Hi guys, Im thinking of making a game in the future. I'd like to create a world-wide company. Would I need to register my company name in every country seperately or is there an easier way. Also, would I have to pay for registration? I'll not actually be releasing a game any year soon but would like to secure my company name just in case someone else takes in in the mean time. Also, say my character had a name that was an everyday word, could you patent or copyright the word just for characters so no1 else could name their character that? & How much would a global patent/copyright be? Thanks for any help!

Quote: Original post by Cacks
I'd like to create a world-wide company.

There is no such thing. Giant multi-national companies just set up subsidiary companies in each of countries they trade in. - with one game you aren't even close to needing that sort of set up. Just set up your company in Ireland and trade from there. (I assume you are going to sell it over the net).

Quote: I'll not actually be releasing a game any year soon but would like to secure my company name just in case someone else takes in in the mean time.

If you are talking shareware games then you are getting way ahead of yourself. Registering a company costs a few hundred pounds and once set up you have to keep submiting accounts (with means paying an accountant). That isn't an awful lot of money but it is probably more money than you will actually make from your first and second games put together. Most shareware developers just start out freelance and then register a company once they actually start making money.

Quote: Also, say my character had a name that was an everyday word, could you patent or copyright the word just for characters so no1 else could name their character that? & How much would a global patent/copyright be?

You can't patent words. However your character's name would likely be coverted by copyright and, if you used it to market your game, as a trademark. The laws on copyright and trademarks vary from country to country but generally you don't have to pay for either. This is certainly the case in the UK and in the US - however, you can pay to register copyright in the US, in which case you gain extra protection that you wouldn't get otherwise. Ditto for Trademarks. A registered trademark offers extra protection over a non-registered one - but costs money.

All of the above is irrelevant unless you actually have enough money to pay a lawyer to take someone to court if they infringe your marks.

Make the game. If it is successful then you will have enough money to worry about registering stuff. IN the mean time standard (unregistered) copyright and trademarks will suffice.

P.S. If anyone posts telling you to mail a copy of your code to yourself in an envelop as a "poor man's copyright" they are an idiot and talking rubbish.

Hey thanks for the info!

Wondering about web addresses too. How would I go about buying a web address? How much would they cost?

Google for "Register a domain"

Cacks, the (Irish) government's BASIS site has a lot of useful info on the topic in general: http://www.basis.ie/.

You can find various interesting bits of info on the Irish games industry, (such as it is), here: http://www.gamedevelopers.ie/home/. In particular, I'd take a glance over that post-mortem on Pooka Games.

If you're looking for domain names with an Irish company, I've done business with Register365 in the past, found them to be a good bunch.

Thanks for the replies guys!

I checked out registering. I could register the name for 10 years so it would be available when I have finally something to release. I don't suppose a person could actually buy an address instead of having to re-register every so often?