Hello Anonymous,
Read this: http://www.sloperama.com/advice/faq61.htm

right, i registered now, and read the material. So the answer is no, right? Even if it's new material, if it uses the ip then i can't even distribute it for non-profit?

You can't distribute it without their permission, unless it is some form of parody, or some other use that falls within fair use guidelines. Just making a game as a personal "educational" experience then distributing it would not be covered by fair use. That isn't what is meant by educational use (It means that you could use it or distribute it without permission in a classroom setting, for example).

orph wrote:
>right, i registered now, and read the material. So the answer is no, right? Even if it's new material, if it uses the ip then i can't even distribute it for non-profit?

Are you the guy who was anonymous before, who Posted - 6/18/2006 1:00:59 AM? What material did you read? Which parts of it are unclear? It helps if you quote specific parts and tell us what isn't clear about it. Especially if you're quoting an FAQ I wrote (your request could help me clarify it for the benefit of future readers). It's highly recommended that you buy a good book on intellectual property rights - Nolo.com has a really nice one!

I was the anonymous that posted before your previous post. Thank you for creating such a good reosource for people trying to understand the industry before getting into it. I was asking whether using 2d charachter/weapon sprites based off of a 3d game would be ok as long as nothing else from the ip was used. In any case, I believe that it will be ok as two 2d games have already be made using the same 2d sprite sheet (I'd be using a different sheet, but made by the same guy, coincidentally). But just while we're on the subject, have you ever heard of a non-profit game ever being served anything worse than a cease and desist, or is it possible to get sued before that?

"orph" wrote:

>I was asking whether using 2d charachter/weapon sprites based off of a 3d game would be ok as long as nothing else from the ip was used. In any case, I believe that it will be ok as two 2d games have already be made using the same 2d sprite sheet (I'd be using a different sheet, but made by the same guy, coincidentally).

I don't know what a "sprite sheet" is. But I still insist that it's unwise to make use of anybody's IP. Period. (I guess I failed to convey this idea with my FAQ, sorry!)

>But just while we're on the subject, have you ever heard of a non-profit game ever being served anything worse than a cease and desist, or is it possible to get sued before that?

You should really ask this of a lawyer. He could give you a much better answer than a non-lawyer could.

Reading between the lines, it sounds like you're hell-bent on using the IP of others, and all I can say is that I recommend you don't.

Tom