Are games set in a Film/Movie/TV franchise's "universe" Copyright infringement?

News & General Discussion
1

If you base a game on/set in same universe as a Film/Movie/TV franchise is that Copyright infringement?

I understand there’s probably not many lawyers on here but I’m sure others have run into similar issues and have some knowledge and experience on this matter?

For example what makes Love-Craft inspired games different from say Star-wars inspired games?
What are the exceptions?
What is too much inspiration?

Edit: Ignore the the greyed out text, I decided to go with my own IP but will still keep some of the original inspiration witch mostly means changing a few models here and their.
(Little more detail)
Basically I have been working on a game project for a while and it is set in the same universe of a very popular Sci-Fi trilogy of films, its not star-wars btw, and so I was wandering am I breaking Copyright? All the game assets are made by me and though not exact replicas they are interpreted/inspired copy’s nonetheless and do feature in the films,(The assets are only ships, locations and the bad guys which are not human, all of which appear in the film). I of course make no reference to the films story or characters, maybe a location name and terms used in the films but that’s about it?
(For more info on the game its basically a two team multilayer survival similar to left-4-dead or pay-day-2 but with vehicles.)

This is my very first post and I know this isn’t a very good first question to ask because the answer is probably “yes” it is Copyright infringement, but I have looked around and no one seems to have an answerer to Games based on the same universe as another franchise and if there is I’m sorry for posting this I must of missed it. :frowning:

Thanks any help or links is much appreciated :slight_smile:

2

If the game is based in the same universe, then yes you are infringing on copyright, unless you have explicit permission from the owner of said property.

3

im not lawyer

and your post is a bit confusing since you go in circles

but in general the answer to this questions “Are games set in a Film/Movie/TV franchise’s “universe” Copyright infringement?”

is an obvious yes it is

so if that is what you are doing i suggest you cease and desist very quickly

cause you are inviting them suing you and taking you to court

which will end up being very expensive for you

for example you cant make a commercial game in star trek universe. even a non commerical one can get you in trouble.

even if you dont use the name, you cant make uniforms, ships, characters like them

there are exceptions like you maybe able to do a parody

if you want to you will need to approach them and work out a deal and get license / rights to it

but that will most likely be very expensive and they most likely will not be interested

but then you go on to say many things

and if your doing “(For more info on the game its basically a two team multilayer survival similar to left-4-dead or pay-day-2 but with vehicles.)”

sure you can make a zombie game even a zombie survival game, even a multiple player zombie survival game.

but you cant use the same names, title, characters, clothing, vehicles, maps, weapons, props, music, art, ect as some other game or even as in some other movie etc.

you can use your own stuff so long as they look different and sounds and feels and different enough so they cant go after you

you cant take someone elses stuff… or play in someone elses sandbox…

so its like you can have two different cowboy films but not two of the same film or even the same universe. they own the universe. its like marvel comics owns the spiderman franchise and you cant create anything, even a cake that is spiderman without marvel first approving it and taking a cut.

anyways that is my take on it

i suggest you not squat on someones franchise, universe, copyright, and make your own. even then someone can always sue you but doing so will make it a definitive that you will end up losing big on

look at 7 days to die recently getting into legal problem and having their game pulled from steam for using a model that looked somewhat remotely like a model used in tripwires killing floor. it even had different texture and it was slightly different model and animations. but still it was based i guess on it.

so do you want you game to not be pulled and you want to end up owing lawyers bigtime and end up with a big sign over your resume this is what you are known for. who will hire you… they dont want trouble either.

4

Not A Lawyer

Copyright protects the representation of an idea, not the idea itself. So, depending on a) how the assets are made and look and b) if any were derived/copied wholesale, then you may or may not be breaking Copyright law. Without knowing further information, one cannot say.

HOWEVER, you are most certainly infringing upon the Intellectual Property, or IP. IP law protects the idea itself, and is largely independent from Copyright. And, in order to retain ownership of an IP, a company must either prosecute every instance of infringement that they become aware of, or give their explicit permission for such instances that they are aware of to exist. (They can mix-n-match so to speak, i.e. they can prosecute one and bless another, but they must do something.)

It’s very important to keep the two straight.

5

good point

so the reason they be going after him or anyone else is if not copyright its infringing on ip. still i think it wise to avoid getting into a very expensive mess

even when you dont do anything wrong you can easily end up in legal mess that even though you may win can end up being very expensive.

its sort of big fish trying to eat little fish… or at least their lunch :wink:

6

Ah ok thanks :), that’s really cleared a lot up for me :slight_smile:

Its a shame this was only a personal vanity project not meant for commercial release just a bit of fun but I doubt the film studio would give it its blessing, oh well I learned a lot and it was good making it. Guess I just take what I learned and cannibalises what assets I can and make a new game there’s plenty more ideas and games I want to make. Thanks for the replies though just thought I’d give it a chance and see if there were any loop holes.

7

Doesn’t matter if your product is for sale or for free, if you are using IP from someone else’s world, then it’s a copyright infringement. Some will pursue, some won’t.

