LEGAL FAQ
Blitz3D Forums/Blitz3D Beginners Area/LEGAL FAQ
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Due to the increasing number of threads (four in the past month) about legal questions regarding use of resources and other questionable practices, I've decided to write a quick Legal FAQ to help answer some of these questions before they're asked. Important: These laws may not be 100% correct in all areas, and many may not apply or in fact additional laws may apply in your area. This is simply set out as a guideline for a general international understanding of laws governing copyright, et al.Copyright and Legal FAQ Written by BlackD Not to be used in a court of law. ;) This is purely informational. ================================================================================ Table of Contents 1. What is a copyright? 2. Can any original work NOT be copyrighted? 3. What is public domain? 4. How long do copyrights take to expire? 5. Company A is letting other people copy their work so can I? 6. I just made something original. How do I copyright it? 7. I've heard about fair-use. Can't I copy stuff for myself? 8. Copyright doesnt apply in some places. Where are they? 9. Can I copy someone elses idea but change the name? 10. If it's free on the web - then nobody owns it do they? 11. What about MIDI files, can I use these? -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1. What is a copyright? A copyright is an exclusive right to intellectual property of original works which authors retain for a limited period of time. This applies to any original work. It doesn't have to be good, it just has to be original. There are seven distinct rights covered under "copyright" which the author retains. - Reproductive rights; the right to reproduce copies - Adaptative rights; the right to create derivatives of the original work. - Distribution rights; the right to distribute copies that have been reproduced. - Performance rights; the right to perform the work publically. - Display rights; the right to display the work publically. - Attribution rights; the right to take credit for and to be credited for the work - Integrity rights; the right to prevent distortion of the works in attempt to bypass copyright. These rights are the SOLE rights of the author, or the party to which the author licenses the copyright. Original works can be any intellectual property created, be it written words, music, art, movies.. anything. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2. Can any original work NOT be copyrighted? Yes. Titles, names, short phrases, slogans, etc, cannot be copyrighted. Anything short enough as to not demonstrate a minimum degree of creativity cannot be copyrighted. For example, "Only the dead see the end of war" - Plato. This is a quotation by a philosopher many centuries ago. Of course if it was under copyright that would have expired by now, but it couldn't be copyrighted in the first place. It doesn't demonstrate a large enough degree of creativity. This is up to courts of course, and this point is merely illustrative. Likewise, a painter could paint a canvas in white paint, and then paint a square black box somewhere in the middle of it. This art cannot be copyrighted. While he has the right to put his name to it, he can't stop other people from painting black boxes - as it is not sufficiently original enough to derivate from already existing works. However, in the case of titles, short phrases, etc - they CAN be trademarked. "Just Do It"(tm) is a trademark of Nike. It cannot be copyrighted on its own, but trademark law allows individuals and companies to pay for temporary rights to specific words or sets of words, but this is covered later. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3. What is public domain? Public domain is any work that is NOT copyrighted. There are only a few ways this can happen. - If the copyright has expired (see #4 below) - If the work is the work of an government body signee to the Berne convention, 1988. Such works cannot be copyrighted. - The work doesn't fall under copyright law. (see #2 above) - The copyright may be forfeit. The waiver of copyright notice only came into effect in March 1, 1988. Before that time, any work needed a copyright notice. Any work created before that time that doesn't include one is forfeit UNLESS the author has since re-published the work or published it elsewhere WITH a copyright notice. It is difficult to be certain a certain work has never been published with a copyright notice just because you find it in one place without one, and therefore, forfeiture shouldn't be used as a ground for copying something. - The copyright may be abandoned. This very rarely happens. This occurs only when the author and copyright holder of the work states expressly and overtly that he is dedicating his work to the public domain. To expand on some of these points, first of all regarding forfeiture: This doesn't mean that any works created prior to 1988 that don't have a copyright notice, are void of copyright. Take the sprites for the aliens in the Space Invaders game for instance. They are individual artworks, created individually, and have no copyright notice. However, they are part of a product which IS under copyright and as such, are copyright as well. Regarding abandonment, FREE works, are not "public domain". Freeware software, is NOT public domain. As long as the author retains ANY of the copyright rights, then the work is under copyright, but merely with the rights of distribution and reproduction waived. An author may waiver ALL copyrights except for attributuion, but this means the article is still copyright. Frequently we see notices saying "Feel free to use this however you want, but give me credit". That doesn't mean