Pepper threatened them with a lawsuit[[/note]]), since a company can't claim exclusive ownership of a ''type'' of beverage. To ensure that customers knows what it's supposed to taste like, though, essentially every Dr. Pepper imitation has "Doctor" in the name: there's Virgil's "Dr. Better", Sprecher's "Dr. Sprecher", 365's "Dr. Snap", Great Value's "Dr. Thunder", Wild Bill's "Dr. Bill's", Shasta's "Dr. Shasta", Faygo's "Dr. Faygo", and many more. But as long as a company doesn't ''explicitly'' call their drink "Dr. Pepper", it's technically not copyright infringement.
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