Fantasy book examples in PhD Thesis I have a question regarding the use of fantasy books in a PhD thesis. Imagine for example that I'm writing an example motivating the use of databases. Can I design e.g. a database composed of Game of Thrones characters and put it into the thesis? I noticed that some people put some fake examples or examples from Greek mythology so I'm wandering if it is legal to put examples from different books.
I agree with Wrzlprmft that, assuming the names are trademarked, mere use of the names as hypothetical entries in a database would not constitute trademark infringement.
And names cannot be copyrighted.  See Circular 33, US Copyright Office, &quot;Works not protected by copyright&quot; which states on p. 3 that &quot;The name of a character&quot; cannot be copyrighted. Online at https://www.copyright.gov/circs/circ33.pdf
But suppose that somehow, somehow the GoT people found your thesis and sued. Your thesis would instantly become internationally known. You can't buy publicity like that. ;-)