Copyright - When you create something like music, a film, a game it is automatically copyright. No one else can copy it without your permission but they can steal the idea and make their own version.

So you can''t do another game that looks and plays exactly like Red Alert, you can''t steal their graphics and use them in another game (cos the graphics on their own are copyright as well as when they are part of the whole game) but you can do Warcraft, which is basically the same idea done from scratch.

I am fairly sure that copyright covers the title as well but even if it doesn''t you still can''t use it because it is a Trade Mark. As the words suggest this is a recognised Mark that a company uses while trading (company logo or name/logo for a product). These Trade Marks can be officially registered but they do not have to be. If the company can show that it was using the mark before you then the court will find against you.

There is also one last issue which is "passing off". If you pick a similar name/logo such as "Diabolical" or "Diabol" the company can sue you. They can claim (probably correctly) that you are trying to trick people into thinking that your game is Diablo or is associated with in in some way.

We had a well reported case of passing off in the UK. A supermarket created an own-brand biscuit called Puffin, which looked just like the more famous Penguin brand. They were sued and they lost.

Dan Marchant
Obscure Productions

hey, if I make a game called Gravity or Fire, and trademark it, no one else can make a game with the same name? How about other products? What if I make a game called Mountain Dew? Or a drink called Diablo?

Actually this is not exactly true. If you make a computer game called "Coca Cola" the same company will sue you to hell and back - even the trademark is orginally for a soft drink. It depends on how famous the company is.

Also you need to take a look at the laws of the countries you want to sell it on. In USA both parties need to pay their lawyer, etc. costs themselves. In Germany the losing party PAYS ALL COSTS. This means they will only sue you in USA when they are sure that it is worth the cost. In Germany (or other european countries) they might sue you just for fun - if they are sure they will win.

The distinction comes with whether or not you can be ruled as using the name for promotional purposes. For instance, Diablo is a common reference, so as long as it doesn''t directly try and steal the game Diablo''s fame (most likely any computer/console game would qualify) then you won''t be in trouble. But as for the Coca-Cola example, Coca-Cola isn''t exactly a word or common, if I say Coca-Cola you immediately think of the soft drink. Therefore naming something Coca-Cola would be using that brand name as a promotional tool. As for Diablo, there are several products I can think of named Diablo, and since Diablo is simply a word as long as it''s not a computer game you aren''t going to get in trouble, atleast not from Blizzard.

~WarDekar