Just as I mentioned about this Arcade Hall - simulation game, I would like to know that can I use real names of games and companies in this game ? Can use names like Sega, Namco, Soul Calibur, Virtua Fighter, Tekken Tag Tournament, Sega Rally 2, Pacman and so on ? I have been seeing that many books write about this games, and don''t actually have any copyright explanations, except that at beginning or end of the book there might be "Pacman is trademark of Namco" etc... How about if I add (tm) after every name ? Like: "Are you sure that you wan''t to buy Namco''s game SOULCALIBUR(tm)" or so ? It seems to be that first time in my life I''m going to release something as freeware, and I''m going to release sourcecode too, so actually I''m not trying to make money with the program... But asking permission from every company is pretty big job, because some companies, like Namco, actually have only Japanise website. This is the weird thing, that I can see magazines where people write about lates snowboard called "X" from "Company X", and it seems to be that they can write with their free will, but when group creates game, where you can use board X, you have to ask permission / license from this company... Blaah

If you want to be safe, you should make up game titles and game companies, the way unlicenced sports games, make up leagues.

Domini

Yeah, go with made-up names, or try to get permission from the real guys to use their names.

Just because you''re not going to make any money off your project doesn''t mean you get to use whatever you want. The same copyright/trademark laws still apply, so be careful.


Mason McCuskey
Spin Studios - home of Quaternion, 2000 GDC Indie Games Fest Finalist!
www.spin-studios.com