Hey guys,

Long story short, Im an independent developer and i haven't had this issue with my last game. A composer who has much experience in the films industry and none in the games industry insists that i license the current game I'm developing.

Any thoughts?

Thanks!

What do you mean, "license my game"? License to whom or from whom, to do what?

It is implicit that everything you are the author of, you are also the exclusive license owner of.

You need to rather license onto yourself things you are not the author of, what would rather be the creations of your music/sound composer for example.

The authorships and licenses/exclusive licenses attributions, are also the topics to solve in front of all potential law suings. You need to document, that if you contracted someone, that he has been understood with license/exclusive license attribution onto you for the particular creation for the compensation delt.

So carefully license things you incorporate to your game that has been crated by someone else, there are cases of hobby/indie teams unable to release a game becouse some ex-workers left the team and does not alllow for usage of their work anymore.

Clarification is needed. Your composer tells you to license your game, and you didn't do that with your previous one.

That means that you made a game and...

• didn't show it to anyone? That is, you did not publish/distribute it?
• gave it away for free, and didn't make mention of a license?
• sold it, but didn't specify a license?
• something different?

Or, the composer wants you to buy a license for the music he made for you?

These are all very different things. Some are more harmless, some are mostly harmless, and some are outright troublesome.

For example, simply not distributing your game is harmless, it's just a shame you made it and nobody gets to see it.

Distributing a game for free without a license is "mostly" harmless. For the most part, no evil things will happen except you don't get any money (which you didn't ask for anyway) and people can do just what they want with your software (they can, and will, do what they want anyway, so who cares!). Be however aware that it is still possible to ask for damages (for moronic reasons such as fitness for an implied use, and for other more valid reasons) in some countries with cowboy laws, even if you gave it away for free. Which means in the most extreme, most perverse possible case, someone might infringe you for causing that meltdown in the city's nuclear powerplant because everybody was busy playing your pong game instead of responding to blinking red lights. Or a car driver might blame an accident on you because he was too busy looking at his phone with your game on it.

Now, selling a game without a license (or rather, selling the game) is another thing. This is very bad. You do not normally sell software, never, not ever (well, except when a big $$$ company buys it from you). Instead, you sell a license, which is a limited (usually non-exclusive) right to use that software. Use, not own.

This is usually explicitly stated in the lengthy lawyerese of the license agreement, and often part of the "by doing XYZ you agree..." clause on the sticker on the shrinkwrap (or above the download link), too.

If you don't do that, someone might argue that they bought the software (that is, all rights to it) instead. Which, although every sane person would agree that this is nonsensical, is technically true. Now, in states with cowboy laws, this would allow someone to successfully draw you to court (and win the lawsuit) because you later sold the game (which you no longer owned) to someone else.

What do you mean, "license my game"? License to whom or from whom, to do what?

Clarification is needed. Your composer tells you to license your game, and you didn't do that with your previous one.

That means that you made a game and...

• didn't show it to anyone? That is, you did not publish/distribute it?
• gave it away for free, and didn't make mention of a license?
• sold it, but didn't specify a license?
• something different?

Apologies for being vague guys, this is something i wasn't taught about or knew a lot about, i'd appreciate if you could be patient with me.

The last game was 'Only If' that i gave away for free on Steam, it is decently popular and used a few contents from (ex: famous animes & popular pop songs without permission) I had no financial gain from it & after many millions of views, there was no harm done. (it was unethical but http://bit.ly/1uWoVoN)

@Tom Sloper, Thats exactly what i thought, at max i'd license my game just to keep the title/product from being manipulated, i can't seem to understand any further just yet.

My emails aren't fully professional yet and i worry i seemed 'needy for the track'. So from him asking about the licensing of the game like that i assume he may attempt to ask about making profit out of monetization. Im not entirely sure Phil Fish handled it correctly.

Initially, I was curious if there were fundamental requirements i didn't know about when distributing my game, and the email worried me.

Thanks for the responses by far guys.

Thats exactly what i thought, at max i'd license my game just to keep the title/product from being manipulated, i can't seem to understand any further just yet.

My emails aren't fully professional yet and i worry i seemed 'needy for the track'. So from him asking about the licensing of the game like that i assume he may attempt to ask about making profit out of monetization.

