Post by hechelion in Copyright Infringement

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It is not a gray line, what happens is that many companies tolerate it, but if they wanted to, they can remove your fan-game and legally they have the right and there is nothing you can do to defend your work.

If it really was a gray line, you could go to court and expect to win and that doesn't happen.

Companies like "Harmony Gold" every time a fan project becomes notorious, they knock it down.

Companies like Capcom have unofficially said that they have no problem with fan-created content, as long as it is respectful.

Companies like Sega have closed projects, etc.

In the case of itch. The rules say that you must have the rights or permissions to all content you upload, but this is not enforced.

You can upload a fan game, but if the owner of the content files a DCMA, Itch will remove the game, don't hesitate.

Maybe you are confusing "fair play", where it is legal to use content that you do not own or do not have authorization for, but a fan-game does not fall into that definition.

Edit::
Examples:
https://www.wired.com/story/sega-shuts-down-streets-of-rage-remake/
https://www.gameinformer.com/b/news/archive/2010/03/02/fan-made-king-s-quest-seq..

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No Time To Play275 days ago

The reason you can't easily win in court is that corporations have more money than you. Also if you rip sprites from a ROM cart for example, that is cut-and-dry copyright infringement. Fan work in general is a matter of dispute.

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hechelion274 days ago(+2)

The thing is that not only the sprites or music are protected, but also the names and characters, for example, Superman.

If you draw Superman from scratch and place that drawing in your game, it is still Superman, which is copyrighted content, it doesn't matter if you drew it from scratch. Drawing it from 0, by you, does not give you the legal right to sell or distribute said content.

As @Eris Lord Freedom says, it would have to be a "Transformative" work, for example, a superhero who flies, but who is not called Superman and who is not so similar.

When you make a fan game, it usually refers to names and content that is the property of a company, even if you create the sprites or music.

You can create a VN about a mustachioed plumber and a princess in a fictional world inhabited by turtles and you'll legally be safe.
But can it be considered a fan.game?

The moment you make a VN of Mario and Peach, what would be a fan-game. You also have a copyright problem, because that Mario and that princess are protected content.

As you say, there are certain lines that are not clear and could only be resolved in court. But in this case we are talking about Itch. If you make a VN with Mario and Peach and Nintendo comes with a DMCA to Itch.

What do you think will happen?

It is based on that that I always consider and recommend considering that any fan-game can be removed from Itch if the rights holder wants.

PD:
For example this case of harmony gold against argentine developments (sorry, only found in spanish)

https://www.guioteca.com/anime/harmony-gold-censura-produccion-de-fanaticos-arge...

This person had created some videos that told a fan-fiction story of an anime called "Robotech" all the content created from 0 and still had to delete everything.

He could have changed the name and designs, in such a way as not to use protected content, the problem is that by doing that, the product cannot be directly related to "Robotech" and therefore it would have ceased to be a fan-fiction of "Rototech".

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Deleted account274 days ago

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SlingBang272 days ago

Copyright 'law' is just a tool for rich people to maintain control over their cash-cow product. If the rich person doesn't COMPLAIN... poor people can do whatever they want. If the rich do complain, the poor lose. period. Know what the rich will tolerate, from previous examples, and don't cross the line.

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Eris Lord Freedom272 days ago(+4)

It's not easy for an individual artist or self-published writer to sue Disney - but copyright law is what prevents Disney, Paramount, Warner Bros. etc. from just mass-grabbing stories and art and turning them into movies for their own profit. The fact that the law exists keeps them from grabbing everything they can.

There are occasional cases of "we're pretty sure this was grabbed from someone else's idea," but Sega couldn't grab Flappy Bird and distribute it through their channels because of copyright.

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SlingBang271 days ago(+1)

I like your reply because it is true... but in all fairness, the creators of 'flappy-bird' (or any successful game) aren't poor anymore... so technically, copyright law is protecting the rich... because they are now rich. In reality, the VAST majority of TALENTED working artists are "poor" relatively-speaking, and (from one point of view) are being "exploited" by the rich... It's just called "employment", where the poor do all the work, and the rich take all the profits and own everything the poor create. Yes, that's just how the world works... but, it still ends with: Copyright 'law' is just a tool for rich people to maintain control over their cash-cow product. (99.99% of the time)

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Magicsofa270 days ago

It doesn't matter if the game is "successful." A large company could see potential and steal it anyway. Copyright law deters them from doing that, especially if you register your copyright which only costs $35 in the USA. It is there to protect IP, not revenue. Obviously the corpos abuse it in the opposite direction, by trying to squash anything remotely related, but that's the company misusing their legal team. It's not like copyright law dictates that companies have to go looking for knockoffs to target.

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redonihunter270 days ago

Registering copyright is not needed to have the copyright. You have that automatically in the US since 1989 by being the creator and publishing your work somehow also does not hurt to prove it.

Registration only brings some questionable benefits that might even be in violation of the treaty the US signed. Complicated stuff, but in the context we talk about this, almost no indie or amateur dev is gonna register their assets or pieces of work. How does that even work for software versions? Every published version needs their own 35 $ registration or what? Or worse, assets, every separatly "tangible" asset needs registration? Also, this only is valid for the US, afaik. In another country that also signed the treaty, only the fact that you are the copyright holder counts, not the registration in a US registrary.

Copyright only protects the actual works, hence my question about the different software versions. Also, software usually is governed by licences, yet another can of worms.

That is what you get, if you want to apply concepts for physical items to the digital world ;-)

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Magicsofa270 days ago

It is not needed, but it is pretty much your only chance in court. The whole "mail yourself a copy" thing is a myth and pointless since as you said, just creating the thing is when you technically receive the copyright, not when you publish or register.

For videogames you can register the source code as well as tangible assets such as the artwork, soundtrack, and writing. I think it is similar to music where you can roll it all into one registration (for music, you can register the actual written music as well as a physical recording of it at the same time).

You don't get a copyright for some parts of it such as the name, or the gameplay mechanics. And yes, this process is probably not done by amateur developers who have some free projects up on itch. But I would think that anyone who is selling their game and netting even a small amount of revenue would be wise to get the registration.

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