Guest Posted March 16, 2009 Share Posted March 16, 2009 Ok, a lot of people have been buzzing around about what you can or cant do with Eclipse in terms of creating a fan game. A fan game is a game created based off another already commercial game. Such as Pokemon, Yu-Gi-Oh, Mario, Kingdom Hearts and etc.This can be done, but if you want to keep your production legal, it is extremely advisable to follow these basic steps. Think of it as a check list, if your game violates any of these, your title is not legal and you may be open to a lawsuit. If you choose not to follow these guidelines, Touch of Death Productions is NOT responsible for any legal actions that may be taken against you. With that said, I do not claim to represent Touch of Death Productions on this claim.**What you cant do:**1\. You can not accept any form of payment in exchange for the services you provide. This includes sales, donations, server fees, add on costs (for special items or etc.). As a role of thumb, there are no loop holes, if your making money, its illegal. The ONLY way you can make money is by using Google AdSense or AdBrite. I would suggest reading their specific license terms for more information.2\. You can not modify a registered trademark. This DOES NOT mean you can not use anything that is trademarked. It just means you CAN NOT modify it in any way. I.E.:> _Original Trademark = Yu-Gi-Oh!â„¢> > Illegal Change = Yu-Gee-Ow?â„¢> > Acceptable Change = Yu-Gi-Oh!â„¢ Online Battle Net_3\. You may not use the company logo or display your own copyright tags. It is best to not use your own company logo or the original company logo as a splash screen. You may say your indie development team made the fan game, but using logo's is a shaky topic. You may also not put:> _(C) Your Company Name 2009\. All Rights Reserved. = WRONG_Unless you are specifically specifying the web site design. In this case you should put:> _(C) Your Company Name 2009\. Some Rights Reserved. All media and conceptual design (C) Original Authors Name 2009\. = CORRECT_Or something to that extent. Other than that, its best to leave it as a fan game and not a commercial release. Even if you have violated these other terms, you have a better chance if your not going commercial with it.**Things to watch out for:**Although you have followed all of my rules here and you only have a few people on your game, you can STILL be shut down. This guide will only keep you legal, not free to run forever. So you may be wondering, if I can be shutdown, then how am I legal?Well, I will break it down like this. A company still owns the Copyrights and Trademarks to the software and intellectual property. If the company feels that your fan game is crippling their publicity or diverting members from their software to yours, they have the right to send a Cease and Desist.Number one rule when creating a fan game: Your never to small to be shut down by a company! You can have 3 members, it does not matter! Also, just because you have been open for months and months, does not mean a company doesn't ALREADY have a case on you. A Cease and Desist can take months to prepare because a Judge from a court of law must approve and issue the Cease and Desist.However, don't be scared, if this happens to you, there is a proper way to handle it. When you receive the Cease and Desist, you will have a specified duration of time to halt ALL operations (not just change) and send back a reply stating that you agree to halt all operations.With all of this being said, I am NOT responsible for you testing the law and pushing this as far as it goes. I would suggest to create your own art and concepts, but this guide will keep you as legal as possible for those who are stubborn or already in the process of creating one.I am going to update this when I get time to call more companies. These are some pretty general rules of thumb based of off US Copyright and Trademark laws and information given to me by the Nintendo Corp.**Additional notes:**_(for those wanting to learn more about US Copyright laws)_"For works published after 1977, the copyright lasts for the life of the author plus 70 years. However, if the work is a work for hire (that is, the work is done in the course of employment or has been specifically commissioned) or is published anonymously or under a pseudonym, the copyright lasts between 95 and 120 years, depending on the date the work is published.All works published in the United States before 1923 are in the public domain. Works published after 1922, but before 1978 are protected for 95 years from the date of publication. If the work was created, but not published, before 1978, the copyright lasts for the life of the author plus 70 years. However, even if the author died over 70 years ago, the copyright in an unpublished work lasts until December 31, 2002\. And if such a work is published before December 31, 2002, the copyright will last until December 31, 2047.""Copyright protects works such as poetry, movies, CD-ROMs, video games, videos, plays, paintings, sheet music, recorded music performances, novels, software code, sculptures, photographs, choreography and architectural designs.""A party may seek to protect his or her copyrights against unauthorized use by filing a civil lawsuit in federal district court."Thank you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hippoman789 Posted March 16, 2009 Share Posted March 16, 2009 Good job. Good thing mines 10000000% custom. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted March 16, 2009 Share Posted March 16, 2009 as custom as my game? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drummerpete Posted March 16, 2009 Share Posted March 16, 2009 Sticky Vote.