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Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/48678
License name: CC BY-SA 4.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/48678
License name: CC BY-SA 4.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

In general, the answer is no. There is no way to ensure that you will not be successfully sued for the theft of somebody else's intellectual property, violating copyright, and have to pay not only all your profits from that but additional monetary damages as well.

You say you won't use any names, you won't name any places, but that is not a formula for success. A **_jury_** of humans will decide if you are ripping off somebody else's work, there is no specific technical test for you to pass. In your Harry Potter example, it will be quite obvious to members of the jury that you ARE referring to Harry Potter, and therefore trying to make money off of JK Rowling's original work, and are therefore in violation of copyright and possibly trademarks (the lightning scar). If your universe contains "light swords" exactly like Star Wars light sabers, you may be in violation of their copyright and trademarks.

Stay away from other people's works, there is no interpretation other than you are trying to make money by stealing their work, their imagination, their intellectual property. It is theft, trying to use something of value (often $billions in value, like Harry Potter) to make money without paying for it.

And because whether you stole it or not is up to a jury and their human judgment, there is no technicality that is going to get you off. And finally, before you think it wouldn't be worth their time and money to go after a little guy, be aware that if they know about you (say because some dummy published your work) and they **don't** go after you, they can lose their rights to their billion dollar franchise, so they go after **everybody.**

Original score: 0