Questions about copyright infringement.

[swinkee]

This discussion makes me wonder how Wacky Packages can exist. I skimmed the article and only saw evidence of one lawsuit against them, but it seems like the other companies could definitely have a case. Did they arrange with the companies to mock their brands or what?

Parody is protected speech.

[Nejisa]

...
It is a lot shadier with games, however. After all, EVERYTHING, even background details, are all hand created and purposefully put there. If your characters in a game drive by a McDonald's, it is because you drew/modeled/created a McDonald's and placed in there specifically for your characters to drive by. Basically EVERY trademark placed in a game is product placement. ...

This is exactly my point. I was worried because, just as you said, the backgrounds are made based on the "script" and the dialogue, so im putting the details on purpose (a post in a wall, a figurine, etc) so you can see them when the scene is playing. Im using 3d models to build the backgrds and i was strategically taking some real things and putting them in the models. So, at the end is better give up on doing that.

Anyways, i just wanted to be sure about copyright in US since i was not that informed. Things here/neighbor countries work a little bit different, and now that i have confirmed some things i can write with more confidence.

By the way, it is good to know that thing about parodies, i will keep it in mind


EDIT: since i already opened the threat, i will ask about this too: what happens with photographies? I am using some photos of cities and real-life people and im not sure what to do with them, because i found them on internet and some of them are pretty old or pretty recognized, so... i have read about some real problems of using unauthorized photos; even so, i see the photos flying around on the web/books...

Wha do i do?

This is so complicated...

[Anarchy]

Eh, your safest bet is to use stock photos that are under a Creative Commons license or something similar. There are quite a few sites that provide stock photos for free or for very low prices. Since you're making a free VN, I doubt that anybody will take action against you if you do use old photos lying about the internet, but yeah. It's technically illegal, I think.

[LateWhiteRabbit]

EDIT: since i already opened the threat, i will ask about this too: what happens with photographies? I am using some photos of cities and real-life people and im not sure what to do with them, because i found them on internet and some of them are pretty old or pretty recognized, so... i have read about some real problems of using unauthorized photos; even so, i see the photos flying around on the web/books...

Eh, your safest bet is to use stock photos that are under a Creative Commons license or something similar. There are quite a few sites that provide stock photos for free or for very low prices. Since you're making a free VN, I doubt that anybody will take action against you if you do use old photos lying about the internet, but yeah. It's technically illegal, I think.

Yeah, it IS illegal to use photographs you don't own or that aren't licensed for your use. It becomes especially problematic when you are using photos of real people. In film, you need a release form signed by everyone you film in order to use their image, even background extras. People own their own likeness unless there is a public interest in photos of them being released.

Again, I keep saying this in all these copyright threads, but people keep looking for excuses and loopholes - "If you don't own it, don't use it. Period." It really is that simple.

[Enigma]

Okay, I have a question, I make a lot of music refrences in my games, mostly heavy metal stuff, though I usually change it up a bit (in one case Deep Black instead of Deep Purple for instance) where does that fall in?

[Nejisa]

...People own their own likeness unless there is a public interest in photos of them being released...

This is what i wanted to confirm. Thank you

[Showsni]

Some of your questions seem to be more about trademarks than about copyright...

Copyright means, pretty simply, don't copy anything without permission. So, don't include in your game photographs someone else has taken, or large chunks of novels, or a chunk of a film script written out verbatim. Don't copy a picture someone else has drawn. And so on.

When it comes to using brand names, though, those are a question of trade marks.

Firstly, you can't call your product something that will make customers confuse it with a trademarked product. If, for instance, you called your platformer game "Super Mario Planet" then you're infringing on Nintendo's trademark of the Mario name. If you called your Pizza Company "Mario's Super Pizzas" then it's unlikely customers would confuse it with a Nintendo made product, so you'd probably be okay. In the case of a game, unless you're calling the game itself something infringing trademark, mentioning products within the game almost certainly won't infringe trademark, since you're not trying to confuse customers into buying your Coke drink or whatever, you're jsut mentioning characters drinking actual coca cola.

Problems you want to avoid are "Trademark Dilution" and defamation. Dilution could be, for example, where a famous trade mark gets used as a generic term. Say, you mention someone is doing the hoovering. Hoover is a trademarked name; if you talk about it as a generic word enough, it will pass into the English language as such and Hoover will lose their trademark rights on the word; so there are laws to stop this happening. Actually, I think it might already be too late for hoover... But avoid using other famous trademarks in this way. Like, "We went out to eat big macs." Big Mac is trademarked, so you should say something like "We went out to eat Big Macs at McDonalds" instead. Just don't make it a generic term!

Then we come to defamation. Companies might get upset if you defame their products or name. That's not really infringing trademarks or breaking copyright; but use your common sense. A story about how drinking Pepsi always inspired a serial killer to murder is obviously not good!

In general, though, it's pretty easy to avoid that kind of thing, so there's absolutely nothing wrong with mentioning the real brand names.

[Nejisa]

Some of your questions seem to be more about trademarks than about copyright...

Copyright means, pretty simply, don't copy anything without permission. So, don't include in your game photographs someone else has taken, or large chunks of novels, or a chunk of a film script written out verbatim. Don't copy a picture someone else has drawn. And so on.

When it comes to using brand names, though, those are a question of trade marks.

Firstly, you can't call your product something that will make customers confuse it with a trademarked product. If, for instance, you called your platformer game "Super Mario Planet" then you're infringing on Nintendo's trademark of the Mario name. If you called your Pizza Company "Mario's Super Pizzas" then it's unlikely customers would confuse it with a Nintendo made product, so you'd probably be okay. In the case of a game, unless you're calling the game itself something infringing trademark, mentioning products within the game almost certainly won't infringe trademark, since you're not trying to confuse customers into buying your Coke drink or whatever, you're jsut mentioning characters drinking actual coca cola.

Problems you want to avoid are "Trademark Dilution" and defamation. Dilution could be, for example, where a famous trade mark gets used as a generic term. Say, you mention someone is doing the hoovering. Hoover is a trademarked name; if you talk about it as a generic word enough, it will pass into the English language as such and Hoover will lose their trademark rights on the word; so there are laws to stop this happening. Actually, I think it might already be too late for hoover... But avoid using other famous trademarks in this way. Like, "We went out to eat big macs." Big Mac is trademarked, so you should say something like "We went out to eat Big Macs at McDonalds" instead. Just don't make it a generic term!

Then we come to defamation. Companies might get upset if you defame their products or name. That's not really infringing trademarks or breaking copyright; but use your common sense. A story about how drinking Pepsi always inspired a serial killer to murder is obviously not good!

In general, though, it's pretty easy to avoid that kind of thing, so there's absolutely nothing wrong with mentioning the real brand names.

Thank you very much!! I really appreciate it, because you finally cleared up all the doubts! Thank you

If i may ask... what happens with phrases/setences with 'trademarks'? Things such as, i don´t know, for example "Im your father" from Star Wars, "Im loving´t" from Mcdonalds, and more phrases of movies/characters... "Why so serious?" or the "This is Sparta!" from 300... it would be the same? I mean, if i do write them down in a scene doing a direct allusion to the movie/commercial, then you would consider it just as a innocent reference?

Thanks again!

PS: the thing about copyright is 100% clear now