general Copyright Law and You

[+ Chaosian 617]

Greetings reader,
I'm Chaosian, I'm a professional game developer by day, and a game hobbyist by night.

Overview
This is a tutorial intended to give some (relatively) quick and in intuitive instruction, free of crazy complex legal-ese and forms, on the concept of Copyright Law. This tutorial will cover the fundamentals and basics, that everyone should be aware of whilst making their own RPG Maker game -  as well as a few nuances.

 

A lot of developers, (especially new developers) can easily loose themselves in the miasma that is copyright law, and decide to just say "screw it", and continue developing their game any way they want. After all, they're just a developer, and they can't be bothered with such silly affairs such as federal / international law! For the most part, these people won't actually see any repercussions for doing this (more below: Copyright Law is Perfect and Should Never Change), but for those wishing to be responsible, professional, or would just rather not see a cease and desist (example) in their mailbox - this is the tutorial for you!
 
I will post a disclaimer as many do who give this kind of basic law advice will: that I am by no means a lawyer, and have not studied law, but have merely been educated in the basics of it by teachers, peers, and through my own private investigation. I have also- never been sued! That means I'm totally qualified to talk down to people about copyright law.
 
Also bear in mind that copyright law changes, depending on the country the creation (your game) is being primarily made in. This tutorial will cover the more universal aspects, but expect details to shift between countries.
 
What's the Big Deal with Copyright..?
For the uninitiated, the concept of copyright might seem pretty strange, really broad, and really messy. It might seem that people are legally lashing out at one another seemingly randomly and without any real reason- and that's not too far off.
 
Does anyone remember this scandal that occurred a few years back?
Naughty Dog, the developers of the multi-million dollar AAA title, Last of Us, found themselves in the proverbial dog house because of a completely innocuous map that could be found in the game.
 
Perhaps someone is familiar with the names of fan projects like Chrono Trigger: Crimson Echoes, Fighting is Magic, Streets of Rage Remake, Metal Gear Remake?
These were all projects shut down because corporations threatened lawsuits against the developers.
 
I assume everyone is familiar with the Ninendo Creator Program, or tangentially, the danger of Youtube's copyright strikes?
Or the absolute fallout with the public because of it?
 
It's all because of copyright, and copyright law. If you don't take precautions with your game - you have absolutely no legal defense for these kinds of things happening against you. You deal with the ramifications or you get sued.
Fear-mongered enough yet? Great! On to the meat of the discussion.
 
What is Copyright?
Copyright is the label that is placed on a creative work to signify that the creator has the rights to. Put simpler: it's who owns stuff, and how they say it can be used. It's essentially how someone legally comes up with an idea or piece of art, and legally has the ownership to it.
 
What is Copyrighted?
When just like "copyright" when something is "copyrighted", it is labeled as being the creative work owned by either the creator, or a license holder. It's pretty much as simple as that.
Typically, a lot of the time people who know nothing about copyright law will ask if some piece of art they like "is copyrighted" or not. The answer is pretty much always: yes.
Since the late 1980s, every creative work is owned by it's creators, and they hold the copyright to it. They do not need to write on any kind of paper they own it, nor do they need to display notification for the copyright - by default they own it regardless under intentional law called the "Berne Convention".
 
So what's © then?
"©" or just "the copyright sign" (it really doesn't have a cool name), is a bit of a hold-over in the times since before the 1980s, when it's presence actually meant when something was a registered material or not. It is not required anymore to signify that something is copyrighted under the aforementioned Berne Convention (of the previous section). For the general public it mostly serves as a reminder now that, no, you are more than likely never going to be able to do anything legal with this material. It is relevant in another sense but only to your great grand-children (more below: Public Domain).
 
What is my Copyrighted Material?
For RPG Maker, you own the copyright to your games, probably including the whole shebang of character, story, scenario, plot, map, design, and name. You probably also own the copyright to the project file (I don't know for sure, but it'd be very difficult for anyone to fight your ownership of those).
 
