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Gain full access to resources events, white paper, webinars, reports, etc Single sign-on to all Informa products. An understanding of legal issues is essential to success in the game industry. Mistakes can cost the game developer tens or even hundred of thousands of dollars in legal fees and damages. For example, Delrina lost hundreds of thousands of dollars and had to recall all of the copies of its screen saver when it lost a copyright suit.
Delrina distributed a screen saver in which one of the 30 modules showed the comic book character Opus shooting down Berkeley Systems' "flying toasters" made famous in Berkeley's "After Dark" screen saver program. Berkeley Systems sued Delrina for copyright and trademark infringement. The court ruled for Berkeley Systems, prohibiting further distribution of Delrina's product and requiring Delrina to recall all of the product not already sold.
The copyright ownership dispute between two leading game developers, Michael Saenz and Joe Sparks, provides another example of the importance of dealing properly with legal issues. The dispute focuses on whether Joe was an employee or independent contractor of Reactor, Inc.
Mike Saenz's company when they developed the successful game "Spaceship Warlock. These profits could be worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. The court did decide that Joe Sparks was a co-owner of the copyright and the suit was later settled. Legal matters in game development are frequently complex and you should not rely on the information in this primer alone. You should consult with experienced counsel before making any final decisions. Copyright law is a federal law, and so the law does not vary from state to state although the interpretation of the law maybe different in different courts.
Basic Principles This section summarizes the basic principles of copyright law, including the types of works that are protected by copyright, how copyright protection is obtained, and the scope of the protection. Works Protected Copyright protection is available for "works of authorship. Novels, nonfiction prose, poetry, newspaper articles and newspapers, magazine articles and magazines, computer software, software manuals, training manuals, manuals, catalogs, brochures, ads text , and compilations such as business directories.
Musical works. Songs, advertising jingles, and instrumentals. Dramatic works. Plays, operas, and skits. Pantomimes and choreographic works. Ballets, modern dance, jazz dance, and mime works. Pictorial, graphic, and sculptural works. Photographs, posters, maps, paintings, drawings, graphic art, display ads, cartoon strips and cartoon characters, stuffed animals, statues, paintings, and works of fine art. Motion pictures and other audiovisual works. Movies, documentaries, travelogues, training films and videos, television shows, television ads, and interactive multimedia works.
Sound recordings. Recordings of music, sounds, or words. Obtaining Copyright Protection Copyright protection arises automatically when an "original" work of authorship is "fixed" in a tangible medium of expression. Registration with the Copyright Office is optional but you have to register before you file an infringement suit in the United States if you are a United States company or citizen, and registering early will make you eligible to receive attorney's fees and statutory damages in a future lawsuit.
Here's what "original" and "fixed" mean in copyright law: Originality: A work is original in the copyright sense if it owes its origin to the author and was not copied from some preexisting work. Fixation: A work is "fixed" when it is made "sufficiently permanent or stable to permit it to be perceived, reproduced, or otherwise communicated for a period of more than transitory duration.
Neither the "originality" requirement nor the "fixation" requirement is stringent. An author can "fix" words, for example, by writing them down, typing them on an old-fashioned typewriter, dictating them into a tape recorder, or entering them into a computer.
A work can be original without being novel or unique. Example: Betsy's book How to Lose Weight is original in the copyright sense so long as Betsy did not create her book by copying existing material - even if it's the millionth book to be written on the subject of weight loss.
Only minimal creativity is required to meet the originality requirement. No artistic merit or beauty is required. A game can incorporate preexisting material and still be original. When preexisting material is incorporated into a new work, the copyright on the new work covers only the original material contributed by the author.
Scope of Protection Copyright protects against copying the "expression" in a work, not against copying the work's ideas. The difference between "idea" and "expression" is one of the most difficult concepts in copyright law. The most important point to understand is that one can copy the protected expression in a work without copying the literal words or the exact shape of a sculpture, or the exact "look" of a stuffed animal. When a new work is created by copying an existing copyrighted work, copyright infringement exists if the new work is "substantially similar" to the work that was copied.
The new work need not be identical to the copied work. A copyright owner has five exclusive rights in the copyrighted work:.
In addition, certain types of works of "visual art" also have "moral rights" in the United States which limit the modification of the work and the use of the author's name without permission from the original author. Anyone who violates any of the exclusive rights of a copyright owner is an infringer. Example: Developer scanned Photographer's copyrighted photograph, altered the image by using digital editing software, and included the altered version of the photograph in a game that Developer sold to consumers.
Therefore, protection will expire on December 31 of the 50th year after the author dies. All terms of copyright run through the end of the calendar year in which they would otherwise expire, so a work enters the public domain on the first of the year following the expiration of its copyright term. As described above, the first owner of any copyright work is the individual who created the work in question. So, in the case of the NFTS students, they would actually be the first owner in any copyright in the games that they create on the MA program.
Most popular video games are works of corporate authorship and have copyrights that will expire 95 years from publication or years from creation, whichever expires first. Please see precise details of copyright terms at the Cornell link, below. In the UK copyright generally expires 70 years after the death of the creator for written, artistic, musical and film work. If the creator of the work is unknown then the copyright expires 70 years from the end of the calendar year in which the work was made, or when it was first made available to the public.
Many people think of copyright infringement as piracy or the creation of unauthorized reproductions of a copyrighted work, like a song, photograph, or writing. The term of copyright for a particular work depends on several factors, including whether it has been published, and, if so, the date of first publication. As a general rule, for works created after January 1, , copyright protection lasts for the life of the author plus an additional 70 years.
Instead, video games are considered protected by copyright in their parts.
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