what if it's an old anime like the dragon ballz or an old film do i have 2 take authorize even if the one who originally made the idea died or not found ? or it doesn't matter if the one who made the idea died i must then take the authorize from the company who remade this idea once more ? thanks

Hi,

Not that long ago there was a mod made for quake 3 arena called bid for power. It was initially a dragonballz mod and was pretty well made. However it was given the order to cease a desist by, I think, funimation. The mod was then remade using original characters and sound fx (although they still looked pretty similar to dbz characters).

So to cut a long story short ...companies don't like you using their intellectual property and if they find you using it ...they'll want you to stop.

Regards,
ViLiO

Dragon Ball Z isn't that old, and is still being released on DVD in the United States by Funimation. And they do protect their copyright.

In order for something to enter the public domain, you have to wait about a hundred years, which pretty much predates film. Anything else and you're in danger.

Copyright lasts for the life-time of the author/creator + another 75 years (in some cases longer) so the chances are that it is protected by copyright and you will need to ask permission (and most likely pay) to use the rights.

so i can do it just askin for the permission n' pay if that's what's needed
it's not so difficult but this is the only way taking permission n' paying n' wait for the answer ?

Quote: Original post by SiCrane
In order for something to enter the public domain, you have to wait about a hundred years, which pretty much predates film. Anything else and you're in danger.

I think the rule of thumb is if it was made later than Mickey Mouse, then it's probably not in the public domain.

Since I think what we now regard as typical manga was created after WWII, that means pretty much all of that is still pretected. And as SiCrane has written, DBZ is relatively young. You can make something that feels a bit like DBZ (similar art style and plot), but can't contain any of the characters or trademarks of the actual manga.

if the anime transleted into a different langauge like the main original charachter in the anime is called mike and changed into my language muller can i make then the game with the same name muller ?

Quote: Original post by tiba
if the anime transleted into a different langauge like the main original charachter in the anime is called mike and changed into my language muller can i make then the game with the same name muller ?

No, the changes have to be more substantial than that. It is okay if your game is "in the style of Dragon Ball Z", but it can't contain any actual elements. For example, "Dragon Balls" are out, as is any character that is obviously the same as any of the characters from the original.

Quote: Original post by tiba
if the anime transleted into a different langauge like the main original charachter in the anime is called mike and changed into my language muller can i make then the game with the same name muller ?

Why the heck are you even bothering with this direction? If it's similar enough to Dragonball Z to be a Dragonball Z game, it'll run afoul of the Dragonball Z copyright. Why not come up with your own ideas, rather than taking the ideas of others?

i was just giving an example