What don't I own?
The RPG Maker Engine for one, some things around your actual .exe file as you signed away in the End User Lisence Agreement - but probably most damning, potentially the assets in the game. Enterbrain has granted you license to distribute RTP materials (you don't actually own the RTP assets at all) when you bought the program. They can also revoke this license from you at any time, but seemingly only if you break the agreement. It's in Japan Law though, so good luck fighting absolutely anything against a Japanese corporation.
 
What can I do with my Copyrighted Material?
Pretty much anything you want. If you create something, you are only limited by the law and materials of the pieces you used to create it.
Would you like to show something you made? Put it on DVDs and distribute it? Sell it? Advertise it? Go ahead and edit it? Remake it? Change the license for it? Burn it and snort the ashes? Sell the rights to it so other people can do these things instead of you? By default, you can do all those things! Legally!
 
And what can I do with other people's Copyrighted Material?
This is where all the real problems come from. By default, there is VERY little you can do with another person's copyright. What may be able to do in some abstract cases is take someone's image, or music, have it on your computer, listen to it alone, and never do anything with it ever.
Oh joy though, if you wanted a list of what you can't do with other people's stuff, then this is the page for you!

• You can't steal their work. That's called theft.
• You can't quote someone's work without attributing it. That's called plagiarism.
• You can't distribute, appropriate, or obtain any part or any amount of someone else's work. With credit, or not. That's called piracy.
• You cannot make derivative works (stories, songs, games, videos) about another person's copyrighted material. That's generally considered theft of intellectual property.
• You cannot take parts of someone else's work and integrate it in your own. Even if those are fictional and intangible such as “charactersâ€. That's also considered theft of intellectual property.
• You can't name your work after someone else's work.

If you do any of this you are infringing copyright and are eligible to be issued a Cease and Desist / be sued (more below: Copyright Law is Perfect and Should Never Change). It's worth noting though that a lot of this can be negated by getting permission first, so it's great to have that, it opens a lot of doors (written word is always a lot more valuable than spoken word).
 
Is it really so bad? I appropriate stuff all the time!
You would, wouldn't you?

But that's the thing, we all do! Web 3.0 is based upon doing it! It is highly likely that the use of your forum avatar is an illegal offense that you could be prosecuted for. It should be noted that the law often has stipulations about the severity of offenses based upon how much of the original work was stolen, what the context was, and what how much harm the end result was. The nice thing about Canada here is that there's quite a lot of stipulation around this, “Purposeâ€, “Characterâ€, “Amountâ€, “Alternativesâ€, “Natureâ€, and “Effectâ€.

In practice these all exist so courts can throw out extremely petty cases. It won't stop you from being sued over your wedding music though, which is surprisingly common.

(More on that all in: Copyright Law is Perfect and Should Never Change.)

 

But-! But-! Fair Use!
Yeah... no. And stop being so defensive, gawd.
I would be quite surprised to hear if 0.1% of the activity RPG Maker is used for what actually constitutes as Fair Use. Let's take a quick peek why, and really take a moment to chew through the text. Fair Use in the United States consists of: commentary, search engines, criticism, parody, news reporting, research, teaching, library archiving and scholarship. Other legal structures such as the Commonwealth's Fair Dealing are quite similar.

So…

• Are you making commentary on the subject? Highly unlikely.
• Are you a search engine? No you are not.
• Are you criticizing the subject? No you are not.
• Are you explicitly making fun of the subject? Highly unlikely. Good luck getting fair use parody laws to work for you in Canada.
• Are you reporting the news? No you are not.
• Are you doing research? No you are not.
• Are you teaching as part of an accredited, federally recognized institution? No you are not.
• Are you creating an archive for a public library? No you are not.
• Are you writing for scholarship? No you are not.

You are not doing anything under fair use.

