2 questions about selling games

[Lyseth]

So there are a few questions I have,

1. Can we do a self publishing-like copyright? The playable characters in my game are of my own creation, name, design, etc. and I'd hate for someone to steal them.

2. Is a vendors license required to sell an indie game?

I looked into a thread regarding selling a game and didn't get a very clear answer.

 

[Shaz]

1. yes


2. depends on where you are and the laws in your country/state.

 

[Lyseth]

1. yes2. depends on where you are and the laws in your country/state.

1. So if one were to steal my characters, would I be able to take legal action that pulls through 100%?

2. I'm in USA, couldn't find anything on indie games and vendors license.

 

[Andar]

1) yes, of course - just keep in mind that you have to pay the lawyer first, and then can charge that payment to the people who made the copyright infringment (and hope that they have enough money to pay your cost back after they lost the case. That is why fangames are often ignored if done by kiddies who have no money to pay for lawyers).

2) then you better search again and ask for professional help with that, because the USA does have laws concerning vendor licences and requires you to pay tax based on your income (and selling games is income for you)

 

[Lyseth]

1) yes, of course - just keep in mind that you have to pay the lawyer first, and then can charge that payment to the people who made the copyright infringment (and hope that they have enough money to pay your cost back after they lost the case. That is why fangames are often ignored if done by kiddies who have no money to pay for lawyers).

2) then you better search again and ask for professional help with that, because the USA does have laws concerning vendor licences and requires you to pay tax based on your income (and selling games is income for you)

Alright, 1 last question regarding copyright, which one is easier to protect? A copyright that's recognized/registered by the government, or a self copyrighted piece of work? And how much does it cost to put this on characters? (Preferred if stated as amount per character)

 

[Andar]

I think it would be really better if you read up on the copyright, because your questions show that you have only a vague understanding of what is involved, and I'm no lawyer that can give you confirmed answers (for a country that I don't even live in).

However:

All your work is automatically protected by the copyright as soon as it contains enough of your own ideas to be something else than a copy. However, the key is to prove that it is your work instead of someone else work - that is the only difference in registering the work, it makes sure that you have first claim - and it's not exactly cheap to register, but the price you have to look up on your own.

Usually 99% of all people never bother with such a claim (or trying to claim your work as their own) because ideas themselves are absolutely worthless in all cases.

What creates the value of a copyright is the amount of work you placed to implement the idea as something of value. And if you have placed that work into the project, you also have the early (and stupid) drafts before your work got any value. And those are usually more than enough proof (together with the fact that its easier to hire someone else to make something similiar of their own, because there are no new ideas anywhere).

Take time to read the other topics in this part of the forum - you are neither the first (nor will be the last) to ask those questions about piracy or copyright infringment.

And there are two other facts that have been stated everytime that question was asked:

1) Anyone who needs to steal your ideas because he has no ideas of his own will be unable to implement your idea, because you need to have imagination to implement an idea. And anyone who has imagination has enough ideas of his/her own and doesn't need to steal yours.

2) Anyone who thinks that his own concepts and base ideas have any worth has never completed a game, or he/she would know that the real work is not the idea or concept in itself.

So unless you already have a development company with a dozen employees and need to protect your names for future use and against competitor claims, any additional work to protect your "ideas" beyond the automated copyright and perhaps at maximum a trademark registering (trademark, not copyright) would be a waste of time or money.

 

[Lyseth]

I think it would be really better if you read up on the copyright, because your questions show that you have only a vague understanding of what is involved, and I'm no lawyer that can give you confirmed answers (for a country that I don't even live in).

However:

All your work is automatically protected by the copyright as soon as it contains enough of your own ideas to be something else than a copy. However, the key is to prove that it is your work instead of someone else work - that is the only difference in registering the work, it makes sure that you have first claim - and it's not exactly cheap to register, but the price you have to look up on your own.

Usually 99% of all people never bother with such a claim (or trying to claim your work as their own) because ideas themselves are absolutely worthless in all cases.

