After reading a post on GDnet Lounge I felt inclined to ask this question here. I sent off for some info about intellectual property but it only mentioned things like trademarking song names, odours, shop names etc... and it was going to cost me $150 Australian. I know that copyright is free but it''s not as strong in a court case as TM is it? Does anyone know what I mean, for example, the way Sonic Team has trademarked all their characters or any other related charcters etc...

I don''t know about Australia, but here''s the US laws:

http://www.loc.gov/copyright/circs/circ1.html

E:cb woof!

And if that isn't enough to quench your thrist for knowledge, here's another site:

http://lcweb.loc.gov/copyright/

Edited by - Nomadic Soul on August 17, 2000 10:51:13 PM

In Australia if you pur something on paper it''s copywriten. So pictures, letters, doodles are all automaticly covered. Ideas are not however so put it on paper before you tell people about it.

If you are a company you can register a trademark. It''s no stronger in court but easyer to prove. One way to prove you did something when you claim you did, ie drew a character, is to do it and snail mail it to yourself. (DONT OPEN IT) As long as it''s closed and post marked it''s legal. And can be used in court.

hope this helps :-)

As Mr Cup always says,
''I pretend to work. They pretend to pay me.''

Cheers, I''ll check those links out now...

indeed...

how about 3d models?