 

Learning to read copyright, where to look?
So now we understand who, what, when, how, and why copyright is but the question remains: where? As stated above, it's pretty much to be expected now that by default, something is copyrighted – even if it isn't labeled. But, a lot of things still are labeled, and it's up to you to find where those labels are. Here's a few basics to look out for:

• The words “licenseâ€, “licensedâ€.
• The words “EULAâ€, or “User Agreementâ€
• The word “copyrightâ€, or that aforementioned copyright symbol.
• The words “Creative Commonsâ€, “CC†(more below in: Creative Commons)
• Small text.
• Text at the bottom of a page, or in the sidebar.
• Occasionally, text in “About†pages.

Here's some example images of where I found copyright information, and licensing terms.

• Linkin Park's Song “The Catalyst†on Youtube: Labeled with a “Standard Youtube Licenseâ€. This means that “The Catalyst†is a complete no-go for me, as I highly doubt Youtube's standard license is going to give anyone on the street the ability to just use the music (more the recording of the video, actually! More on that in: Additional Concerns / Pitfalls) however they'd like.
• Some RPG Maker sprite work I found on Deviantart: Labeled with “Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial 3.0 Licenseâ€. This is a good sign, and a good license (More on that in: Creative Commons) but it doesn't mean I'm totally out of the woods. I can't sell content that uses these materials, and I might want to consult a lawyer about taking donations for my work – if my only work involves this.
• Newgrounds: ...had an interesting side-box that didn't have any technical licensing terms, but it had a nice and easy to chew set of rules for a good song I found on it.
• YouLicence: I found actual licensing terms, and proper financial compensation for the use of the song awesome song “Standalone†on the You License website.
• The SCP Wiki: A large psudo-creepypasta website, has text at the bottom of it's footer stating that everything in it is part of the Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike 3.0 license, which is honestly pretty brutal to read, but survivable (Again, more on that in: Creative Commons).
• It's not always easy though. I for the life of me cannot figure out where one would begin to look if they wanted to license Frank Sinatra's “Fly Me To The Moonâ€. I suppose it's by a contact / offer only: something for a lawyer to already know about, and be able to perform. I would possibly have the same problem if I actually wanted to license (and pay for) “The Catalystâ€.

Good Alternatives for RPG Maker Developers.
So? Life sucks then 'ya die, right? Well, it's not all doom and gloom. There exist quite a large repository of resources out there for you to exploit legally take from. It's all about where you look!

 

Free for Use / Royalty Free / Stock / Library
What exactly is something when it's “Royalty Freeâ€, or “Stockâ€? In truth, I couldn't properly define it, but as I understand it - when something is “Royalty Freeâ€, it means that you do not have to continually pay money to the license holder for using their music. If I wanted “The Catalyst†to play in my game, I might have to pay $5 for every sale of the game, in addition to $50K in distribution rights. That isn't the case with Royalty Free or Stock Assets / Libraries. It doesn't mean that you own the resources you use, nor does it actually mean that the resources are free, you may have to pay even several hundreds of dollars to obtain them. What it does mean is that you get to keep them once you own them (often times for as many projects as you want). It's very much the fire and forget way of buying things.

 

Creative Commons
Creative Commons is a massive sub-topic in copyright. Essentially, Creative Commons is a foundation that's created a bunch of universal licenses for people to use and refer to, called in turn Creative Commons licenses. Creative Commons could have it's own tutorial, but the gist is: it means other people can do things with someone else's work and it's all around a nice, altruistic, thing. It's especially nice for video games, because a lot of licenses forget that video games exist, and won't specify if you can use that material for video games or not; with Creative Commons you can use the material for just about anything.
Creative Commons has gone through several legal iterations with 3.0 (and 4.0 now I think) being the latest and most commonly used versions. Creative Commons has a few permutations and variants that almost work like plug-ins. They can effect the license from ways that specifying the requirements for use, to the very license your own work has to be under if they use it. Once something enters Creative Commons, it cannot be undone – you are essentially giving up ownership of it.