What creates the value of a copyright is the amount of work you placed to implement the idea as something of value. And if you have placed that work into the project, you also have the early (and stupid) drafts before your work got any value. And those are usually more than enough proof (together with the fact that its easier to hire someone else to make something similiar of their own, because there are no new ideas anywhere).

Take time to read the other topics in this part of the forum - you are neither the first (nor will be the last) to ask those questions about piracy or copyright infringment.

And there are two other facts that have been stated everytime that question was asked:

1) Anyone who needs to steal your ideas because he has no ideas of his own will be unable to implement your idea, because you need to have imagination to implement an idea. And anyone who has imagination has enough ideas of his/her own and doesn't need to steal yours.

2) Anyone who thinks that his own concepts and base ideas have any worth has never completed a game, or he/she would know that the real work is not the idea or concept in itself.

So unless you already have a development company with a dozen employees and need to protect your names for future use and against competitor claims, any additional work to protect your "ideas" beyond the automated copyright and perhaps at maximum a trademark registering (trademark, not copyright) would be a waste of time or money.

What's the difference between trademark and copyright?

 

[Andar]

What's the difference between trademark and copyright?

That is why I said you need to read up your facts - trademark and copyright are entirely different things, they have absolutely nothing in common.

Copyright is about larger works - you cannot copyright simple names

Trademarks are names only, you cannot trademark anything but simple words.

And there are more differences than can be told in any simple answer...

 

[Lyseth]

That is why I said you need to read up your facts - trademark and copyright are entirely different things, they have absolutely nothing in common.

Copyright is about larger works - you cannot copyright simple names

Trademarks are names only, you cannot trademark anything but simple words.

And there are more differences than can be told in any simple answer...

About trademarks, can they be used to reserve rights to a complete character?

 

[Andar]

About trademarks, can they be used to reserve rights to a complete character?

Theoretically yes (name plus picture as a picture trademark) - if your last name is Rockefeller or something like that.

Every trademark needs to be paid for, a single one costs around 300€ here in Germany for example.

And that is the last question I'll answer until you prove that you did your own research in your own countries law on that topic.

 

[Dymdez]

I'm assuming you're from America.

Copyright is there to protect your ideas once they have a tangible form. Copyright immediately vests when you have a tangible representation of your idea. Ideas themselves are not copyrightable. You cannot copyright concepts (there is a long and interesting history of this in the case law).

The federal law controls copyright law, it is very very unlikely that your state law will apply (for reasons I won't explain because they're very very boring). Here is the Copyright Statute in its current form: http://copyright.gov/title17/circ92.pdf This will be essentially useless to you. That's why copyright lawyers exist.

Selling a game, like selling anything, matters a lot on all sorts of issues we are not going to flesh out here. For example, will you be incorporating or forming a business entity? Or will you be working with an intermediary (think Steam). If you're just selling it yourself, then we need to know where? Again, won't get into this. Just remember that any proceeds will count as income for tax purposes.

if you're making a project, keep track of your resources very closely and make sure you're allowed to commercially use the ones you want to use. Once that is all sorted out, you can find an accountant or some professional who can point you in the right direction, or go through an intermediary like Steam, etc...

You wrote: "About trademarks, can they be used to reserve rights to a complete character?"

No. It's difficult, although not impossible, to have a copyright interest in a complete character (there is some case law I could show you if interested), trademark issues don't arise here; trademarks are for identifying products with a sign or symbol, or something like that.

This isn't legal advice ^ just some statements of fact

 

[Prescott]

Go for Creative Commons license. It's free and still protective:

http://creativecommons.org/choose/

 

[jwideman]

Regarding licensing:

The reason you're not finding much information online is because the laws depend on your location. You MUST contact your local government. Since your sales will entirely be digital media, you most likely won't need any license at all. What you MAY need is a DBA license but ONLY if you want to take payments under a company name rather than your own name.

As for taxes, save all your receipts and records of payment to you. Once it looks like you're making regular money, get an accountant. Ask if they'll give you a free consultation. They should let you know whether you need them or not based on how much you're making.