We recently announced changes to how we handle copyright and unowned content. Since then, a lot of creators have asked variations of the same question: "If I remove the name, am I fine?"

Short answer: usually not. This article explains why, and exactly what does and doesn't need to change before 27 July 2026.

What is intellectual property?

Intellectual property (IP) refers to original creations, such as names, designs, characters and content, that are legally owned by individuals or organisations. These are typically protected under copyright or trademark law, which prevents others from using, selling or distributing them without permission.

Commonly protected IP includes:

• Brand identifiers: company, product, game and server names
• Logos and design elements: emblems, stylised fonts, word-marks, distinctive symbols
• Character designs: recognisable figures from games, films, comics or animations
• Product designs: iconic item shapes (vehicles, weapons, gadgets) associated with real brands
• Creative works themselves: code, models, builds, textures, images, music and text

If you sell something containing someone else's IP without permission, you're infringing, regardless of your intent and regardless of how you obtained or created it.

Inspiration vs recreation

Copyright doesn't protect ideas. It protects the expression of ideas.

The idea of a desert planet with two suns and a cantina isn't protected. Anyone can make one. What's protected is the specific expression of that idea: the layout of Mos Eisley, the design of the buildings, the look of the characters, the shape of a specific ship. If your map is recognisably Tatooine, it doesn't matter whether the word "Tatooine" appears anywhere in your listing. The map itself is the problem, and no amount of renaming fixes it.

The same logic applies across everything sold on BBB:

• Ideas themselves aren't protected. You can build a plugin with the same mechanics as a popular server or another plugin. Mechanics are ideas.
• Code is protected. Copying the code someone used to build those mechanics is copying expression.
• Models and builds are protected. Modelling something by hand doesn't make it yours if the result is a copy of someone else's design. Hand-modelling an exact replica of a Ferrari, or of Luke Skywalker's lightsaber, is the same as tracing someone else's artwork. You did the labour, but the design isn't yours.
• Configs are usually fine. A short list of settings generally isn't expressive enough to be protected. Large, complex configs can be.

A useful self-test: could you have made this product from a written description alone, or did you need to look at the original to get it right? If you needed the original open in another tab, you were probably copying expression, not taking inspiration. This is obviously just a useful rule of thumb and infringement can still occur even where you did not need visual references.