• Attribution: Means don't be a jerk, and give credit to me if you use my stuff.
• Non-Commercial: Usually means, nobody can sell my stuff. You might be able to sell it with permission.
• No-Derivatives: Means you can have it and use, but you can't change it at all. I'm not sure how far remix goes (is fading in and out the beginning / end to a song considered a remix?), but it's best to err on the side of caution.
• Share-Alike: Is something you can think as a zombie virus of freedom. If something is under the Share-Alike license it's free, but any material that uses it, or parts of it, also has to be under the same Share-Alike license. Unless you want to completely give up ownership of your game AVOID. The term “Copyleft†often refers to this kind of freedom zombie license.
• 0: Or Zero. Is the Creative Commons way of saying “public domainâ€. Anyone can do anything with work under Creative Commons 0, though they don't technically own it. There are no restrictions, and credit isn't even needed.

Public Domain / GNU / Open Source
I'll admit, this is the field I know the least about, and that's a shame, because all these similar license types basically mean: go nuts.

Public Domain is the end-all result of all licenses after they expire in a long, long time – it's like the white dwarf star of licenses. When something enters in the Public Domain, it can be used in absolutely any way by anyone. Sherlock Holmes is a great example: anyone anywhere can make a story about Sherlock Holmes – he's part of the zeitgeist, our collective consciousness, nobody owns him. How do you measure Public Domain? Well, things can be placed into the public domain by their creators, or the license can expire after a lot of time has passed since the death of the creator. It's pretty messy to figure out when the actual copyright for something expires, but thanks to those colossal [censored] lobbyists at Disney the rule of thumb for the US is until all the authors die + 70 years. Sinatra Singing Fly Me To The Moon will enter the public domain in roughly 2067. Fantastic, everyone hates you Disney. It could be better / worse though. That 70 is 50 in Canada, and 100 in Mexico.
GNU, “General Public Licenseâ€, mostly commonly used in Wikipedia is a completely foreign entity to me. As I understand it, it's an awesome free reign license just like Public Domain. Software under GNU seems to always be copyleft however (See above: Share-Alike).

Open Source, as my pa says, “is gonna save the worldâ€. Pretty much exclusive to software, Open Source means that the license and ownership is maintained, distributed, and moderated by a singular entity, but, anyone can go in and edit it / mod it / customize it for themselves and publish their own iterations of it. Pretty irrelevant to RPG Maker, but good to know what it is anyways. Maybe some scripts are under Open Source.

 

Additional Concerns / Pitfalls…
So you're all in the clear now, right? You know what you want: Handle's Messiah. It's perfect. There's no country in the world where that's not in the public domain. You go to put that in your game, and BOOM HEADSHOT! Lawsuit right in-between the eyes.
What happened?!

The problem is that while yes, Handle's Messiah is in the public domain across the entirety of the world – the recording of Handle's Messiah you used was not. When obtaining potentially licensed material, you need to be careful of absolutely any and all people who might have been in the process of the work. That is to say:

 

All this is okay. This is not.
This is okay. This is not.

 

Recommendations.
So it's a super-big super-scary super-lawsuit-headshot world out there, right? Is there anywhere that's safe?! Well, the good news is that yes, there is. Here are some of my findings...

Art

• Steam Store: All packages you buy from the steam store are free for your use for as many projects as you want. Just don't redistribute the packages, that'd be that good ol' piracy again.
• Restaff: Each restaff package is free for you to use, but individual assets may have some terms of use, as included inside the package. Mostly it's just attribution (credit), and stipulations about commercial use without prior contact.
• Resource Requests: As part of the terms of agreement when you fill out a resource request for someone, they can have free reign on it. I personally, put all my content under Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 when I help someone out with a resource.
• Distributed Resources: It's often difficult to find any actual terms of use, or licenses for them, but it is the generally accepted that when someone puts a sprite sheet up on the internet for RPG Maker as a resource, they are saying it is free for use, with credit. This would probably classify as a royalty free license. Be very careful not to steal resources though! Especially on the forum here. Many artists are simply looking for feedback. Always ask for permission, if you're unsure.
• Deviantart: Take this with a good grain of salt because a lot of artists, understandably don't want you to use their work without them saying you can. There is however, a modest community of people making art on Deviantart (often under a Creative Commons license) which is free for use. Be sure you aren't stealing anything, and be sure you give credit!
• Clip Art: Kind of an odd-ball, but often Clip Art is placed under the public domain. Take a look, you might be surprised.

