Hot answers tagged legal
45
I am not a lawyer and this is not legal advice. These are things I've heard many times over and have no reason to doubt.
Game mechanics cannot be copyrighted or protected in any fashion.
I could make a game called "Crystallized" that was Bejeweled, in every imaginable way, and as long as I didn't copy the art from Bejeweled (either directly, or by drawing ...
40
It is often said that game ideas are a dime a dozen, but that's not true -- they're probably cheaper than that. An idea alone is essentially worthless, what matters is that you have the skill or capability to flesh that idea out into a design, and then execute that design.
Professional game developers do not trawl the internet looking for ideas to "steal" ...
34
Yes, you can.
See this StackOverflow answer: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/3969484/can-i-produce-a-commercial-application-using-visual-studio-express-2010
There was an FAQ for the 2008 edition with a line that explicitly said that yes, you can. It's hard to dig up anything conclusive for 2010, but Microsoft actively goes around encouraging developers ...
33
There is no way to write software to avoid infringing patents, period, in the US right now. There are steps you can take to mitigate the problem.
Get a relationship with a lawyer. They don't have to be on your staff. They don't even have to be on retainer. But scout some out ahead of time and know who you can trust if you do get an infringement notice.
...
30
Lawyer here for a change.
You can copy all of gameplay without any issues at all. That is not copyrightable or enforceable. The things that matter are assets - art, sound, music, video, etc.
For example if you take ZX game and clone it with your own assets you will be perfectly fine doing that. But if you take some asset and use it in different kind of game ...
25
No.
In most cases... also, I am not a lawyer, find one they help.
Arrangements of, and recordings of, specific performances of classical music are both copyrighted separately. This means that even if a piece in its original form is in the public domain, the piece itself is still someone's active intellectual property.
So, when can you use classical music?
...
21
Hire an attorney.
There is no substitute to having some actual legal advice, especially in an instance like this. No one here can give you the advice you need.
Business folks who are after a contract over "IP" are usually looking for a way to screw you over. You need an attorney to help you avoid losing your rights.
21
I assume that you're based in the U.S.
I'm not a lawyer, and I imagine that these kinds of things vary from state to state, but here's what I know. Common sense dictates that you should verify all of this, however.
First, you can always be sued. A civil suit can be levied for any claim of damages exceeding $20. This is a constitutional provision, so it ...
21
Legally I would be prepared for "change this name" notices and make it very easy to change that name; no matter how much in the right you think you are, it's just a nice thing to do.
Create and maintain a dictionary of names to avoid, no matter how legal it is anyone who sees "George Bush" in your game will immediately lose their sense of immersion.
...
18
Check out this answer here. The simple answer is: Yes.
The networking stuff that uses "Games for Windows Live" does not work on Windows without Microsoft's blessing. But you can always just use the plain ol' networking stuff in the .NET Framework.
You cannot distribute XNA Game Studio (the Visual Studio bit) - this affects the Content Pipeline APIs for ...
18
Well, let's talk about intellectual property, since that's really where it seems like your focus is right now. Before I continue, though, I just want to briefly mention that you also want to make sure that you understand where you stand with other aspects of the law as well, things like taxes (Do you have to charge some kind of sales taxes? What sort of ...
17
Okay, so here is my understanding of this - coming from developing games and a constant attempt to obtain more knowledge on licensing, copyright, open-source projects, etc.
You are allowed to make a Minecraft clone and open-source it with no repercussions as long as you don't use the title Minecraft, don't use any of Minecraft's source code, and don't use ...
16
Add a disclaimer:
"All characters appearing in this work are fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental."
Use the above to cover yourself. And I'll use the below to cover myself.
I'm not a lawyer and your legal decisions and consequences
are your own.
Of course, since neither of us are lawyers, the ...
16
As made painfully obvious by recent events, 'Europe' is not a unified place in terms of laws or taxation, so giving a definitive answer here would be tricky to say the least. Even EU law is only a guide as each member state implements it differently.
Generally speaking, everything is legal until decided otherwise, so it's not so much "how do I earn money ...
15
Fonts, like all forms of creative expression, are covered by copyright unless their copyright owner explicitly releases them into the public domain. Distributing a font, or derivative works of the font (bitmap images of text rendered using the font, for example) would be a violation of copyright, unless you have a license to do so.