its a public domain work, that means its a fully copyrighted work requiring attribution. He has simply waived rights to distribution, reproduction, adaptation, performance, display and integrity. You MUST give him credit, otherwise you are a criminal. Free textures, sounds, etc, are all under copyright unless you have proof that the original author of those works expressly dedicated them to the public domain. If you find a MIDI on a website and wonder if you can use it since there is no credit, NO! Not only because it has not been dedicated to the public domain, but because its copyright won't expire until after you're dead. (see #4 below) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4. How long do copyrights take to expire? A long time. But seriously, copyright protection lasts as long as the original author of the work is alive, and then after that for another 70 years. This means anything ever produced on any computer is still under copyright, and will be at least until 2050. If you don't know who the author of the work is, or the work is anonymous, then the attributed copyright lasts for 95 years from its first publication or 120 years from its creation. In terms we as geeks will understand better: To explain this better, if you find a texture on a website and don't know who created it or when, then the date the website was created was the beginning of the 95 year. If this is indeterminate, then the date you found it is the beginning of 95 years. You have to wait 95 years before you're allowed to use it without regard to copyright. If you go to one of those Japanese "drawing" boards, then the date of creation is explicity stated. Since the work is anonymous in most cases, the copyright lasts for 120 years from that date of that drawing. Works created prior to January 1, 1978, may be continuously copyright renewed by the copyright owner, so don't assume that in 2049 that they're automatically out of copyright because 70 years has expired - the author may have renewed the copyright any time during that period. And for works created prior to Jan 1, 1978 - the copyright holder wether private or corporate has the right to continue doing so indefinitely. There is a lot more to copyright duration than this, but work from these simple principles and you'll be safe. Different works attract different periods of time, but rest assured, no copyright attributed work created on a computer has yet expired its copyright status. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5. Company A is letting other people copy their work so can I? No. A recent case between Microsoft and the Lindows company brought this idea to the forefront, but confusing to many, that regarded trademark, not copyright. Under trademark law, if a company doesn't protect its trademark repeatedly, then the trademark can be considered void to a certain extent. In that case, Microsoft tried to sue Lindows for use of a name which encroached exceedingly similar to "Windows". Lindows argued that Microsoft hasn't protected its trademark by allowing various other products such as "Windows Blinds", "X-Windows", etc - into the market without challenge. The court agreed, and Lindows was allowed to continue using it's name. However, under copyright law, this doesn't apply. Just because one person illegally copies a work, doesn't mean others can as well. All too often, someone actually applies for and gets permission from a copyright holder to reproduce a work. Then Joe Bloggs comes along, sees the copied work and doesn't know permission was sought, and thinks "okay - it must be public domain now". No! Copyright doesn't need to be protected in every case for the copyright to still hold true. Companies are quite entitled to let a thousand people copy their work, then when you come along as #1001, to sue your pants off. (figuratively speaking) :p -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 6. I just made something original. How do I copyright it? You already did. Congratulations. It is placed under copyright law the moment you created it. After the copyright reform act of 1993, you no longer need to even register with the Copyright Office in order to sue people for breaching your rights. But as always, try to include a copyright notice on your work. This makes it impossible for anyone to claim they "didn't know" your work was copyrighted. Generally in court if people successfully defend a position that they "didn't know" (the "innocent infringer" defence) then the penalties against them and thus damages awarded to you, are less severe. They still lose, but not nearly by as much as if you plasted your product with "This is SOO copyright and I'm gonna sue you!" labels. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 7. I've heard about fair-use. Can't I copy stuff for myself? Yes and no. Fair-Use as described in copyright law, is a circumvention of copyright law, to be used only in cases where the restriction of copyright would otherwise stifle the creativity and discussion of the work which the copyright is protecting in the first place. The main points below are taken from another copyright FAQ, but I'll add discussion to them to illustrate the examples more carefully. These are some areas where fair-use has been found by courts to override copyright restrictions: - Quotation of excerpts in a review or criticism for purposes of illustration or comment; This one is a no-brainer. You're allowed to make some limited quotation of a work in order to discuss it. - Quotation of short passages in a scholarly or technical work for illustration or clarification of the author's observations; If you publish in a scientific journal, and people don't understand your points, another author is allowed to quote your work to expand on and explain