Quote:Original post by d000hg
But going back to the book example, you could have somebody being shot in Safeway, or terrorists trying to blow up the Statue of Liberty I think?

No, because Safeway is a trademark and as such protected. You would need their permission to use it. As for the Statue of Liberty you might find that its image was a trademark owned by the city council - it probably isn't but given how famous it is it might be - the only real answer to this whole question is "talk to a lawyer".

Many years ago my company made a brochure for T-shirts, caps etc. They did a photoshoot out the back of an office with me standing by a motocycle that just happened to be there. Then at a trade show some months later a guy turns up asking for money. Turns out it was his bike and he had somehow seen the brochure. I don't rememeber what happened (I think we gave him some free games) but the point is you can't just do something and assume no one will spot it.

The part about the banning of games that would be decide by the gov't, yes the gov't can ban games. Most recently they just banned Leisure Suit Larry from Australia. The part about the specific buildings to my knowledge you would either have to contact the architect or contact the current owner of that building to get permission to use it. Also, if your wanting to put adveetising in your game(such as a McDonald's sign) then you would have to contact the head of McDonalds Advertisment team and get permission. This is usually not a prob becuase companies now days encourage free advertisments they just might ask for you to put in your credits or something that they did not endorse this game.

I would suggest not listening to anyone here who doesn't have a law degree. The "oh, I've sort of seen something like it, so it must be legal in all ways you can imagine" argument from someone who has no grasp of even basic copyright vs trademark vs patent law isn't a good legal descion.

About the only thing you can use without consulting a lawyer and getting permission from the owner is the name of a state/city. Beyond that you can easily open yourself up to being sued.