Music / Sound

• Kevin MacLeod: Ow, my credibility. Despite being a very, very, tapped well on the Internet, Kevin MacLeod's work is of high quality, and the community he's fostered is an impressive one. All his work is Royalty Free, and individual pieces are also free of charge. It's always nice to donate to such an altruistic soul though, or if not, purchase the entire library.
• Newgrounds: Ahh Newgrounds, my childhood. Newgrounds audio in particular is a massive repository of pretty much exclusively free music. Very friendly for indie developers.
• Freesound.org: Mostly for sound effects, this website is great! Each sound has it's own license it's placed under, but for any aspiring audio engineers, or anyone competent with Audacity, it's an awesome place to find a huge amount of uhh… free sound.
• Free Music Archive: Spanning all genres of music and all shades of Public Domain / Creative Commons – the only downside is that the search isn't all too powerful. Be careful though. Share-Alike plagues a massive amount of the archives.
• You License: If you're a serious developer (probably more serious than anyone who'll ever be reading this), and you're willing to shell out some cash, this looks be a GREAT website to get high quality (mostly indie, or small time) music.
• Vimeo Music Store: My secret weapon that no one else knows about. ._. Vimeo's store is one definitely for the savvy who how copyright works. A lot of the licenses for music require dissection, and don't support games, but they still have a very notable amount of people who contribute work under Creative Commons, especially my favorite of Creative Commons Attribution 3.0. Use it in good faith, my brothers and sisters. [Edit: as of November 2016, the Vimeo Music Store has been taken down. Fuck.]

I Understand Now: Copyright Law is Perfect and Should Never Change.
It wouldn't be a copyright lecture without someone standing up at the end and saying “nahâ€. And that's a perfectly valid response, even after this entire tutorial.

The truth is that copyright law exists to protect corporations, so that their precious IPs that they run into the ground aren't touched upon the filthy, disgusting, plebs. Thank you again Disney. That big list of illegal things near the beginning is a list of things that happen hundreds, if not thousands of times over every minute across the world: the law does not suit the state of the world. That doesn't justify any of these things you probably do on a daily basis, it's still illegal, you can still be fined / go to jail / be sued over any of those things – but it is just a testament to our ever changing social contract. It's pretty much an unspoken rule, known to everyone, even corporations – that's why EA pays big names to do otherwise technically illegal Let's Plays of their games: because the world acts against the law, and it'll continue to thrive while doing so.

Copyright is a rigid and ancient thing, actually pushing 150+ years old now, with the last big revisions occurring about 40 years ago. Copyright use is a fluid and spontaneous thing that happens every second, nearly always undocumented when it happens. If you, as a game developer, feel no obligation to copyright law, or feel you are not a target worth bothering over it, is a perfectly valid, and common occurrence to ignore Copyright law, and make your game using whatever. It's not professional, or responsible, it doesn't exempt from the ramifications, or the fact you could technically be a felon, especially if you're profiting from your work in any way – but, it works out for a lot of people.

 

You survived!
Thank you for reading my tutorial on Copyright. If you learned something through this whole tutorial, that's enough for me – hopefully it got you thinking at least. And even if you didn't, then… maybe that's a good thing too.
If you have additional questions, comments, corrections, or concerns, please PM me, or post them below. Have a good one, folks.

Edited December 5, 2016 by Chaosian

[magic2345 252]

Whoa, that was a good read. I always wondered what it all meant. A question though, a few actually.

 

1. What's the difference between copyright and...patent? Are they the same?

2, When I make a resource, how do I go putting it under say, Creative Commons? Do I need to do something somewhere? Or do I just like...decide that?