the meaning of your work. - Use in a parody of some of the content of the work parodied; Parody is primarily a humorous "take-off" of an original work. Weird Al Yankovich is a performer who takes original, copyright songs, and changes them for the purpose of humour. This particular use is considered parody. However, if he took a song and changed the lyrics to create another serious song, he would be breaching copyright. A substance of humor is required in parody, otherwise its just another copyright violation - breaching the "integrity" right of the author. - Reproduction by a library of a portion of a work to replace part of a damaged copy; Libraries have a right to this. You do not. As much as you think it may be fair to make a copy of a friend's Far Cry disk 3 to replace your broken one, its illegal. Instead, you have to send your broken disk into the manufacturer and ask for a replacement, usually at your own cost. If you don't want to pay for replacements, seriously - try to avoid breaking your originals. :p - Reproduction by a teacher or student of a small part of a work to illustrate a lesson; If the teacher wants to make fun of your work by reading your stupid love poem to the whole class, he's allowed to. Get used to it. Likewise, if you find one of his, you're allowed to tell everyone about it too. - Reproduction of a work in legislative or judicial proceedings or reports; This basically means, you can't sue the prosecution because they made a copy of your website about bomb making while trying to get you thrown in jail. Or anything similar to this scenario at all. Likewise, if you're trying to sue someone for slander, you're allowed to make as many copies of the slanderous article as you want. But, as shown in the Hustler vs Evangelist case (i forget the name of the evangelist), you can't use these copies for anything you want. You can't distribute them to people and say "look what they said about me!" or else you'll get sued for breach of copyright. You can only use them directly in legal proceedings. - Incidental and fortuitous reproduction in a newsreel or broadcast, of a work located in the scene of an event being reported. If your art gallery is set on fire, and while filming the fire, the TV studio shows some of your artwork, you can't sue them for breaching your "distribution" and "reproduction" rights. This is incidental, and considered "fair use"! -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 8. Copyright doesn't apply in some places. Where are they? It's true, some countries didn't sign the Berne copyright convention. But that doesn't mean if you live in one of those that copyright doesn't apply to you. Many countries who didn't sign the Berne convention instead signed the Universal Copyright Agreement (first instituted in 1952) and others have their own national copyright laws. Never assume because you live in a third world country that you're immune to prosecution. Or we'll send agent Mulder around. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 9. Can I copy someone elses idea but change the name? No, no and NO! Not unless you are creating a work of parody. For instance, take these two scenarios: 1) Created a game called "Last Dream". Made it just like Final Fantasy*, integrated an identical combat system, even had little yellow birds that you rode around on, then put it online for everyone to play. 2) Created a game called "Final Farciacy". Poked fun at everything about Final Fantasy* all the way through. Like having awesome full-screen, earth-shattering, fit-inducing special magic combo attacks which deal 1 damage. And having a "Whack-A-Chocobo" mini-game. And the whole thing only including about half an hour of gameplay. Under scenario #1, you're breaching copyright, namely, the right of derivative works. Sued! Under scenario #2, you're creating a parody, considered fair-use, thus circumventing copyright law. But theres a fine line between parody and copyright breach, and I don't have time to cover it all here. Unless your work is an OBVIOUS parody, with no impact whatsoever on the copyright holder, then come up with something original instead. * Final Fantasy(tm) is a trademark of Square Inc. ;) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 10. If it's free on the web - then nobody owns it do they? Yes, the original copyright holder owns it. Just because someone else is giving it away free, doesn't mean that the original rights have been waived. (see point #5 above). While the whole "information must be free!!!11" movement is a romantic one, it's also highly illegal. EVERYTHING you find on the web, no matter how small or large or important or unimportant, is under copyright. The very fact that its been published PROVES it's under copyright. The only cases where this isn't the point is if its immune to copyright (see #2) or is in the public domain (see #3) but these both rely on very specific and special circumstances that you're unlikely to encounter. As already covered, even FREEWARE is not free of copyright. It's just works that have certain rights given away. Free music, art, code - is all under copyright unless expressly given to the public domain. And realise, most sites out there giving away stuff free aren't actually the original copyright owners, and they're doing so illegally. Don't join in and help make the problem even worse. