I’ve been wondering for sometime now because there’s a good chance I might try this but let’s say if I decided to make a game based off of classic fairy tales would there be any copyright issues? Still fairly new to learning about copyright and rights to use material and I do understand that there are certain things I can’t use.
If you base your game off stories that are past copyright, then there’s no problem 
If you base it on stories that are still within copyright, you have to be very careful.
Google for “public domain fairy tales”. Grimm’s fairy tales are not in the public domain.
That one is sort of up in the air you see the Grimm brothers went around Europe at the time and had people tell them old local fairytales which they wrote down and put into a book, some are there own original ones but other are far older…a lot older than there book. Do some research first before you pick a story or stories to use. You should be able to use some of them.
Eh??? What you mean they are not? It is my understanding they ARE public domain.
Mind you: there are insane number of revisions in the Disney versions, if you attempt to base a video game off Disney’s Snow White, you will be in a lot of legal trouble because THEIR version is copyrighted.
the original fiarytales where lets say compiled in one book over 200 years ago 1812 but due to stupid copyright laws translations and republishing sorta makes them copyrighted…in certain countries…its complicated lol
Best thing to do is make up your own fairytale its not that hard. And you never now if its good enough maybe one day Disney will come alone and rip you off as well
Doing a lot of googling on this now and all I can find are various references that go along the lines “the original books are public domain, but many translations likely are not”, this being specific to both, the exact translated work and any change that may have been introduced during those translations.
Mind you, you can get away with a lot of freedom. Like Snow White, the Beast Master that controls wilder beast with her voice and is accompanied by 7 dwarven warriors 
Irrelevant.
If you base your game off a grim brothers story - retelling or not - thats not in public domain you’re setting yourself up for trouble because they’ll own the rights to anything they changed/added to to the story. Romeo and Juliet is public domain, west side story is not.
That said, given the dates of their lives on wiki I’d be very surprised if anything of theirs is not public domain. Just ensure you base it off a public domain work/translation - not anything more modern.
Looks like I got a lot of research ahead of me but thanks for the response everyone! Gave me a good solid start on what I need to look up.
This may help you http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tk862BbjWx4
Thanks a bunch!
Apparently this post confused npsf3000. In simple: Grimm’s fairy tales are in the public domain, there are also English translations that are in the public domain as well. Whether or not they are translations in copyright doesn’t really matter at all. They’re not going to sue you for using public domain work. If you do base your work on copyrighted translations, assuming it is a good translation and doesn’t add content it will be impossible to tell that you used it. The good thing is that you don’t have to use it, there is public domain translations as previously mentioned. No one is going to pursue legal action if you stick to the original content. Disney movies, what most people know, differ quite a bit from the original. Grimm’s fairy tales weren’t really kid friendly.
The ignorance here is astounding.
Do you really think that it’s impossible to tell whether something is a derivative of a translation? If so, you fundamentally misunderstand why translations are copyrightable at all!
Argumentum ad hominem on these forums are amazing. A video game based on the original Grimms Märchen or a copyrighted English translation (assuming it is copyrighted) will be impossible to tell apart. A translation isn’t going to remove the evil step sisters mutilating their feet into rainbows and unicorns, it will cease to be a translation. Please tell me how you can tell it apart without resorting to childish retorts. And fundamentally it is copyrightable so people can’t legally distribute it for free without the original author (EDIT: Copyright holder I should say) and translator being compensated.
The only way you can tell them apart is if the translation deviates from the original. It’s not much of a translation is it? Remember we’re not talking about derivative works like the movie Troy is to Homer’s Iliad, we’re talking about translations.
I agree, all translations are identical - which is why they are considered an art that’s copyrightable…
A fool gives full vent to his anger, but a wise man keeps himself under control. - Proverbs 29:11
A fool uttereth all his mind: but a wise man keepeth it in till afterwards. - Proverbs 29:11
A foolish man lets out all his wrath, but a wise man keeps it back quietly. - Proverbs 29:11
Stupid people express their anger openly, but sensible people are patient and hold it back. - Proverbs 29:11
I never said translations are identical. That doesn’t make sense, for example Farsi is a completely different language than English therefore translations will be completely different. I think you’re still totally confused about video games based on fairy tales. If I make a video game based on one of the Grimm fairy tales, no one could prove that I used a translation rather the original German. Unless the translation changed the story, which as a translation they shouldn’t. Now if I used a Disney version of the same fairy tale, I’ll be sued as they’ve changed the story–such as the aforementioned feet mutilation. Not so hard to understand is it? If you’re still scared get a person who knows German to tell you the public domain fairy tale.
Because all translations are identical, they never differ in interpretation, imagery, emphasis etc. That’s why the above quotes are are identical - even though some refer to ‘wrath’, others ‘words’ and yet others ‘mind’ and ‘anger’. Some refer to control and others to containment. That’s why some use the word ‘stupid’ and others ‘foolish’.
This is one sentence yet all lead to completely different derivative works. That’s not even including the obvious - you use direct text [written or spoken] - as one often does.
We’re talking about a video game. V-i-d-e-o g-a-m-e. Since when are video games a verbatim copy of a story? Any video game based on a fairy tale is going to differ greatly to any and all versions of the fairy tale, because you know it’s a game and accommodates you know gameplay. Just look at Metro 2033, they worked with the author and it is still greatly different to the book Metro 2033. This discussion is so silly. Look at your examples, how is that even remotely relevant to games? Small differences in words like that isn’t going to make any discernible difference in a video game that will get you into legal trouble. Like I said as long as the translation doesn’t differ from the original no one is going to tell what version you used. You know it’s a bad translation when people can tell what version you used.
All four of those quotes mean the exact same thing. So like I asked how can you tell apart a game that used one of these versions? I can quickly make a game based on Proverbs 29:11 if you want? You won’t be able to tell which translation I used. It’s silly to think that whether I read wrath rather than anger will have a discernible difference in a video game.
A simple man blurts out his anger, but a smart man holds it back. ← Different words, means the same thing. Effect in a video game, none.
A drunk man lets out his wrath, but a sober man keeps it to himself. ← Different words, different meaning. Effect in a video game, yes.
Am I going to get another joyfully convoluted reason as to why someone will be sued for using Grimm’s fairy tales? They’re in the public domain, even English translations!
Actually we’re talking about derivative works. The medium itself is secondary.
Since when does it have to be a verbatim copy? It takes but a single word, a single misplaced comma to prove the difference. Heck - they could simply ask you what translation you did without any hard evidence you used theirs. Lastly, whether you can get caught or not is irrelevant to whether or not one should do it.
Sure, and if you made sure every single line is 100% rewritten [and you cross reference with multiple translations so you don’t pick up any tell tale errors or interpretations] then you’ve done a good job of obfuscation.
I don’t see how some differences therefore mean that there would be no shared content whatsoever?