Nice to meet you!
First of all, it is a pleasure to be around and thank you for the available help!
Basically, I am working on a new project and I would like to share some concept arts on my Twitter. The point is I am quite confused as to what I need to do to protect the general game idea, assets, and my company logo from being stolen/used unproperly by other people.
I will definitely make great use of such information!
In general no one is going to steal your game idea, ideas are a dime a dozen honestly. You can put copyright notices in a corner of your assets you post online (images) which should cover you and see what other companies do for their logos, I never worried about it with my previous company as the company name was the logo... But I'm also not a lawyer and I would recommend consulting one.
"Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." --Benjamin Franklin
41 minutes ago, Tom Sloper said:Well, you could start by reading this.
Will do, Thanks for sharing! Loved the quote from Howard Aiken.
39 minutes ago, Mike2343 said:In general no one is going to steal your game idea, ideas are a dime a dozen honestly. You can put copyright notices in a corner of your assets you post online (images) which should cover you and see what other companies do for their logos, I never worried about it with my previous company as the company name was the logo... But I'm also not a lawyer and I would recommend consulting one.
Great to know! I'm asking mainly because I live in Brazil, so I thought it would be harder to find information on how this kind of thing works over here. Luckily, I managed to find two different documents regarding the topic.
In case someone else would make great use of them:
Considering we don't have a "copyright" sign mechanic, looks like we need to always be prepared to prove ownership (with the source code, for example) or when affordable, pay an INPI register. Curiously, INPI registers are priced by the amount of code delivered in a printed paper, and there are offers for smaller developers.
General explanation regarding the protection of games in Brazil: "Ponto V: Propriedade intelectual e jogos"
Thanks for the attention, once again!
Being able to show you were the developer is not the hard part.
You must actually file a lawsuit against the person/group, then convince the judge that the case is worth hearing, and THEN you need to demonstrate ownership, and finally demonstrate damages.
If you can't afford the other steps then being able to show ownership doesn't matter. This is one reason why there are relatively few copyright lawsuits regarding games. The damage needs to be large before it is worthwhile to fight in courts. When it is large enough for that, the infringer will usually give in to a settlement agreement.