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 11. What about MIDI files, can I use these? There has been a lot of debate about this. Up until 2001, MIDI files were considered a computer program and not an aural reproduction of sound. Therefore, you could write a midi file yourself, using the tune of a commerical song, and not face prosecution as you haven't copied the music but instead created an original program which - when decoded by midi playing software, merely resulted in computer sounds that resembled a copyrighted piece of music. Even then though, you couldn't use somebody else's midi file without their permission - as since it was their original creation, the actual creater of the midi file had the copyright to that midi file. However, the DMCA and other copyright acts since 2001 have changed all this. Partially because the instruments available to be used by midi decoding software are now of such high quality, that a midi file can in fact produce an EXACT replication of an original song, both aurally and note-wise. And partially because artists got sick of their music being ripped off and appealed to law- makers to enforce their rights. Nowadays, NO - you can't use midi files unless you have permission from both the author of the midi file, and the copyright holder of the original music which the replayed tune resembles. However, MIDI licensing is cheap and easy. You can buy midi files off websites with unlimited usage licenses for as little as $10. In most professional organsations that are providing this service, you don't have to worry beyond about anything beyond paying them. They in turn pay the music companies the licensing fee (about 1/10th what you paid) for your usage of the midi file. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- If you have any other legal questions, please ask as many as possible at once so I can include them all in the next update to this FAQ. I'll be including some questions regarding Trademark law in the next update, but right now i've just spent 2 hours on this and I want to go do something else.. :) And I'll reformat it to 80 chars instead of 60.. oops :) Mmm.. and I'll cover "remakes" in the next update as well. +BlackD |
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Good effort BlackD. I think I may tidy up some of the phrasing on this and start selling it as a pamphlet on street corners. ;-) On a more serious note... I was working on an educational programme a while ago to teach french grammar. I ran into issues about using the definitions of verbs from published dictionaries - Collins/Robert, Oxford publishers, etc. spend a lot of time (=money) on creating their 'definitions' through vast databases of common usage. Eventually I found a dictionary from 1905 and started to trace the author or the holders of their estate. I got some letters from the original publishers and the copyright departments of the company who had bought out the publishers to say that they weren't laying claim to the rights and acknowledging my attempts to trace the owners. In spite of this, I eventually gave up the idea as I had no definitive word from actual owners giving explicit permission. Better safe than sorry when you are thinking of devoting a year of your life to developing a product that you might never be able to sell. |
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Instead of plopping {code} {/code} try {codebox} {/codebox} it saves time and loading! |
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Nice one BlackD :) Might be worth mentioning the MP3 license issues as those are frequestly asked about. |
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thanks this answers all my questions(almost) to copyrights |
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try {codebox} {/codebox} No, leave it longhand. But, as shown in the Hustler Are you talking about Larry Flynt?vs Evangelist case (i forget the name of the guy), Also, BlackD, may I copy the entire copyright text above to my website? I can leave it just as you've written it (with attribution if you wish). |
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Part two done.. Ouch.. my fingers! Tried to cover everything everyone requested, plus a few other important things like remakes, what Royalty Free means, etc. If I've forgotten anything or someone wants to know more, feel free to ask. :) (Now reformatted both for 80-column text, a more universal convention). Copyright and Legal FAQ - Part Two Written by BlackD Doesn't apply universally everywhere, but don't try to bend these rules or you may end up in jail. ;) ================================================================================ Table of Contents 12. What exactly are trademarks? 13. I'm making a game with a name trademarked elsewhere. Is this legal? 14. So can I re-use "unregistered" "common" trademarks and get away with it? 15. If a trademark isn't protected, can I use it? 16. What is abandonware? 17. Where do remakes fall into all of this? 18. Are ROMs remakes/fair-use? 19. I've made my own original MP3 file. Do I have to pay a license fee? 20. I've downloaded a MP3. Can I use it in my game? 21. What is the difference between Royalty Free and Public Domain? 22. GIF files. Do we have to pay for them too? -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 12. What exactly are trademarks? There are two kinds of trademark. The registered kind, and the unregistered kind. :) And there are two "sub-kinds", common and uncommon. The registered kind is the one you'll be most familiar with. An "uncommon" trademark is a non-phrasal trademark. This could be an original product name like "Fanta" (tm) Coca-Cola Company, or a name like "Ronald McDonald" which is a trademark of McDonalds Corp. "The Real Thing" (tm) Coca-Cola Company is an example of a "common" trademark. Its a phrase or set of words that could be used elsewhere without intentionally quoting the trademark. Registered trademarks are purchased. You pay a fee to the Trademark Office, and you get sole rights to use that phrase or title in any sense connected with your company or product. These are afforded full legal protection. The unregistered kind is where you make a game, and give it a name, and don't want to pay a trademark fee, so you don't. In this case, it will be hard to prosecute anyone for breaching your trademark. It may be original, but you would have to demonstrate a clear market dominance and consumer awareness of your orginality in the trademark in order to win. Note: This FAQ doesn't cover visual trademarks such as logos. Don't use them without permission. Simple as that. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 13. I'm making a game with a name trademarked elsewhere. Is this legal? This question doesn't just apply to game titles, but also character names, original locations (such as the Kingdom of Daventry), etc. Legal use of a trademark depends on how it is used. With "uncommon" trademarks, then the answer is almost always invariably NO. There is no way you could try and explain to anyone that the title of your book "Starcraft" wasn't inspired by the Blizzard game of the same name. Likewise, you couldn't use the name "Guybrush Threepwood" in a game of your own, even if he isn't a pirate, as it is a VERY uncommon trademark owned by LucasArts and there is no court in the world who would decide your "idea" for a character with the same name was purely coincidental. In the case of "common" trademarks however, there is a better chance for getting away with it. Especially trans-genre. For instance, I could write a book called "Diablo", and as long as it isn't about a paladin, a barbarian and a sorceress teaming up to defeat the three prime evils, Blizzard isn't going to be able to touch me. It's a common term, nothing to do with their product whatsoever, so trademark law doesn't apply here. This isn't always the case though. "Final Fantasy" is a common trademark, as it COULD be used without relation to the Squaresoft product whatsoever. However, "Final Fantasy" is already a cross-genre trademark. It has been used in books, movies, computer games, music, etc. Even if your work was nothing to do with RPG games whatsoever, they'd probably win a case against you if you used the name, as they have a clear explicit dominance of that trademark across multiple genres. Now to us as computer game makers, we're generally dealing with the reverse situation. Say you want to call your game "Armageddon". There's already a movie which has that name as a trademark, so can you use it? Yes. As long as your game has nothing to do with asteroids hitting earth, or deep-core oil drillers. Basically, trademarks can only be re-used when the product re-using the trade- mark bears no obvious resemblance to the original trademark, in any way which could cause harm to the holder, either by repute or monetary loss. There's already a game called "Worms". If you made a game called "Worms Assault" and made it really bad, then you can be sued. Even if it's nothing like the original Worms game. Simply because they can argue that someone out there might attribute your product to their company. So really - if you can avoid it, it's best not to used trademarked terms in your product. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 14. So can I re-use "unregistered" trademarks and get away with it? It seems like it would be easy to, doesn't it? An unregistered trademark is afforded very little legal protection. An example of an unregistered trademark is the term "Kilrathi", used by Origin Inc. in their series of space-opera games called "Wing Commander". It's true - Origin didn't bother to individually register the term "Kilrathi". However it's an uncommon term, and even though not registerered, Origin would have fairly good legal ground to stand on if you used the term "Kilrathi" in your game. Especially if in your game, they were cat-like alien enemies locked in an eternal war against the forces of mankind! With "common" unregistered trademarks however, there's pretty much nothing they can do. Origin uses the term "Nephilim" to describe another one of the alien races in its game. Unless the "Nephilim" in your game are also a horde-based alien invader exactly like the ones depicted in Wing Commander, then there's pretty much nothing Origin can do to stop you using the name. If they registered it, it might be a different matter - but as above, if its common - and nothing to do with their product, then you probably won't get prosecuted. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 15. If a trademark isn't protected, can I use it? Sometimes. As illustrated previously in the Microsoft vs Lindows case, an un-protected trademark can cause the trademark to be waived. However this is not an indefinite waiver. Even though Microsoft lost that case based on previous behavior, they demonstrated that they are still enforcing their trademark for the time being, which means another comapny can't come along and try the same thing again for a while yet. :) "Tetris" is a trademark, but one that at this stage, would be very hard for the original trademark owners to enforce. They haven't prosecuted any cases for many years, and have allowed dozens of products such as "Welltris", "Gemtris", and "Hextris" to make derivate works of their product AND their trademark, and not tried a case against a single one of them. Basically, I can't answer this question until you go through court and the judge decides. It is up to him as to wether or not a trademark hasn't been protected based on a case by case measure of merits. As a rule, no - just because a trademark hasn't been protected doesn't mean you can use it. If you DO want to try, consult your lawyers first of all. