Timeline for How "fake" do invented names of a football game have to be in order to avoid copyright infringement?
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
7 events
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| Jul 6, 2016 at 15:45 | comment | added | Nate Diamond | I never claimed there wasn't value in having a connection to an actual team. In fact, I repeatedly said the opposite. The point is that you can have a name that is recognizable to the user so long as that name doesn't intentionally infringe on someone else's copyright or trademark. Whether or not random generation using common names (including ones used by professional players) is potentially a way of creating names which are recognizable (in that they are close to 'real') but still verifiably unique and non-infringing. Recognizable is good. Semi-recognizable and non-infringing may be better. | |
| Jul 6, 2016 at 15:23 | comment | added | Dunk | @NateDiamond - Sorry, I didn't realize you were referring to using a human to create the names versus computer. However, using a computer that doesn't generate a name that is "recognizable" to the actual player does no good. For all I know even if you come up with totally random names, what about the uniform number? Can you use a "real" team's real uniform numbers with random names? In a society concerned with innovation and creativity then none of this would be necessary. Trademarks and Patents are sold as inspiring those traits but in reality only suppress them. | |
| Jul 6, 2016 at 11:58 | comment | added | DaniPaniz | @Dunk you got my point. These are two different strategies. You can either create a game with only fake names (as lots of developers did in the past) to avoid any problem as well as any identification between real players and fictitious players in the game, or try to let people identify the players in the game with real entities. This last option, as you say, allows people to have the same "feelings" and "thoughts" about the players they play with with respect to the real ones, and that's something you would love to achieve in your game. | |
| Jul 5, 2016 at 22:07 | comment | added | Nate Diamond | Note that I didn't ask why use human names, but why should the creator of names be human? I know why we use human names just as I know why the NFL and players tightly control ownership over their names. There is plenty of value in them. OP's question was "How, as a potential 'name creator' can I create names that are sufficiently different from real names, yet are still real-ish?" Otherwise, OP would just use orc or elvish names or something like that. My answer was that if random generation makes a 'realistic' name that 'hits', then there is possibly less liability for copyright violation. | |
| Jul 5, 2016 at 21:06 | comment | added | Dunk | The "Why" is because people prefer to play games based on "real-life" people where the "real-life" person is identifiable. This is particularly true in sports games. If I'm going to play a sports game, I'd like to be able to identify with the characters. In that regard, I wouldn't be too thrilled playing a basketball game where my team had the name "Pawnsville Rocks" and they had a great power forward named John Jones. OTOH, It becomes very different if the team were called the "Cleveman Rocks" and that same player were called "LeBrian Jones". While not real-life names, I know who. | |
| Jul 5, 2016 at 16:17 | review | First posts | |||
| Jul 5, 2016 at 16:19 | |||||
| Jul 5, 2016 at 16:16 | history | answered | Nate Diamond | CC BY-SA 3.0 |