I just had a publisher drop a game of mine because they were worried about being sued. Im not going into details about the game or the publisher for obvious reasons, but this game must be 100 times more original (compared to the named game) than Unreal tournament is compared to quake... This kinda thing drives me mental, as its all down to the arrogance of big stupid American publishers who think that having good lawyers is more important than having good coders. I dont blame the publisher that dropped me as they are rightly worried, but i DO blame all the smart-assed whizzkid american lawyers who enjoy stifling competition this way. You Americans really need to sort out this travesty of a legal system you have over there, because far from being a country that promotes competition and entrepreneurs, you are becoming a country full of huge corporations who stamp on anyone they see as a threat. http://www.positech.co.uk

Well, I feel sorry 4 u and it sucks. But no1 can expect anything to be fair unfortunitly.

---
My Site-My Tetris Clone w/Source
Come join us on IRC in #directxdev @ irc.afternet.org

Sometimes it means learning to play the system (having the right contacts, adapting to accepted limits).

Consider yourself lucky if you prepare something without enough reference to what''s out there and it is accepted the way you want it to be.

Consider yourself as having worked very hard if you are aware of what''s out there and, being aware of that, manage to massage your product into something both you and they are happy with.

Best of luck.

Hi there,

Sorry to hear that and can''t say I''ve encountered this particular problem to date personally.

Hope you can work something out.

Best regards,

Adrian Cummings (Proprietor)
Mutation Software
www.mutationsoftware.com
www.dweebs.info

I''m right now in the process of filing a patent on the process of reading words on a monitor.

Soon, my lawyer and I will be rich on the obvious. And thanks to federal judges who are too old, and have probably never even used a computer, a patent like that could go through.

I''m in litigation with God right now over who invented life. I''ll keep ya posted.

I wholeheartedly agree! It seems that either the vast majority of us Americans (and I am one, so I can say this ) either are absolute morons when it comes to devising effective (as opposed to oppressive) legal systems, or are too apathetic to do anything about it. It really could be either. Our legal system is a mess, though. Plain and simple.

People don''t need to have experienced any injustices to sue anymore, and isn''t that a big part of the words "judicial system?"
The two best reasons to sue seem to be:
1) I''m a corporate tyrant, and I don''t want anyone threatening my monopoly! Let''s gain money by legally robbing money from anyone who produces a product similar enough to compete with mine!

2) I''m one of the majority of Americans that are totally lacking in "common sense!" I can''t be expected to know the coffee might burn me if I spill it on myself unless it''s clearly labelled! Why the hell aren''t there any labels on brooms saying "swallowing this broom may prove harmful or fatal?"

Gah...

-Arek the Absolute

I agree, copyright law is a mess. Right now I''m reading a book called "Copyrights and Copywrongs: The Rise of Intellectual Property and How It Threatens Creativity" by Siva Vaidhyanathan. The author discusses 20th century developments in American copyright law and the way these laws inhibit valuable contributions to human culture.

Arek, don''t forget: 3) I didn''t know fast food would make me obese and now I''m a fat moron, so I''m filing a class action lawsuit!

I wish I was making that up...

Cliffski, is there only one publisher out there? What about a European publisher? Those hotshot lawyers are greedy - money speaks louder to them than the law (definitely louder than right and wrong). Move a lot of units in Europe and those lawyers will be diggin for loopholes to publish your game over here. They have no balm for their conscience, but money certainly soothes their pocketbooks...

not too many European publishers about these days, mostly all swallowed up by the big(mostly American) publishers.