[Adding a link to this in the FAQ.] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted March 16, 2009 Share Posted March 16, 2009 Sticky vote. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hippoman789 Posted March 16, 2009 Share Posted March 16, 2009 sticky vote me too.and as for you slym. more so. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Admiral Refuge Posted March 16, 2009 Share Posted March 16, 2009 Very nice!@Bob:> Sticky Vote.> [Adding a link to this in the FAQ.]@slym:> Sticky vote.@Hippoman:> sticky vote me too.> > and as for you slym. more so.I stickied it BEFORE all three of you replied lol@slym:> as custom as my game?As custom as my game? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drummerpete Posted March 16, 2009 Share Posted March 16, 2009 Ignore my report then - Didn't see.. My bad. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hippoman789 Posted March 16, 2009 Share Posted March 16, 2009 EVEN MORE CUSTOM! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted March 16, 2009 Share Posted March 16, 2009 Bump: I added a whole section on how to handle a Cease and Desist if you ever get one in the mail. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted March 16, 2009 Share Posted March 16, 2009 @Hippoman:> EVEN MORE CUSTOM!lets take this outside. Lol jk. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted March 16, 2009 Share Posted March 16, 2009 Bump again: I added additional notes on general US Copyright laws straight from the US Copyright office for those who want to cross check my references. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaiden Posted March 17, 2009 Share Posted March 17, 2009 Thank you so much! This is very helpful information! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zade_o Posted March 17, 2009 Share Posted March 17, 2009 Ok, how about this…What about a race?Say you're basing your game off a show but you use none of their graphics, none of their character names, none of their music or anything... but you have a race that's part of their story.Could you then make a profit?And if not... what if you spelled the race differently? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rithy58 Posted March 17, 2009 Share Posted March 17, 2009 I was going to ask the same question as Ghost.And can you add like a couple of Anime or Movies into one game? So like Bleach and Naruto together, is that ok?Sincerely,Rithy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Irhymer Posted March 17, 2009 Share Posted March 17, 2009 @[SB:> Rithy58 link=topic=40644.msg399755#msg399755 date=1237249181]> > And can you add like a couple of Anime or Movies into one game? So like Bleach and Naruto together, is that ok?I need that answer to btw…. :P Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chakkra Posted March 17, 2009 Share Posted March 17, 2009 Just to Clarify, Kingdom heartsâ„¢ Keyblade Destinies **IS** legal?Also, I can't use the big-ass heart that KH is widely known for? Or their Font?^^^ An example is in [SF]Irhymer's Signature. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Techno 5.0 Posted March 17, 2009 Share Posted March 17, 2009 @Ghost:> And if not… what if you spelled the race differently?I think it would all depend on characteristics of that Race and maybe history of it.if the name is different and the statistics are the same then that may not be ok.Sticky Vote! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hippoman789 Posted March 17, 2009 Share Posted March 17, 2009 already is stickied…lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chakkra Posted March 17, 2009 Share Posted March 17, 2009 @[SB:> Chakkra link=topic=40644.msg399761#msg399761 date=1237250309]> Just to Clarify, Kingdom heartsâ„¢ Keyblade Destinies **IS** legal?> > Also, I can't use the big-ass heart that KH is widely known for? Or their Font?> ^^^ An example is in [SF]Irhymer's Signature. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Admiral Refuge Posted March 17, 2009 Share Posted March 17, 2009 Kingdom heartsâ„¢ Keyblade Destinies as a title for the game is legal.Not sure about the heart though Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zade_o Posted March 17, 2009 Share Posted March 17, 2009 @[SF:> Irhymer link=topic=40644.msg399757#msg399757 date=1237249444]> I need that answer to btw…. :PI think that's the least of your worries considering it looks like you're using their graphics. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted March 17, 2009 Share Posted March 17, 2009 As for the races question, depends on the race. I would say go for it, but look into if this particular race is trademarked by the company. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrNova Posted March 17, 2009 Share Posted March 17, 2009 all the above is probably correct, disregarding the fact that tons and tons of fan based games exist that have never had legal troubles, and the fact that this semi-pointless discussion came off of something unrelated to the current discussion.But hey, its your internets to waste. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted March 17, 2009 Share Posted March 17, 2009 DrNova, if its pointless, navigate away from it. I made this not because of a pointless discussion, but because Nickkos thought we should lay down some specifics and I offered to do so.I never said that its likely that you will have legal issues, just this is how to stay legal. Would a company every crack down on you? Most likely not, but it has happened.Its just information that is now available that A LOT of people were confused on. You don't have to read it. :3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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