[_____ 214]

Fantastic, this is just what I needed! Thanks Chaosian!

Edited January 13, 2016 by Retnuh

[Cookie Ninja 374]

Awsome! I feel abit wiser now^^

[+ Chaosian 617]

Whoa, that was a good read. I always wondered what it all meant. A question though, a few actually.

 

1. What's the difference between copyright and...patent? Are they the same?

2, When I make a resource, how do I go putting it under say, Creative Commons? Do I need to do something somewhere? Or do I just like...decide that?

 

Hey there magic, glad you liked it. Allow me to try and answer your questions:

1. Patents aren't usually the things we talk about in the field of video game (with notable exception!), but as I understand it... Copyright is the mark of ownership for a creative idea, a Patent is the claim of authorship with regards to an invention, usually, the rights to sell it. Patents have to be registered with the government, and have to continually be updated every 20ish years, or else they default. I'm not sure under what legal principle (probably somewhere in the Berne Convention since the 70s-80s revisions), but Copyright doesn't have to be registered anymore. If you read the entire guide you'll know that all Copyright eventually runs out into Public Domain.
2. As I understand it, the license holder may at any time change the license of their work to something in Creative Commons, or Public Domain / an open license. The only note beyond that is that, once there, it can't leave. This declaration probably has to be public, and accompany the product, but for purposes of the court and prosecution, I think your written word is enough to change the license of a creative work.

[magic2345 252]

Well dang, I never knew the idea of a minigame on a loading screen was patented. Wait...is it possible that the whole idea of games (video games specifically) is also patented?

 

Question about the public domain. Once something is in the public domain, everyone, EVERYONE can freely use it right? In any shape or form? Even selling it? Like, literally taking something in the public domain and redistributing it, all while getting money out of it?

 

Another question I have would be....trademarks. Since copyright and trademarks seemingly go together hand in hand.

 

 

Sorry for all the questions and the weird paragraph formatting, and thanks for answering by the way. I feel like I need to watch out for these things.

[+ Chaosian 617]

Well dang, I never knew the idea of a minigame on a loading screen was patented. Wait...is it possible that the whole idea of games (video games specifically) is also patented?

 

Question about the public domain. Once something is in the public domain, everyone, EVERYONE can freely use it right? In any shape or form? Even selling it? Like, literally taking something in the public domain and redistributing it, all while getting money out of it?

 

Another question I have would be....trademarks. Since copyright and trademarks seemingly go together hand in hand.

 

 

Sorry for all the questions and the weird paragraph formatting, and thanks for answering by the way. I feel like I need to watch out for these things.

 

Expect some more interesting loading screens in the upcoming months.

If video games would be patented, they would have probably been made by someone at the US military some time in the late 50s. That didn't happen, and by even 5 years later, it probably would have been too late.

 

Your public domain question is correct.

Absolutely anyone can take H.P. Lovecraft's work, republish it, and get money from it, because it's in the public domain. The credit still goes to the man from Providence himself though, as you might expect. That's why a lot of compilations of his work, or someone like Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's often have more than just the base text in it. It's 100% free online.

 

Trademarks I know less about, but I'll let you know what I know. I think it'd be good to say that they're a bit more self-explanatory than you might think. "Trade mark" the marks, or symbols of a product or brand - a trade. Using that magnificent company which needs to die in a fire, Disney, as an example, they have a lot of trademarked iconography even in one image. They have their logo as a whole, their castle, and their typeface, which are all components of Disney's branding.

If I were to make an original company called Blisney (do not steal), with the castle mirrored, and using an approximation of the same font, I might be sued for violating Disney's trademark - on the grounds that I'd be trying to confuse people into thinking that I'm Disney, or affiliated with them. That said, you can get away with A LOT.

 

Keep trying Sony, you'll get it one day.

 

No problems about questions! This is about learning~

Edited January 14, 2016 by Chaosian

[Tuckie 59]

Whoa, that was a good read. I always wondered what it all meant. A question though, a few actually.

