Games and copyright infringement

[GeezM]

Post here examples of developers who had problems with copyright holders while making 'parody' games like Something Unlimited. I'm curious how many cases like this where on patreon or other platforms and how did they handle that issue.

 

[Zippity]

I think it all depends on the location of both the game's origin and the originating copyright holders location... As to determining the laws of those locations regarding Parody of copyrighted material... It also may boil down to how the parody is handled... Is it truly a Parody, poking all sorts of fun and adding a lot of comedic value, or is it just a re-envisioned version, without all the stuff you typically find in a

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?

Plus, how willing is the copyright owner willing to make a fuss about it? Will the content offend the copyright owner enough to insight them into taking action? Will it effect partners of the copyright owner enough to get them to encourage the owner to take action? Is it a risky gamble you want to take? Would it be safer to get permission first?

You have to decide for yourself if the risk vs reward is something you're willing to gamble on...

Here are some thoughts/information I ran across for you to take a look at:

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Hope that helps...

 

[DarthSeduction]

So, porn parody is always a grey area, at least with american owned properties. However, there was an instance where George Lucas sued a porn company who produced a star wars parody. The court ruled, that as Star Wars was such a huge property, there was no way that anyone could confuse the parody content with the real deal. Years later, Vivid did what may as well have been a shot for shot remake of A New Hope and added porn and comically reworded dialogue, no lawsuit even filed.

So, that being said, there is a precedent to say that porn parody can and will be allowed in a court of law. Also, you have to make a lot of money to get noticed by most. The one company I would suggest you avoid parodying entirely is Nintendo. They're lawsuit happy about protecting their characters. It would still be likely to win in court, but you're gonna have to go to court.

 

[Ataios]

When Nintendo couldn't ban a porn movie involving Mario they bought the license for it, so they could prevent it from getting public. So Nintendo even owns a license for Super Mario Porn.

Blizzard is also a rather lawsuit happy company. If you use their characters and settings, be sure to change the names.

 

[anne O'nymous]

When Nintendo couldn't ban a porn movie involving Mario they bought the license for it, so they could prevent it from getting public. So Nintendo even owns a license for Super Mario Porn.

That's probably what should happen for an adult game. It will probably start with a "Hey, stop doing this right now", because reaching the same result for free is always better, and if the dev continue, they'll try to negociate. Most of the devs would be happy to get 5 or even 6 figures free money, and for the copyright holder it will cost less, both in time, money and image, than trying to fill a lawsuit ; especially since this lawsuit have all the chance to be an international one.

 

[Lusc]

I think most of these cases never make it to court and are often solved in mediation. However, that still means you can expect legal fees if you're on the receiving end. Sometimes you have to play the guessing game and gauge whether a company is the type to throw around their legal team liberally. ie Disney, Sony, etc.