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 16. What is abandonware? Abandonware is a myth created by a bunch of folks who want to get kudos by giving away other peoples hard work. On the internet, the term "abandonware" is used to describe software (usually games) that is no longer available for sale. This may be because the company which produced the product has closed, or it has stopped selling and collecting royalties on that product. Distributing or downloading abandonware is a crime. Under copyright law, only the copyright holder may expressly donate a given work (such as a game) to the public domain. If the copyright holder (in the case we're discussing here - would be a company) hasn't done so - then the work is still copyright. Even if the company closes, in most countries, the copyright rights roll over to the government instead. And this copyright remains in effect for many years still to come. So how do some sites get away with distributing abandonware freely? Basically - because the government has bigger fish to fry and aren't going to pursue prosecution in defense of rights for a product they didn't create and don't really care about. Generally, the only time folks will get in trouble for distributing abandonware is in cases that company still exists. As they still hold the copyright, not the government, they are far more likely to defend their copyright - even if they're not selling the product anymore. Don't support abandonware. It is piracy. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 17. Where do remakes fall into all of this? Remakes is a grey area. Not in the legal sense - strictly, a remake is a breach of copyright. HOWEVER, a remake MAY be considered fair-use if a case ever in- fact went to court. Thus far, it hasn't happened. Any such cases have been settled out of court, with the defendant withdrawing distribution of their product. The reasons why they may fall under fair-use is simple. If a game was originally made on an arcade machine in the 1970s and is no longer sold or available to the general population, then someone may decide to re-make that game in order for it to be available to the public again. The company which holds the original copyright is very unlikely to sue you in this case. While they have the legal right to pursue a case, they know it could as easily be turned in your favor under fair-use grounds, which just opens the way for a thousand other rip-off clones to be created. If you really want to create a re-make, try and seek permission from the company which holds the copyright. Contact their legal department and tell them you love their game, and want to remake it with current technology. Usually, especially with older games, they really don't care. If you don't want to seek permission then do so at your own risk, but never charge for the remake. Only give it away freely. If you charge for it, then you stand to lose not only the product, but they can sue you for lost income, and the income you've gained. By proving that the product is still saleable, you've proven to the court that by people buying your product, the company has lost money that they could have otherwise made if they decided to remake the game themselves sometime in the future. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 18. Are ROMs remakes/fair-use? No. A lot of ROM sites tell you "you're allowed to copy this only if you own the original ROM" or "if you don't own this, you must delete it within 24 hours" which frankly folks, is a load of baloney. As already covered in discussion of fair-use in part one of this FAQ, only libraries (wether they be actual book libraries as we know, or even software archiving houses, etc) have the right to make copies of a product for archival or replacement purposes. Ever wonder why "All the great ROM sites always get shut down!!!"? It's because, despite their proclamations that it's fully legal, it's not. They get a letter from laywers and they run-hide. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 19. I've made my own original MP3 file. Do I have to pay a license fee? It depends on how much money your company makes. ;) As it relates to us as game programmers, if you wish to distribute MP3s as part of your game product, and you distribute over 5000 copies of your game (wether these are full version or demo are irrelevant), then you must pay a US$2500 license to Thompson - owners of the MP3 compression patent. If you wish to distribute MP3s on their own, then you must pay a license fee of 2% of the revenue generated by the distribution or sale of these MP3s. However, if your company grosses less than US$100,000 per year, you are exempt from the $2500 licensing requirement for software. Which means, if you're making freeware in your own time, or even if you're working for a company which grosses less than US$100,000, then you don't have to pay, and don't have to worry about it at all. Which means in 99% of cases with Blitz products, they won't require a license at all. Likewise with MP3s on their own, or used as a musical medium in a production such as a video, don't require licensing if they're not generating any income. The requirement of Thompson is only that you pay 2% of revenue generated by them. If they're not generating revenue, you don't have to pay Thompson. If you make a shedload of money (ie, over $100,000 a year) and still don't want to pay Thompson a paltry $2500, then don't use MP3. Instead, use a public domain format such as OGG, which attracts no licensing fees. Note: This entire discussion assumes that you own the copyright for the music contained in the MP3 file. It has merely been discussing use of the actual MP3 technology itself. Read on for discussion of copyrighted MP3 files. For more information on costs relating to MP3 licensing, go here: http://www.mp3licensing.com/ -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 20. I've downloaded a MP3. Can I use it in my game? ONLY if it's in the public domain, or you have purchased distribution rights for the music. The fact that it's in MP3 format is irrelevant to this discussion and likewise applies to copyrighted music in any format, MP3, WAV, OGG, etc, or even MODule formats such as IT, XM, S3M, MOD, etc. By now I've already covered well and truly what it means for something to be in the public domain. Music is an original creation and so falls under copyright. If you don't own the copyright or distribution rights, you have NO right to include it in your game. But on the light side - many sites sell royalty free music very cheaply, so even if you have no musical talent, you can buy distribution rights to music and then use those tunes in your game. Just google for "royalty free music" to get started. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 21. What is the difference between Royalty Free and Public Domain? Public Domain is a work which has been expressly donated, with all of the seven rights under copyright revoked by the author, for use by anyone for any purpose whatsoever. Royalty Free is a work which has had certain rights given up. Most often this is the rights of attribution and distribution. This means you can use it in your own products without paying for it again. You've purchased those rights, so you can use it as much as you want and you don't have to credit the original author. However, Royalty Free music is NOT public domain. The original author still retains a measure of copyright and therefore you are puchasing a usage license, not an unlimited license to do whatever you want with their product. Before purchasing royalty free products of any kind (wether its art, music, or any other kind), read their licensing agreement to make sure that your usage of it won't contradict what they'll let you do with it. The most common restrictions placed on usage of royalty free works are: - You may not resell it or give it away on its own. - You must pay a licensing fee for each separate product you use the work in. - You may not take credit for it. Either give no credit, or give it to the original author. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 22. GIF files. Do we have to pay for them too? The issue regarding GIF files doesn't actually revolve around GIFs themselves, but rather the LZW encoding method used to create them, and to decode and thus display them. GIF files on their own require no licensing fee. However, if you write software which writes or displays GIF files, then you must pay a licensing fee to Unisys Inc. As regards to BlitzBasic, I'm not entirely sure. I would imagine that as part of our registration, BR pays licensing to Unisys Inc. for the decoder included in the product, but I don't really know. This is something for BR to clarify, not myself. :) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- And yes WolRon, you may copy it to your website. You can even change it if you want. But attribution to Black3D@... would be nice. :) +BlackD |
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I may not be 100% correct on all aspects Doesn't that make the very existence of this thread somewhat pointless? Why harp on about law when you openly admit you don't know if what you're saying is correct? |
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Ahh GFK.. always the critic. :) I do know what i'm saying is correct, however that is more on a regional basis. For instance, the DMCA won't be enforced in NZ, making MIDI files still considered a program, but it is enforced in Australia due to the nature of Australias free trade agreement with the US. And none of it applies in Singapore. :P What I am saying IS correct, the point is - a lot of it has never actually been tested in court in different places around the world. No ROM site has ever gone all the way to court, because they've shut down under legal pressure. Therefore, for instance - while ROM sites are technically illegal and do NOT meet the fair-use requirements, no judge has actually ruled on that, making the current implied understanding of the law simply conjecture. If it DID go to court, a judge MIGHT consider it fair use thereby setting a precedent. Until that time, I go by the letter of the law, and as such they are a breach of several copyright rights. Likewise, Australia has never had a case concerning wether MIDI files are legal or not as copies of songs or as computer programs, so even though they accept the US definition, Aus courts can still make their own decision - but we don't know yet. +BlackD |
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A bump for anyone who missed it. :) First and last time.. |
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This should be stickied. Excellent work and essential reading! |
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So... If I wrote a game based on events from a commercial, MMORPG, and used some media taken from the game, and used names (UNSURE IF THEY ARE REGISTERED TRADEMARKS) from that game, but I obtained permission from the publishers of the game who stated "As long as you maintain that all rights to our original content belongs to us", and I noted that the media remains the copyright of the publishers within a readme file within the game, is this okay? |
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Yes. |
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Just so you know, the LZW patent has expired everywhere now, so using GIFs with LZW compression should be fine. See here. You may want to update your FAQ. This was also based on a patent rather than a copyright. Oh, and arguably the IBM patent for the exact same thing in the USA lasts until August 2006, but it's generally accepted as invalid. |
