Copyrighted material in a freeware game
You can still make a game called Cosmos Fights, starring Leonard Nightcrawler fighting the evil Death Evader.
Quote: Original post by Bovine13Those are trademarks and their use isn't permitted without permission.
Is it illegal to use copyrighted names, (i.e. Star Wars, LOTR, Harry Potter), etc. in a freeware game?
Quote: As in, if I wanted to make a Star Wars game that was free, would that be illegal?Use of the story, character, imagery and sounds would be breach of copyright.
www.obscure.co.uk
(my byline from the Gamedev Collection series, which I co-edited) John Hattan has been working steadily in the casual game-space since the TRS-80 days and professionally since 1990. After seeing his small-format games turned down for what turned out to be Tandy's last PC release, he took them independent, eventually releasing them as several discount game-packs through a couple of publishers. The packs are actually still available on store-shelves, although you'll need a keen eye to find them nowadays. He continues to work in the casual game-space as an independent developer, largely working on games in Flash for his website, The Code Zone (www.thecodezone.com). His current scheme is to distribute his games virally on various web-portals and widget platforms. In addition, John writes weekly product reviews and blogs (over ten years old) for www.gamedev.net from his home office where he lives with his wife and daughter in their home in the woods near Lake Grapevine in Texas.
Quote: Original post by orionx103
Really? I thought use of a trademark that you give due credit for and gain no profit from was perfectly legal. I mean, how many fansites, online role-players (chats, message boards, et cetera), and fanfics would be liable to be sued?
Trademark law gives the trademark owner the exclusive right to use that trademark for the purpose of business or to grant rights to others to use it (terms and conditions apply, your trademark may be at risk if you don't keep up payments on the ... etc etc).
Copyright give the owner the right to control how their creations are used and to grant to others a license to make creative or commercial workls based on the copyright material.
If you use them without the owners permission you deny them those rights and breach copyright/trademark law.
As johnhattan said. Just because others haven't been caught doesn't mean it is allowed. Many fan/hobby projects have been closed down by companies like Fox and Lucasarts.
www.obscure.co.uk
Quote: Original post by orionx103
Really? I thought use of a trademark that you give due credit for and gain no profit from was perfectly legal. I mean, how many fansites, online role-players (chats, message boards, et cetera), and fanfics would be liable to be sued?
