Theoretically (well, legally), yes. Then again, the same is true for the current AoW maps and in 10+ years there were no complaints.
Yes, that's certainly very true. Some thoughts:
1. Age of Wonders hasn't been active for a while.
2. The Civ franchise is under active continued development, and it's quite profitable.
3. Perhaps due to this, Civ's owners are reportedly more litigous. The game "
Evony" had a different name previously ("Civony"), until (it is believed) Take-Two's laywers forced them to change it.
4. In my opinion, it's best not to roll the dice and gamble on staying below Take-Two's radar, when there are legal options available that look just as good (if not better -- some of the terrain art is better in my opinion).