The particular font you ...
15
First, a disclaimer: I'm a lawyer who practices in California, but this post is not intended as legal advice. "Is it legal" questions are inherently not a good idea for the stack exchange format. Different jurisdictions have different laws, and in many jurisdictions, offering legal advice absent a license constitutes unauthorized practice of law (i.e., ...
15
Don't steal assets or code. For the technologies you are using, make sure you're complying with their terms. Avoid emulating other games. Use an original name and logo. Follow the terms of service on whatever channels you're selling the game through. Incorporate your game company and keep its financial assets separate from your own. Comply with the ...
14
First, I am not a lawyer, this is not legal advice, if you follow my advice and get sued then it's your fault not mine.
That said, you've talked about "copyright issues". I'm going to break this down into two questions:
1) If I get sued for copyright infringement, will I win?
Probably! Game mechanics can't be copyrighted, so you're safe there. If "potion" ...
14
My experience:
2012-11-26 CET: I called DEJUS (+55.61.2025-9115), and I was
connected to someone who spoke fluent English. Things look good:
It is not necessary to be a citizen of Brazil or to have a
company registered in Brazil in order to apply for a rating. In
this case, I was told, one just leaves the field CPF/CNPJ
empty.
I asked if it is OK to ...
13
I am not a lawyer.
You've got two separate sets of games.
Chess, checkers, dominoes, etc. are very old - literally thousands of years. They obviously have no copyrights. You can make a chess game and sell it with no problems.
ZX Spectrum games and Monopoly are copyrighted/patented; that is, the game belongs to someone. You would need to seek out the ...
13
Wikipedia says:
This patent expired in 2005, and it is now legal for the graphics community to use it without royalties since more than 17 years have passed from its issue date (December 1, 1987[2]).
Still it's always a good idea to double-check with your lawyer.
13
First, I am not a lawyer, this is not legal advice, if you follow my advice and get sued and lose your house then it's your fault not mine.
Unfortunately, as simple as that question is, it really needs to be broken down into two questions.
1) If I get sued for copyright infringement, will I win?
Maybe! Assuming those pieces are in fact public domain now, ...
13
First off, this isn't legal advice and I'm not a lawyer.
There are tons of opensource licenses: http://www.opensource.org/licenses/alphabetical, and you have many different licensing options. Here's a super brief run down of popular license options... I may have gotten some details wrong.
GPL doesn't allow your code to be used in a project that is closed ...
13
Do I have to say that I'm not a lawyer? I'm not a lawyer.
In some/most countries, you can use a pseudonym of your choosing called a Trade Name. You just can't use "Incorporated", "Limited" or any other legal label in the name though. This type of business is called a Sole Proprietorship, and I would highly recommend it because it's easy to create (you ...
12
You're asking about more than the name, if you re-made the actual game (rhyme unintended). In the US, copyright has been constantly extended, and is now the author's life + 75 years - so no, the game is still copyrighted.
And the name is covered by trademark, not copyright (which also would not have expired - I don't think it does expire). If your name is ...
12
Neither one is legally acceptable. In short: a person's name and likeness is their own property and they have a right to decide how it's used, and the same goes for a sport team's emblem (but under separate laws).
Using someone's name and likeness without permission
Wikipedia has this to say:
The right of publicity, often called personality rights, is ...
11
I'm speaking on behalf of CheapProFonts. ;)
Obtaining a license for one of our fonts for inclusion in a software is easy and inexpensive: Just let us know that the font you purchase IS for that purpose, and then purchase two licenses for the font.
So for $20 you will be allowed to include the font in your game and distribute as many copies of that game as ...
11
(Disclaimer: I am not a lawyer)
In the United States a font face is not copyrightable (Eltra Corp. v. Ringer, 579 F.2d 294 (4th Cir. 1978)). But font software is copyrightable. A TrueType font (such as one you might download from cheapprofonts.com) contains instructions for how to render that font and is therefore a copyright piece of software.
A bitmap ...
11
Have a read of this. Here are some quotes.
The original copyright holders have full legal justification to order a cease and desist upon fangame projects, as by definition, fangames are unauthorized infringing uses of copyrighted property.
Most companies that don't outwardly promote or challenge fangames have in the past exacted a de facto policy of ...
Only top voted, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible
