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| Copyright stuff again | Locked | |
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| Jul 30 2015 Anchor | ||
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So, I'm about (or try) to make a game, own online multiplayer cardgame. |
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| Jul 30 2015 Anchor | ||
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Depends. Won't harm to copy the genre itself, but you have to be more precise about what you want to take. - UI positions? (positions of buttons, menus, etc) as you can see, those first 3 ones should be never exactly duplicated as it may bring you trouble - if not from the game devs themselves, then from the community accusing you of ripoffs. What you can take is the general idea behind the game, the goal (method) of winning, game modes (those common game modes found in card games at least), and the pace of the game... the rest not so much. Public domain stuff is okay to be inspired by, but special game mechanics and rules are guarded by copyright and sometimes even trademark laws. Edited by: feillyne |
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| Jul 30 2015 Anchor | ||
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The things I want to keep in my game, are basic rules of Tetra Master / Triple Triad from Final Fantasy IX / VIII. The gameplay, using arrows on cards to beat other placed cards etc. Maybe not exactly the same, but you get the idea, right? |
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| Jul 30 2015 Anchor | ||
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Nah, you cannot take their game rules (basic or advanced). You can try to make yours as similar to theirs as possible, but cannot be identical or too close to identical, but that still would be ripping off too much. Hmmm, you can duplicate controls / gameplay to some extent thou. Same with the user interface, UI - you can copy it a little too but not much. Cannot take their rules though. They are not public domain card game types. |
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| Jul 30 2015 Anchor | ||
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Oook... Thanks! |
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| Jul 30 2015 Anchor | ||
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Well, you can still try to find and contact current owners of the game - and ask them for permission to use their rules in your spinoff game. May help to tell them whether your project is commercial or noncommercial (as some noncommercial projects can be granted permission more willingly). |
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Jul 30 2015 Anchor | |
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Little notes: Copyright, Patent and Trademark are different things. If the Author is still the owner, it's important. A re-packaged item may have have been granted a new copyright - e.g. A digitally re-mastered has copyright but not the original. Sometimes a plain engine search will yeild answers - e.g. Pacman copyright INTERNATIONAL While no copyrights are broadly gauranteed Internationally there are two primary international copyright agreements, the Buenos Aires Convention and the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works. SOURCE: Wikipedia EU SOURCE: Wikipedia US An important thing to note in US law is a year - 1978, although the law was passed in 1976. SOURCE: Wikipedia --
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| Jul 30 2015 Anchor | ||
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Yes they are different. Stealing ideas and game mechanics (broadly understood) could still fall under general IP issues, but not that often, especially not things that are too generic or genre-defining. Stealing in-game rules' descriptions, names, stats etc would fall under copyrights. Some of the names within the card setting (the unique trademarked race names, character names etc for example Geralt from the Witcher is trademarked) would be protected by trademark laws. Not to mention that trademarked game name (title) should not be used in a spinoff game title either. To complicate things some trademarks are not registered in every country. Making a fan game too heavily based on the original game is facing all of those issues listed above. And internationally it becomes even more problematic as every court may interpret IP issues differently. Well game mechanics patents are rather rare but as you can see from this Gamespot article they are not non-existent: Gamespot.com Edited by: feillyne |
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