Hi Alex, All too true. Copyright law is a very tricky and complicated issue. Anyone who tels you it is easy or you can just ignore it must be living under a rock somewhere, or living in their own zone. Most of the times you have to look between the lines and determine what can and can not be copyrighted. For example, an idea in of itself can not be copyrighted. You can actually write a similar story to one already in existance and copyright it provided the similarities are not exactly the same. Some years ago there was a horror movie made called Child's Play. It featured the story about a evil man's spirit that took over the body of a doll which went around committing murders. Years later The Goose Bumps tv series featured a story with a doll which came to life, and went around attacking the members of the household and destroying property. It is clear both stories are similar, but were different enough in nature to both be original works of fiction while sharing the idea of a evil living doll in them. So there is all kinds of different ways to read fair use into the copyright laws. On one hand there isn't any law saying you can not use someone elses ideas, but you can't copy it totally. You can't just create your own Child's Play story and name the doll Chucky and use the same characters, places, and exact same story. Though, you can create your own dall, give it a different setting, name, supporting characters, and do the same thing legally.
Alex K wrote: > Hello, > If indeed Lucas Arts did send a takedown notice, and you intentionally > deleted or ignored it, a judge could rule that you were in contempt of > court, and slap you with a fine or jail sentence. > > Unfortunately, copyright is a bit of a complicated subject. What is > considered fair use? How does copyright law differ from country to country? > These are problems we need to solve in order for the audio games market to > advance, if people want Star Wars/Star Trek/Mario-based games at least. > > --- Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] You can make changes or update your subscription via the web, at http://audyssey.org/mailman/listinfo/gamers_audyssey.org. All messages are archived and can be searched and read at http://www.mail-archive.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED] If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, please send E-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