You're using the wrong word - "license" is not what you mean. Licenses don't prevent things*, they do the opposite: They give permission to do things. Your Driver's License gives you permission to drive a car. A Liquor License gives you permission to sell alcohol. A Gun License gives you permission to own and carry a gun in public.

*I'm simplifying the explanation here. License agreements can prevent things, but mostly through threat of removal of the permission granted.

Without using legal terms, and speaking only plain english, what is it you are wanting to do? What is it you are wanting to prevent other people from doing? Be specific please, using english only.

The last game was 'Only If' that i gave away for free on Steam, it is decently popular and used a few contents from (ex: famous animes & popular pop songs without permission) I had no financial gain from it & after many millions of views, there was no harm done.

Just because you made zero profit doesn't mean other companies suffered zero loss.

At an extreme example, if the band U2 was about to release a major new album, and I copied the album and manufactured a disc and mailed it for free to everyone in the United States, they would suffer a major loss in sales even though I didn't gain any money.

As another example, if U2 released a popular song, and I took that song and attached it to philosophy, politics, morals, or any content the song author disapproves of, people may associate that song with what it was attached to (without U2 even knowing I attached it to anything), which is almost the same as if I said, "Murdering babies is great! - U2 and Bono approve of this message" and posted it on public billboards.

There was no financial gain for you, but there could very well be harm done to others - it's just incredibly hard to detect and measure. Also, you did benefit from using their property - you gained pats on the back, good feelings, pleasure at releasing a product, popularity and recognition from 'many millions of views', etc... So even though you had no "financial gain", you still had non-financial gain. And that non-financial gain may even turn into financial gain when you release your next product, based off of any recognition from the first product ("From the makers of 'Only If' comes a new game!").

In law, whether or not I made direct, immediate, financial benefit isn't the only thing that matters. And whether or not I think no harm was done, in my opinion, by my definition of harm, matters even less.

I'm not saying this to browbeat you or make you feel bad, but because you said it was "unethical", in such a casual way, that I thought you might want to understand why it's a problem legally. It's not merely in the legal system just for fun, it actually has some semblance of sense behind it.

A composer who has much experience in the films industry and none in the games industry insists that i license the current game I'm developing.

it is decently popular and used a few contents from (ex: famous animes & popular pop songs without permission)

Based on these, looks like he's using unlicensed music.

Don't do that.

If all you got was some warnings and told not to do it again, consider yourself lucky.

I had no financial gain from it & after many millions of views, there was no harm done.

Ahh, the Robin Hood defense. I stole from the rich and gave it to the people without profiting myself, so everything is good.

That defense doesn't work. You'll still be found liable if they push back legally. If your actions cause damages you can be liable for those damages.

If the can document their sales dropped by $1M/month because of your unlicensed use of their product, the courts can demand you repay those damages. If you don't have that kind of money, expect to have assets seized, wages garnished, and your credit ruined. Debts for restitution and willful/malicious injury generally cannot be discharged through bankruptcy, so you'll be facing those debts for as long as the law allows.

A composer [...] insists that i license the current game I'm developing.

The composer is correct. Either license the music or don't use it. Don't use other people's property without permission.

Consequences can be severe, including both civil penalties (money) and criminal penalties (jail time).

I'm not saying this to browbeat you or make you feel bad, but because you said it was "unethical", in such a casual way, that I thought you might want to understand why it's a problem legally. It's not merely in the legal system just for fun, it actually has some semblance of sense behind it.

Not at all, I've a habit of speaking light heartedly most of the time.

Appreciate the feedback, learnt something of good value today.

Ahh, the Robin Hood defense. I stole from the rich and gave it to the people without profiting myself, so everything is good.

Apologies if i may have conveyed my words the wrong way, It merely confused me earlier when the composer vaguely asked for me to license my game for a reason i couldn't understand.

Thanks for the feedback frob.

The main confusion here comes from that you use "licence" incorrectly.

What your composer asks you to do is not to "license your game" (well he might, but then he too isn't using the word correctly), but he ask you to "licence the music (for your game)"

Licensing immaterial goods like music and software means getting permission to use it.