Hi to all. I have a question. Let''s say that you are at your local Barnes and Nobles, and there is a book that interest you. You take the book and read it(or you buy it and read it at home, whatever). The story is so good that you think, "WOW!! this is a great story for a good(rpg, strategy, platform etc. etc) game. Now you try to contact the writer and try to talk a deal with him, and after some missives and E-mail he tell you that, "Due to copyright issues, I can''t grant you a license to implement your game". Now you think "what if I just don''t use his characters and copyright stuff, but base my game in the storyline, and change some stuff from the storyline, and add more stuff to that". Now, that actually happened to me. If I go ahead and do that(change charaters and alter the storyline) could this be an infringment of copyrights law?? P.S. Please forgive my english, is not my first language and in top of that I''m Dyslexic too. _José

I am not an expert but I am pretty sure you can do so if the material in your game doesn''t contain exact lines or any straight copying from the storyline of that book.

There is also the issue of Trademark. Using anything from Star Wars, for example, will get you a very nasty letter from LucasArts'' lawyers.

I would be very careful about this. Using a setting that is recognizable as someone else''s Intellectual Property without their permission is just asking for a law suit.

If you just use the story concept and avoid the names, likenesses, places and strictly avoid using any direct lines - then yes, you can swipe it for your use.

Put it this way, will the author look at your work and think "He copied my stuff without my permission"? If the answer is yes, then you are probably over the line.

Thank you all!! As AP said, I think the author most likely will know, it''s a very unique and twisted story. I do think he''ll recognized. On the other hand, If I just use it for it''s idea value, meaning just the idea of the storyline(not the storyline per-se), it''ll be all right.

_José

The Lord of the Rings author is dead, so use his story.

[edited by - raydog on March 31, 2004 11:03:41 PM]

Plot lines alone are not, typically, copyrightable. Just because an author feels that some element was "stolen" does NOT mean that you''re infringing.

The best advice on the law, of course, should be had from a lawyer, not a game development discussion board, as I''m sure none of us are licensed to practice law or give legal advice (so don''t take this post as such).

If you end up being sued because of something like this, there is good chance that you will lose because he can prove that you had contact with him prior to making the game.

In the end though, its not a matter of if you can do what you ask, its can you afford to be sued?

quote: Original post by raydog
The Lord of the Rings author is dead, so use his story.

[edited by - raydog on March 31, 2004 11:03:41 PM]

Copyright doesn''t end when an author dies.



Dan Marchant
Obscure Productions (www.obscure.co.uk)
Game Development & Design consultant