TL;DR: INVENT YOUR OWN IP!

Gigi

8

It’s not copyright infringement, it’s IP infringement. Still a mess, but a different (and potentially more painful) mess.

9

You’re close. You do have to keep things apart.

There is no such thing as “IP” in law. There is Copyright, there is Patent, there is Trademark, there is Trade Secret. The term “IP” refers to any combination of them, but is not a concept on its own in law.

Theoretically, you could write a book based in the same universe as a famous book, using the same characters and told from a very different point of view. In practice, the author or the heirs of the author will fight tooth and nail to lock down everything related to what was written decades ago, because they just don’t care about other authors, they care about their fief. Two great examples for you to find on Google: Gone with the Wind from a different character’s perspective (The Wind Done Gone) and a sequel to Catcher in the Rye.

The thing is, anyone can sue anyone for any vague controversy. A creator doesn’t need to prove their right to sue you, before they sue you. So even if you would surely win (and that’s not always a given), you still lose by having to deal with the legal case to prove your right to be creative. And since publishers are not creators, they are very risk averse to taking on any project that has a hint of controversy.

10

Also, not a lawyer however I believe that you are not breaking any copyright in every case. Its works on a case by case basis.

You can for example create a game set in Sherlock Holmes world or HP Lovecraft. The reason is that those are both in the public domain. You could also use a film where the rights have expired. Its a case by case basis depending on who owns the rights.

A good counter example is Justin Beiber or Star Wars which are not in the public domain yet (wait a while).

I did read up on this a while ago because I wanted to do some musical arrangements and sell them. Turned out I could happily arrange and sell certain Elvis hits in the UK, although the US is a lot more tight fisted in releasing to the public domain. In Russia its even less time to go public :). So it also depends on your country you live in and want to sell to.

Here is a sample of some films you can use:

Just a bit of research required. Probably worth asking in a business forum, as you get can lawyers floating around them. A lot less likely to find any here I am guessing(?).

11

Well the rights belong to “Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc” and the first film came out in 1999 so I may be waiting a while. Thanks again for the replies though, Its just one of those things I guess.

12

But couldn’t you make up your own universe that is similar to say the Star Wars universe, for instance, but with different models and characters. But then also have a similar storyline, but not exactly the same?

I mean if you make a game that’s in space, and the storyline contains an evil father who had three children (instead of two), and two of them were princesses (instead of one) and the other one was a loser from some unknown planet that drank beer a lot. Would that be copyright infringement?

You could have fuzzy loveable “species” from other planets, etc. But what if you just don’t call them wookies, or jawas or whatever, and their storylines are somewhat different.

What happens then? lol. Can anyone have a copyright on a standard genre? For instance, I’d say the call of duty and battlefield series are pretty similar with their modern warfare stuff. Could EA sue whoever makes call of duty for copyright infringement. All of this I wonder.

13

Why not just contact WB and ask them if you can make a Matrix-based game? (I guess it’s The Matrix from what you have said.) They’ll quickly tell you if that’s okay or not. The answer will probably be “not” but at least you’ll have it from the horses mouth.

14

Ah, well then, that explains a bit. And thusly am I chagrined :wink: There’s also Trade Dress, which (from the little I have just gathered of it) would be the primary offender in games development…i.e. that of the product being too similar in visual appearance.

That and considering the example of Star Wars, I believe the word “droid” is a registered trademark, so while you could a) write the story from a very different point of view you could not b) use the term "droid’ (or “lightsaber (light saber?)”…I’m pretty certain they sued a medical equipment company for naming a surgical laser a “light saber” a while back).

Welp, you learn something new every day :wink:

15

Guess I’ll give a try, wont get my hopes up though. Update: Done, I await my cease and desist reply :smile:

16

Game mechanics cannot be protected under copyright. Patent, maybe/probably, copyright no.

17

come up with your own ideas, even if it is similar, just make it different and unique with your own touch.

either that or keep it a secret and release it anonymously…

18

If it feels like you could get in actual trouble than I wouldn’t do it. Apply some common sense and all. Asking a permission is good though if you are about step on someone’s toes But it’s your vanity project so unless you are too blatant and obvious about it and you aren’t making huge amount of noise then most likely nobody won’t notice. But why not just do your own thing? Be inspired by. Do a homage or a parody. Hide easter eggs.

19

I have plenty unique ideas started and ready in the can it’s just… Well the best way to explain it would be like when you were a kid and you saw the most epic/ aura inspiring action scene or battle on TV/Film, examples being, flying a x-wing down the trench in Star wars or a death match on a light cycle in Tron you name it. So many things we saw as kids that would make great games put in the right hand of course. And to be fair I’m not stuck on the idea I could change it to be different enough yet still keep the same original vision, I was more interested in what are the legal factor involved and how much inspiration is too much.

20

What about more complicated example: Movie A has game B that doesn’t exist in the real world AND doesn’t have any meaning to the plot, it’s just that main character plays it at some point in arcade? What about making game B into actual game?