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I don't get why you're still flogging this dead horse. Many people have been posting corrections to that text and after 8 months you still haven't changed the incorrect information. EDIT: I just checked and the corrections were made with regard to WolRon's copy of this 'FAQ'. This is one of the threads. http://www.blitzbasic.com/Community/posts.php?topic=46541 It doesn't absolve BlackD from leaving up a 'FAQ', which is essentially flawed, though. And shame on WolRon for not bothering to correct his copy of this 'FAQ' either. Andy |
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LOL. It's not "essentially flawed". It's not perfect - trying to cover every copyright law set from every country is impossible. The GIF info is out-dated, as is the MIDI, but it's of course up to each individual to know his own nation's copyright law. This is a general guide - generally intended to encourage people not to steal other people's content, and to point out that if they do, the law is against them. I have very little tolerance for plagiarism. 99% of the info here is correct for most western countries - not just USA. Anyway, this thread is dead - I think most people know what they're allowed to do or not, but at the time when I posted it, there were 3 "legal questions" threads underway - so i simply decided to answer them all in one. Maybe when people start stealing your hundreds of hours of work as they have mine in the past, you'll start taking a greater interest in informing the community of why stealing is wrong. +BlackD |
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>99% of the info here is correct for most western >countries - not just USA. No it isn't! European IP laws are not similar to US IP law. The most obvious issue is 'fair use'. Your FAQ relates to the US alone and is incorrect. >Anyway, this thread is dead - I think most people know >what they're allowed to do or not, but at the time when I >posted it, there were 3 "legal questions" threads >underway - so i simply decided to answer them all in one. If you absolutely have to 'answer' 'legal questions', then it would be helpful if you were able to do so accurately. >Maybe when people start stealing your hundreds of hours of >work as they have mine in the past, They have and I sucesfully stopped them. >you'll start taking a greater interest in informing the >community of why stealing is wrong. I am all for informing the community, but a FAQ needs to be accurate or what's the point of making one. Andy |
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but a FAQ needs to be accurate or what's the point of making one. To feed the trolls obviously.*Throws another post* ;) Sorry Andy, I'm not going to delete this entire post just because some information is out-dated, or a case example is incorrect - it IS a useful guide. And even if I changed it to make you happy, some guy in Zimbabwe may take your approach and complain that it doesn't match his local laws and demand his own changes. It's fine as it stands. Just let it die. >_< Alternatively, feel free to post your own international copyright FAQ. |
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>Sorry Andy, I'm not going to delete this entire post just >because some information is out-dated, or a case example >is incorrect - it IS a useful guide. The information is specific to the US. You can't just extrapolate from US IP law and claim that the rest of the worlds IP legislation works the same, when in fact it doesn't. The case example is not incorrect, it's an invention! You use the Lindows case to support something that was never a part of the case. >And even if I changed it to make you happy Don't change it to make me happy, change it to be accurate! >some guy in Zimbabwe may take your approach and complain >that it doesn't match his local laws and demand his own >changes. It's not just my local IP laws which is different from the US IP laws, most nations IP laws are. >It's fine as it stands. Just let it die. Sure, but could you atleast respect the people who may run into your FAQ enough to tell them that your FAQ is specific to the US. Andy |
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>>>If you charge for it, then you stand to lose not only the product, but they can sue you for lost income, and the income you've gained. By proving that the product is still saleable, you've proven to the court that by people buying your product, the company has lost money that they could have otherwise made if they decided to remake the game themselves sometime in the future.<<< So some company used to make some product they no longer do and haven't done so for a long period. Somebody remakes this product and sells it. The company has lost money. From a logic perspective this argument is flawed, but then maybe judges and lawyers never get to study logic. I'm not saying anything agaisnt the law, I'm just questioning the logic used to justify it. Of course it could be that the company in question is called ADogInTheManger Inc. |
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Andy : How's about you add the changes yourself? Add a post including the points now outdated or incorrect for certain areas? I know US IP law is a lot iffier then EU law in some respects, especially in Fair Use and Software Patents, but on the whole much is similar. And I'll add that regards If you absolutely have to 'answer' 'legal questions', then it would be helpful if you were able to do so accurately. there aren't many absolutes in law. That's why lawyers are used to interpret situations on a case by case principle, to present differeing perspecitives for the judgement to consider and choose between. Two legal answers could be presented, contrary, but both legally accurate to a degree until argued in court. |