@iceware: We commonly see posts along the lines of "How close can I make my game to someone else's IP without it being a risk?". Since we're not lawyers with full information, the only safe answer is "Not close at all." Usually these posters are wanting confirmation that their game will be safe, and there's no way you can say for sure. All we can give is our rough estimate of the risks they are taking in each case.

Bear in mind I'm not a lawyer, so this is just my take given the info I know about IP law.

The OP is using two different IPs, Alien vs Predator and Quake - or that might be three if Alien and Predator are separate. You've got issues of copyright and trademark here. The trademark with the name is a really big warning sign to me. If you were to take any FPS gamer and ask them what they thought the game "Alien vs. Quake" was, there's an extremely good chance they'd link it to Alien vs. Predator and Quake. That looks like a clear trademark issue. Note that trademarks are something that the IP holders must protect or risk losing due to dilution.

It's fine to take the concepts from both games and combine them. You could call the name something completely unrelated like "Dreadship", and have it about a squad of marines armed with rocket launchers going against some freaky extra terrestial with thousands of teeth in a claustraphobic crippled spaceship - as long as you don't copy the models from the original IP, of course. But if you were to make "Alien vs. Quake", very clearly taking the characters and settings from the originals, you're almost bound to expect a cease and desist letter once one of the IP holders finds out.

@TrapperZoid: Yes, I understand your points, and agree with them all. I did not expect to find myself attacked by so many people for providing my opinions, my first hand experiences, and some suggestions that might help the original poster (and others who read threads later). Everything you say is totally reasonable. Further, I fault nobody for giving only information they have, even if that information is limited (or even heresay, if they believe they are being helpful).

It may be that my first reply (after many one-sided opinions) contained fewer "qualifiers" than it should have, and some posters drew unwarrented inferences about my intent or more exhaustive opinions. But these folks did not inquire, they simply attacked. I guess we can tell what kind of games they enjoy playing! :-)

You are correct that IP holders have every right to defend their IP. A reasonable person could also make a case for [politely but] firmly informing people when they DO legitimately infringe their IP (even if their case is honestly arguable). But apparently, many people in this forum believe bullies are 100% justified to lie/cheat/defraud/indimidate/misrepresent for any purpose, no matter how illegitimate. And amazingly, they seem to believe every victim of their vitriol who fails to run and hide in a closet - is evil! Yikes, how backwards, sez me.

Your post is the first that tries to propose a thoughtful alternative that might satisfy the original poster, and might lead to a useful discussion - if others we interested in helping, not playing games in this forum. That's where I had hoped this would go after my first post.

Thanks for a wise and thoughtful post.

Quote: Original post by iceware

Quote: Original post by stimarcoIntellectual property laws REQUIRE that you ACTIVELY PROTECT any IP you claim to own. If you see someone using your trade name and using your reputation to improve sales of their own product, you are legally OBLIGED to sue their arses.

You pay no attention, or pretend to. I referred endlessly about *utterly*, *massively* invalid *claims* of IP ownership, not legitimate ones.

And you missed my point, to the effect that your OPINION on an IP's validity is of no relevance whatsofuckingever. None!

Anyone can claim ANYTHING as their Intellectual Property! That's the way the system works, and has done for decades. The ONLY way to prove or disprove an IP claim's validity is in a civil court of law. If you aren't willing to put your money where your mouth is, you have no case, no point and no leg to stand on.

If you disagree with someone's claim of IP ownership, it is up to YOU to PROVE that they are wrong. The law is reactive in such cases. Someone has to press the button to fire up the legal machinery because it won't get fired up by the government on your behalf. There is no "IP Police".

If you aren't willing to get the ball rolling yourself, or change the way the law works in this area, your unsupported opinion is just piss and wind.

"Innocent until proven guilty": It works both ways; deal with it.

iceware, so if I make a AvP game and get sued for it can I sue you since you said it was alright? And exactly what are your qualifications for giving such advice? I really hope you are a lawyer or judge. Because if not then you are just pulling all of this out of your ass and I can happily ignore your walls of text. You don't happen to know a guy named Pirate_Lord do you?

Quote: Original post by Codeka
And on the topic of Hobbits, the word Hobbit is generally taken to be an invention of Tolkien. Though the topic is up for debate, it's certainly not the "ancient word" in common use as you seem to suggest - certainly the owner's of Tolkien's estate have a trademark on the word.

Sorry for the late reply, didn't read this topic again before now.

Wikipedia is not always the one and only infallible source of truth. The "Denham Tracts" name, among many other fantasy creatures, the "Hobbit".
The Denham Tracts were based on ancient folklore research done by Denham in the 1840/50s (40 years before Tolkien was born) which were reprinted in 1892 and 1895 (at the time of Tolkien's birth, and 3rd anniversary, respectively).

It is therefore rather obvious that Tolkien (contrary to his claim and to what's on Wikipedia) did not invent the word. People who are familiar with the "Edda", the "Ring of the Nibelungs", or "Beowulf" might add that there are a few other things he didn't invent, but that might be a bit too off-topic.
Despite all, it's still a cool story. :-)

Despite the obvious, he was able to register a trademark on it, and the Tokien consortium held a successful lawsuit against TSR for using "hobbit" as character class in D&D (and it is yet to be seen what becomes of the "Hobbit" movie).

And here, we're back on topic: what I'm saying is that copyright issues can get you successfully sued for things that are outright ridiculous. The other example (Warner/DreamWorks vs. The Clonus Horror) is even more compelling. They only made a movie that had a vaguely similar story, not more.

So, if you're so rich that jotting a few hundred grands for lawyers and a few million for compensations doesn't bother you at all, that's cool. However, if you're like most people who own a car and a house and who would hate to lose these, one had better be careful with borrowing titles and ideas like "Alien vs Quake meets Predator" or "Super Mario and the Simpsons vs. King Kong", or "Super Tetris". It's almost guaranteed to take a bad end.