 

1. What's the difference between copyright and...patent? Are they the same?

2, When I make a resource, how do I go putting it under say, Creative Commons? Do I need to do something somewhere? Or do I just like...decide that?

What Chaosian said was true, but to add on to that: releasing a work under creative commons is literally as simple as saying what license it is and including a link to that license's "terms" page. For example, if you wanted to release a resource under a creative commons license on this forum, all you need to do is state it is under creative commons: "This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License" etc. Many websites like Soundcloud include a space for a creative commons license built into the uploading section. If you are interested in making creative commons works, creative commons has a great tool for choosing one that works for you: https://creativecommons.org/choose/

 

On the topic of this post in it's entirety, I'm really glad that you made this. As a huge supporter of open source projects and creative commons, and someone who uses a lot of sampling as my musical style, copyright law is constantly on my mind and one of my favorite topics. The world of copyright law can totally consume a game developer, especially these days when so many independent developers are emerging and new to the whole topic. It's a pretty important pitfall that everyone in this field needs to look out for.

 

If I can reccomend anything to those who are using other people's materials in their game, (creative commons, public domain, etc.) is to take notes on what they use and start taking notes AS SOON AS POSSIBLE. This can be something as simple as keeping a .txt with your game files, and whenever you download something to use, adding in the creator, name, and usage restrictions. It would absolutely suck to go down the road and realize an important character or music you've used hasn't been credited, in which case you aren't allowed to release your game. Think of it in about the same way you think about a bibliography when writing an essay.

[+ Chaosian 617]

Indeed!

It's important to keep track of what your game's resources are. I keep a running .txt for credits, as you mention.

[magic2345 252]

Wait, does that mean I can find national epics for free somewhere on the net?!

 

I can just imagine all the Let's Play youtubers banding together and going against Sony. I've read an article once about how the developer of Candy Crush Saga is trying to trademark the words Candy, Crush, and Saga. And also about an indie developer that got a warning of some kind from Bethesda, since the indie developer named their game Scrolls.

 

Thanks for the creative commons link Tuckie, that will help a lot.

Edited January 14, 2016 by magic2345

[+ Chaosian 617]

Not entirely sure what you mean by national epics... but- possibly!

 

And yeah, Zenimax needs to get their legal departments under control.

 

 

Woooew 700 posts!

Edited January 14, 2016 by Chaosian

[magic2345 252]

I meant something like err....That greek epic Illiad/Illyad or that persian epic Amir Arsalan (which some japanese dude adapted to a novel and then got adapted into an anime and manga by the name of Arslan Senki).

 

Oh, there's also something else besides copyright, patent and trademark, but I'm not really sure if it's relevant to the topic. I've seen a lot of games which are set on the modern world put a disclaimer at the beginning. Something like, "The events and persons depicted in this work is no way connected or based on real life events." or something like that. Is this an effort to reduce the number of lawsuits or something? Could people really sue a company that uses an event in their life story?

 

700 posts?! I MUST CATCH UP!

Edited January 14, 2016 by magic2345

[+ Chaosian 617]

I meant something like err....That greek epic Illiad/Illyad or that persian epic Amir Arsalan (which some japanese dude adapted to a novel and then got adapted into an anime and manga by the name of Arslan Senki).

 

Oh, there's also something else besides copyright, patent and trademark, but I'm not really sure if it's relevant to the topic. I've seen a lot of games which are set on the modern world put a disclaimer at the beginning. Something like, "The events and persons depicted in this work is no way connected or based on real life events." or something like that. Is this an effort to reduce the number of lawsuits or something? Could people really sue a company that uses an event in their life story?

 

700 posts?! I MUST CATCH UP!

 

Yeah, a disclaimer that it's fiction and any parallels are coincidences. Not too sure what that's about myself, I guess it just covers bases in case of a lawsuit. Things like Law and Order it makes plenty of sense, not just because they actually do rip off cases that happen in real life (whoops), but because of nature of plots based around law. Eventually something is going to sound like someone's life story, and if that something paints that someone as a bad guy- it could basically be construed as slander.

