Basing a game in a real city

Games Business and Law Business

Started by Mathias87 March 08, 2010 05:01 PM

19 comments, last by Noctrine 14 years ago

1,315

March 11, 2010 04:07 PM

Quote:Original post by Mathias87
What about the city's name in general? What if all copyright laws are followed in regards to landmarks or distinctive buildings, combined with the GTA parody approach, could I still use the "New York" name?

Quote:Original post by madelelaw
If you can't afford a lawyer don't do anything that would compel you to have to ask a legal question.

i.e. this stuff is complicated and potentially perilous legal ground. If you need to ask if you can do it, the answer is no unless you can afford to pay a lawyer to research it for you. It depends on the city, the local laws, the copyright claims of the people who own the buildings, etc. i.e. you need to pay a lawyer to research the specific exact thing that you want to do.

So unless you can pay a lawyer to answer it for you:
don't use any landmarks
don't call it new york
don't use any NYC street names
don't do anything that makes it explicitly new york

just make it look kind of like new york: similar building styles, similar weather, fashion, etc.

-me

Mathias87

100

Author

March 11, 2010 05:56 PM

I was browsing wikipedia about GTA's San Fierro (parody of San Francisco) and was wondering how they were able to get away with using landmarks (such as the Golden Gate Bridge, Trans American Building, etc) without any law suits? Obviously Rockstar changed the names but the real life landmarks look almost identical to ones found in GTA's San Fierro. Was Rockstar able to get away with this because of minor changes to the look of these landmarks coupled with fake names?

http://media.giantbomb.com/uploads/0/3/10052-sanfierro.jpg
http://www.vdevicio.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/07/gtasa_pc_city_view_san_fierro_gant_bridge.jpg

Palidine

1,315

March 11, 2010 06:06 PM

Probably because they paid the city of San Francisco dollars to license the IP. That's how such deals typically work

"Hi, I'm a giant multi-billion dollar company and I want to use your IP in a game"
"Cool that'll be X tens of thousands of dollars"
"No problem" -> drives in dumptruck of cash

But if they didn't pay to license they definitely paid lawyers to research the problem.

-me

Tom Sloper

17,201

March 11, 2010 10:13 PM

Quote:Original post by Mathias87
I was ... wondering how they were able to get away with using landmarks... without any law suits? ... Was Rockstar able to get away with this because of ...?

Nobody said that it's a certainty that somebody would get sued for this.
There isn't a big mystery why these instances "got away with" anything.
The real mystery is whether something will happen to those guys in the future (it still could) or whether something would happen to you or me if we tried doing the same thing.
If you're willing to take the risk, that's YOUR beeswax.
Our advice remains, don't do stuff that you have to ask if you might get sued for.
That might be interpreted as "don't do anything," but each individual has to draw his own line of fear in the sand.

-- Tom Sloper -- sloperama.com

Tom Sloper

17,201

March 12, 2010 09:50 AM

Quote:Original post by Tom Sloper
each individual has to draw his own line of fear in the sand.

... which is there.

-- Tom Sloper -- sloperama.com

magic_man

March 12, 2010 10:41 AM

Quote:Original post by Palidine
Depends on the city. Some cities have super weird regulations. With Paris, for instance, you cannot represent the Eiffel Tower in anything other than pristine form without special permission. It's also hard to say how enforceable this stuff is; we cared when I worked at a big publisher...

Retain a lawyer and have them dig for you.

-me

Any information to back this up? It is the lights that have protection not the building.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eiffel_Tower#Image_copyright_claims

"You insulted me!" I did not say that in the private message Tom Sloper!

Tom Sloper

17,201

March 12, 2010 10:51 AM

Quote:Original post by magic_man
Quote:Original post by Palidine
Depends on the city. Some cities have super weird regulations. With Paris, for instance, you cannot represent the Eiffel Tower in anything other than pristine form without special permission.
Retain a lawyer and have them dig for you.

Any information to back this up? It is the lights that have protection not the building.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eiffel_Tower#Image_copyright_claims

The fact of some minor Eiffel Tower IP information being stated on Wikipedia does not negate the advice.
It does vary by city.
Retain a lawyer if your business depends on your taking a legal risk.

[Edited by - Tom Sloper on March 12, 2010 9:51:22 PM]

-- Tom Sloper -- sloperama.com

Tom Sloper

17,201

March 12, 2010 05:15 PM

Quote:Original post by Tom Sloper
The fact of some minor Eiffel Tower IP factoid being stated on Wikipedia does not negate the advice.

It has been pointed out to me that I misunderstood the meaning of the word "factoid."
Therefore I hereby change the above to the following:

Quote:The fact of some minor Eiffel Tower IP information being stated on Wikipedia does not negate the advice.

-- Tom Sloper -- sloperama.com

Palidine

1,315

March 12, 2010 05:33 PM

Quote:Original post by magic_man
Any information to back this up? It is the lights that have protection not the building.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eiffel_Tower#Image_copyright_claims

That's what a team I was working on was told by our lawyers. It's not linkable fact, but ya know. And who knows, maybe our producer told us that because he hated the eiffel tower idea. Over-arching point being, who knows? not the internet necessarily. So ask a lawyer.

-me

SimonForsman

7,644

March 29, 2010 07:36 AM

Quote:Original post by Palidine
Quote:Original post by magic_man
Any information to back this up? It is the lights that have protection not the building.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eiffel_Tower#Image_copyright_claims

That's what a team I was working on was told by our lawyers. It's not linkable fact, but ya know. And who knows, maybe our producer told us that because he hated the eiffel tower idea. Over-arching point being, who knows? not the internet necessarily. So ask a lawyer.

-me

The eiffel tower was built for the 1889 world faire, so any copyright on the building design itself would have expired by now, the name might be trademarked though and french courts have rules that the nighttime lights are protected. (those were added fairly recently)

For other buildings and national landmarks the same thing basically applies, really old buildings can't be protected (In sweden copyright lasts for the lifetime of the author plus 70 years so pretty much any design that is older than 150 years is safe to use.

[size="1"]I don't suffer from insanity, I'm enjoying every minute of it.
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