gamedevlists-general

Re: [GD-General] Copyright on games

[Steve M. <st...@ys...>]

Well The Tetris Company has taken action against others that have made Teris clones before.  Their website if I remember correctly even had a link to talk to them about officially licensed games, but they guy answering the emails was not very helpful. 

I had heard of a publisher (Extreme3D) getting sued for having clones, but then there is egames, which does alot of clones.  

IANAL, so I can't talk about the legality of a bust-a-move clone, but there are alot of them out there - and some big names making that type of clone for different consoles too.  So I think that you might fall under a copyright owners radar, and that they would probably not sue, but there is always a chance.  Take a look at Snood.  They have been a very popular shareware version of bust-a-move and I don't think that have been sued yet.

Steve

---------- Original Message ----------------------------------
From: Gareth Lewin <GL...@cl...>
Reply-To: gam...@li...
Date:  Mon, 3 Mar 2003 12:49:09 -0000

>Does anyone have any pointers to some info on what is (c) and what isn't ?
>
>Could I take bust-a-move (puzzle bobble). Totally redo the game, different
>graphics, different sounds, etc, but same game play ? 
>
>Maybe rotating the game play so you shoot down. Would that be legal ?
>
>_____________________
>Regards, Gareth Lewin
>
>"Well yes, apart from a unified API to a wide range of PC hardware, a
>powerful operating system accessible to Joe Public, one of the most
>developer-friendly pieces of console hardware ever made and a rather
>promising new scripting language, what have Microsoft ever given us?"
>"A computer in every home?"
>"Oh shut up." 
>(Thanks to Tom Forsyth for that)
>
>
>-------------------------------------------------------
>This sf.net email is sponsored by:ThinkGeek
>Welcome to geek heaven.
>http://thinkgeek.com/sf
>_______________________________________________
>Gamedevlists-general mailing list
>Gam...@li...
>https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/gamedevlists-general
>Archives:
>http://sourceforge.net/mailarchive/forum.php?forum_id=557
>

RE: [GD-General] Copyright on games

[Gareth L. <GL...@cl...>]

I will come out and say that Bust-A-Move clone was a random example based on
a game that you can play here with Sky (British sat TV company).

I'm asking in general.

IANAL = I Am Not A Lawyer ?

My wife is, maybe I should ask her ? :) Although I doubt she would know,
it's not her field (thus my question here).

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Steve Maier [mailto:st...@ys...]
> Sent: 03 March 2003 14:37
> To: gam...@li...
> Subject: Re: [GD-General] Copyright on games
> 
> 
> Well The Tetris Company has taken action against others that 
> have made Teris clones before.  Their website if I remember 
> correctly even had a link to talk to them about officially 
> licensed games, but they guy answering the emails was not 
> very helpful. 
> 
> I had heard of a publisher (Extreme3D) getting sued for 
> having clones, but then there is egames, which does alot of clones.  
> 
> IANAL, so I can't talk about the legality of a bust-a-move 
> clone, but there are alot of them out there - and some big 
> names making that type of clone for different consoles too.  
> So I think that you might fall under a copyright owners 
> radar, and that they would probably not sue, but there is 
> always a chance.  Take a look at Snood.  They have been a 
> very popular shareware version of bust-a-move and I don't 
> think that have been sued yet.
> 
> Steve
> 

Re: [GD-General] Copyright on games

[Simon S. <red...@ho...>]

>From: Gareth Lewin <GL...@cl...>
>To: gam...@li...
>Subject: RE: [GD-General] Copyright on games
>Date: Mon, 3 Mar 2003 14:44:23 -0000
>Reply-To: gam...@li...
>
>I will come out and say that Bust-A-Move clone was a random example based 
>on
>a game that you can play here with Sky (British sat TV company).
>
>I'm asking in general.
>
>IANAL = I Am Not A Lawyer ?
>
>My wife is, maybe I should ask her ? :) Although I doubt she would know,
>it's not her field (thus my question here).
>
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Steve Maier [mailto:st...@ys...]
> > Sent: 03 March 2003 14:37
> > To: gam...@li...
> > Subject: Re: [GD-General] Copyright on games
> >
> >
> > Well The Tetris Company has taken action against others that
> > have made Teris clones before.  Their website if I remember
> > correctly even had a link to talk to them about officially
> > licensed games, but they guy answering the emails was not
> > very helpful.
> >
> > I had heard of a publisher (Extreme3D) getting sued for
> > having clones, but then there is egames, which does alot of clones.
> >
> > IANAL, so I can't talk about the legality of a bust-a-move
> > clone, but there are alot of them out there - and some big
> > names making that type of clone for different consoles too.
> > So I think that you might fall under a copyright owners
> > radar, and that they would probably not sue, but there is
> > always a chance.  Take a look at Snood.  They have been a
> > very popular shareware version of bust-a-move and I don't
> > think that have been sued yet.
> >
> > Steve
> >
>

My understanding is that it's patents you have to worry about.  Patents 
being for the "idea" and copyright being for the "implementaion".

So you could copy the basics of the game idea, but you would have to make it 
look different. (Unless they have a patent)

The easiest way to find out what matters is to contact the creators of the 
original game, and a lawyer :)

--redwyre

_________________________________________________________________
MSN Instant Messenger now available on Australian mobile phones. Go to  
http://ninemsn.com.au/mobilecentral/hotmail_messenger.asp

RE: [GD-General] Copyright on games

[Gareth L. <GL...@cl...>]

> My understanding is that it's patents you have to worry 
> about.  Patents 
> being for the "idea" and copyright being for the "implementaion".
> 
> So you could copy the basics of the game idea, but you would 
> have to make it 
> look different. (Unless they have a patent)
> 
> The easiest way to find out what matters is to contact the 
> creators of the 
> original game, and a lawyer :)

Hmm, that makes a lot more sense to me thank you. So theoretically, unless
the gameplay itself is patented (not likely ofcourse), a game that looks
totally differant but is the same gameplay would be legal.

I wonder how this passes over to more standard games like Chess, Bridge etc
? I doubt anyone has a patent on that :)

RE: [GD-General] Copyright on games

[Jamie F. <ja...@qu...>]

even if there had been a patent on chess (hard, given that it predates
patent law :), it would have expired a long time ago :)

j


-----Original Message-----
From: gam...@li...
[mailto:gam...@li...]On Behalf Of
Gareth Lewin
Sent: 04 March 2003 10:10
To: gam...@li...
Subject: RE: [GD-General] Copyright on games


> My understanding is that it's patents you have to worry
> about.  Patents
> being for the "idea" and copyright being for the "implementaion".
>
> So you could copy the basics of the game idea, but you would
> have to make it
> look different. (Unless they have a patent)
>
> The easiest way to find out what matters is to contact the
> creators of the
> original game, and a lawyer :)

Hmm, that makes a lot more sense to me thank you. So theoretically, unless
the gameplay itself is patented (not likely ofcourse), a game that looks
totally differant but is the same gameplay would be legal.

I wonder how this passes over to more standard games like Chess, Bridge etc
? I doubt anyone has a patent on that :)


-------------------------------------------------------
This SF.net email is sponsored by: Etnus, makers of TotalView, The debugger
for complex code. Debugging C/C++ programs can leave you feeling lost and
disoriented. TotalView can help you find your way. Available on major UNIX
and Linux platforms. Try it free. www.etnus.com
_______________________________________________
Gamedevlists-general mailing list
Gam...@li...
https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/gamedevlists-general
Archives:
http://sourceforge.net/mailarchive/forum.php?forum_id=557