 

The weird thing is movie like Avengers put it in their credits.

I guess they wouldn't put that label there without it ever happening before.   < _____________ >

Edited January 14, 2016 by Chaosian

[Saeryen 299]

So...wait, can I even acknowledge other creators who have inspired to make my original work? I want to thank them for my work's existence...plus, if I wanted to write songs for a FANFICTION and not sell the songs, is that legal?

[+ Chaosian 617]

So...wait, can I even acknowledge other creators who have inspired to make my original work? I want to thank them for my work's existence...plus, if I wanted to write songs for a FANFICTION and not sell the songs, is that legal?

 

Not quite where you got that notion. Games mention inspirations all the time, though usually not in their credits. I vividly remember hearing about Dishonored: "Half Life 2" and "Deus Ex" meet "HP Lovecraft"! Yeah.... if only....

It's best to leave that out, or just in a Special Thanks though.

 

The whole area of fan fiction is a legal minefield. Not my expertise by a long shot, but if you're writing music to go in conjunction with the fan fiction it just sounds like original work with a stated purpose. I'm fairly sure there's nothing wrong with that.

[+ Chaosian 617]

The weird thing is movie like Avengers put it in their credits.

I guess they wouldn't put that label there without it ever happening before.   < _____________ >

Well would you look at that...

[magic2345 252]

 

 

The weird thing is movie like Avengers put it in their credits.

I guess they wouldn't put that label there without it ever happening before.   < _____________ >

Well would you look at that...

 

 

 

 

...............................

Well dang, all historical-based games are basically goldmines then. I'm looking at Assassin's Creed, specifically.

Edited January 15, 2016 by magic2345

[Nestat 80]

A very much needed tutorial Chaosian! You've covered simply everything by that. It helps a lot, thank you!

 

P.S. (It must have been a b**ch to search for all the information and write this whole thing down, didn't it?)

[+ Chaosian 617]

A very much needed tutorial Chaosian! You've covered simply everything by that. It helps a lot, thank you!

 

P.S. (It must have been a b**ch to search for all the information and write this whole thing down, didn't it?)

 

Glad you liked it!

It wasn't tooo bad to write. Most of it is from memory... but that didn't stop it from taking like, 6 hours to write. It was 10 pages on a document.

Edited January 15, 2016 by Chaosian

[Antioch 33]

Never usually read the small text in things (I know I probably should though!). This was a very helpful read.

[+ TBWCS 953]

Any experience about adaptation or references from books as well? Does this need to have an IP permission, perhaps?

[magic2345 252]

On that note, what about cameos?

[+ Chaosian 617]

Haha, no experience with anything - but I suspect that copyright law for books works the same as copyright law for movies and games. I seem to recall somewhere that books, poems, etc, can be quoted directly if there is reference or citation to the source but don't - um - quote me on that.

A lot of the real classics are in the public domain now (like my Sherlock Holmes example) and adaptations of those are all perfectly okay, but if it's not in the public domain, your work will have problems. Nosferatu, for example, is not a Dracula film, because the film makers couldn't afford to pay for the rights - Dracula had not entered the public domain at the time. Characters like Harry Potter, or Winston Smith are certainly all copyrighted; if not as their own entities than as part of the works, or franchises they came from.

This would apply to any use of part of a book. Though with characters and cameos you may be able to make a case that a cameo falls under parody in Fair Use, or Fair Dealings. It'd be a stretch, but you'd probably be in the legal right.

Edited January 27, 2016 by Chaosian

[+ TBWCS 953]

Hmm, I see. I think legends and authors that were long been named and dead, I guess, does put their work into fair use. For example, Suikoden is based off Water Margin, a Chinese legend. I am still thinking if publishers who made a game out of Chinese novels also got permission from the authors, since the authors are still alive.

[+ TBWCS 953]

--oops, double post--

Edited January 27, 2016 by Soulpour777