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Philipp
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While it is theoretically possible to end up with such an agreement (they sue and you negotiate this as a settlement), you should not bet on it.

  1. You obviously violated their copyright and their trademark. Why would they settle for a 50% split when they can sue for 100%? And there is not much you can do to defend your point, because they have a legal department stuffed with IP rights specialists and you don't (there is no right to a free attorney in a civil lawsuit). You have literally nothing you can offer them. They got you in a corner. A best deal you can realistically hope for is that they offer to buy the game rights from you for one symbolic dollar in exchange for covering your legal fees.

  2. They have to make an example out of you. When they let you get away with that, others will too. When a company doesn't defend their trademark, they risk losing it. That's why most companies have a zero tolerance policy when it comes to trademark violations.

  3. You just assume your game will be a huge success. But you can not bet on that. Most indie games thrown into the play store barely break even. When you don't have a million dollar budget and a team of experienced industry veterans at hand, it is extremely unlikely that you will live up to the standards of quality and success the DC Comics executives expect from one of their most valuable brands.

And all of that is not just theoretical. The list of fan projects smashed by the legal hammer is endless. Most projects which look slightly more ambitious than "school kid discovered Game Maker" don't even make it to release.

When you want to create a game based on someone's intellectual property, negotiate and sign a license deal before you start sinking serious work and money into the project. That's likely what happened in the Abe's Oddysee remake and what usually happens with any other game based on a license.

Philipp
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  • 342