Copyright lawyer reasons Peter Molyneux's new game can share the name "Albion" with Xbox's Fable because "no one could trademark the word for a real place"

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Albion, the blanket historical setting, isn't copyrightable

A screenshot of a character in the Xbox Games Showcase June 2024 Fable trailer.
(Image credit: Playground Games)

One copyright lawyer has chimed in on Peter Molyneux's new game, which happens to kind of share a setting with Xbox's Fable series.

Peter Molyneux recently said that his new god simulator Masters of Albion shouldn't get into any legal disputes for its setting of the titular Albion - another word for old England and also the fairytale world in Molyneux's Fable games - because the word in itself "can't be copyrighted." Granted, he also admitted he wasn't totally certain of that.

Lawyer Haley MacLean then jumped into the discussion on social media, with an explanation for "informational purposes only" rather than actual legal advice, breaking down the important distinction between the word Albion and the world that Xbox has the rights to.

MacLean explains that Molyneux is right: "no one could trademark/copyright protect the word for a real/historical place in and of itself." Microsoft can, however, copyright a "fictionalized take" on said historical place. "It comes down to how much creative effort is taken to create a 'world' that has originality."

MacLean uses MMO Albion Online as a good example - a game that's set in a world called Albion, but its Albion doesn't include Fable-y bits like The Hero's Guild, characters like Theresa, or other lore related to the series. 

"The question isn't really whether 22Cans is allowed to use the word Albion but whether their take on Albion is substantively similar to the world/lore of Albion from Fable," MacLean continues. 

Things get a little tricky since Molyneux directed both versions of an ancient, whimsically magical England - silly chickens included. "A lot of what Fable was, a lot of what Masters of Albion is, is inspired by Guildford - the green rolling South Downs and the ancient ruins that were dotted around," Molyneux explained in an interview with Eurogamer, but chickens and rolling hills probably aren't copyrightable either.

Recent updates

The headline on this story has been updated to clarify the distinction between Albion itself and Fable's take on Albion specifically. Haley MacLean reiterates that "the 'setting' aka world could be copyright protected if it had originality, just not the word Albion in reference to the historical place."

Masters of Albion doesn’t have a release date yet, so why not check out the best city-building games while you wait?

Kaan Serin
Freelance contributor

Kaan freelances for various websites including Rock Paper Shotgun, Eurogamer, and this one, Gamesradar. He particularly enjoys writing about spooky indies, throwback RPGs, and anything that's vaguely silly. Also has an English Literature and Film Studies degree that he'll soon forget.