Alright, let''s say I''m going to be creating my own little business or publishing myself all alone, no company behind me, on the web, or whatever...my quesion is how do I go about copyrighting/patenting my game? I''m familiar with copyrighting music (just tape it and send the tape to the patent office) so is it very similiar or what I wonder? Anyway, this is not a pressing question, as I am far from even the dream of having my game finished, but it''s a curiousity of mine and I thought the answer could benefit most anyone who''s new to the concept, so here is the question. Thank you for your time. =) "We are men of action. Lies do not become us."

If you can''t be accused of faking something like that, then it''s ingenius!

--Nazrix is cool.

International copyright laws are very similar on this point. The author of the programme just requires to retain the source code of his/her software and store it in a safe place (shoebox?). This also includes custom artwork you did. Ever heard of Picasso going to a patent office to register a painting?

In any case nobody can claim he/she owns your programme since you always have the source code to show for it. Now in order to protect the name of your programme you can opt to register a trademark with the U.S. patent office but why should you?

Fact is that any individual or company will do an extensive search on whether a title is already in use and simply choose another one to avoid confusion.

Take care,

Alex

Why register? How about these reasons from the U.S. Copyright Office website:

1. Registration establishes a public record of the copyright claim.

2. Before an infringement suit may be filed in court, registration is necessary for works of U. S. origin.

3. If made before or within 5 years of publication, registration will establish prima facie evidence in court of the validity of the copyright and of the facts stated in the certificate.

4. If registration is made within 3 months after publication of the work or prior to an infringement of the work, statutory damages and attorney''s fees will be available to the copyright owner in court actions. Otherwise, only an award of actual damages and profits is available to the copyright owner.

5. Registration allows the owner of the copyright to record the registration with the U. S. Customs Service for protection against the importation of infringing copies. For additional information, request Publication No. 563 "How to Protect Your Intellectual Property Right," from: U.S. Customs Service, P.O. Box 7404, Washington, D.C. 20044. See the U.S. Customs Service Website at www.customs.gov for online publications.

$30 is a small price to pay for these things, if you ask me. And posession of source code isn''t going to prove ownership of graphics/artwork. The "mail it to yourself" idea has been around for years (at least in music circles) and could help, but see #2 above.

The method you suggest (mailing myself a copy) is known as the "poor man''s patent", and it does not work. The concept is, because it''s sealed and it is dated by an official government institution (the postmarked stamp), then whatever is inside must indeed be of your own hand. The problem with that is that even I know how to steam open an old post-marked envelope so that it *looks* like it''s really back-dated. The legals are familiar with this trick, so to get a patent/copy right I do have to go through the patent office or some other legal institution.

Thank you for your contributions, they have all been helpful. I know that trademarking a game title (and possibly characters)are all solid things to do to make your game yours...perhaps the best bet is my current course of action: write a deep-winding story that the game is based on, so if another tries to cop it you can slap them with plagerism. =)

"We are men of action. Lies do not become us."

To answer the question in your original post, serratemplar, copyright registration for any work is exactly like it is for music - put it on some kind of fixed media, fill out the forms, mail it in. See http://www.copyright.gov for all the info you could want, plus downloadable forms.

That, Diragor, is music to my ears. =D

Thank you!

"We are men of action. Lies do not become us."