What is considered copyright infringement as far as art goes?

[MikePjr]

I ask, because i been working long and hard on some battler graphics.


They're inspired by the old 2D Final Fantasy graphics, but there 3 times the size, and i am drawing them by hand.


If i decide to sell the game i'm making, i don't want Square Enix throwing copyright claims and C&D orders at me.


Let me show you what i have made.

I could throw up some comparisons to stuff that's ACTUALLY made by Squenix, but i don't think that's allowed.


But basically, he's similar to those old sprites, but he's 3 times the size, and made to work with MV.


I just hate to work all this time on these sprites, and then run into legal issues because they're "similar" to actual graphics.


And i needed to learn what is considered copyright and fair use.


I hate to run into issues especially on these forums, being told i'm stealing just cause of similarities...


I worked too hard on this to end up in trouble.

 

[Strange_Dragon_99]

I'm pretty sure that anything that is modeled after SquareEnix's stuff is a no-go. Even if it is 3x the size, or renamed, rebranded, etc. it is still the intellectual property of SquareEnix and off limits. Your stuff can be used in non-commercial stuff but anything other than that is not allowed. 


I could be wrong, so maybe a moderator could tell you for sure. 

 

[Revival]

If you drew it yourself then you're golden, (unless of course you're blatantly ripping off a copyrighted character), but you don't appear to be doing so.  

I would say don't worry about it, nobody is allowed to claim your pixels as their own and I think in an actual court of law, if it ever got that far, it would be ridiculously hard to say they own a style of pixel configuration, and I don't think they'd be willing to push it that far    

Imo the only time you should worry is if you're copying characters, using other people's sprites (or pieces of them).

 

[Victor Sant]

"Art style" is not something that can be copyrighted. So, as long the whole thing was made from scratch, there is no risk.


That means not using any part of the source material for you own material.

 

[Archeia]

Here you go:


http://www.artslaw.com.au/articles/entry/i-like-your-style-part-i-copyright-infringement-or-not/


And


http://theartlawblog.blogspot.com/2006/02/copyright-in-artists-style.html

 

[Sharm]

I think you're asking the wrong question.  I mean, do you want people to be thinking about FF when playing your game?  Do you want your players to wonder if your sprites are infringing on something?  In this case I think the question shouldn't really be about what the actual law is, but about what it does for the image and reputation of your game.

 

[Victor Sant]

@Sharm it's not about what people will think, he is just worried about legal issues. For example, getting a C&D order from Square Enix, because his sprites 'looks too much like Final Fantasy"

 

[MikePjr]

That's a tough one.


I would say i really like how the old FF games sprites would stand, how they would move, how they would dance in victory.. how they would do a lot of things, and in a way i want it to be clear that i LOVE the older games, but at the same time, you can't just rip things you're working on, and i realized this.. so i decided to draw it by hand at a higher resolution.


It's part inspired, and part homage.


But i actually and totally drew this guy and his sheet from scratch.


I will admit though that some of his stances and frames are almost exactly the same.. the way he throws his hands up to use an item... the way he bounces(dances) when he wins, the way he swings his arms and attacks with a weapon.. it's all pretty much the same, but they are in fact hand drawn, and they're different enough and they're a much higher resolution than the originals.


It's hard to say.


I just wanted to do a homage without breaking any copyright laws.


Here is an example of why i'm worried, back when Terraria was first being developed, the players looked a lot like they were from final fantasy, though not really ripped or anything like that, they were original.. but square-enix had a fit anyways, and they had to make extensive changes.


I wanted to do a homage to classic final fantasy, without breaking any copyright laws, nor infringing on existing works.


Sort of like how Mighty No9 is similar to MegaMan but he's not MegaMan.


Or how BloodStained Ritual of the night is very much like Castlevania but nothing in it is FROM a castlevania game.


I'm not ripping anything, but i wanna avoid getting hit with court orders or issues.

 

[Victor Sant]

I'm not ripping anything, but i wanna avoid getting hit with court orders or issues.

If you're not ripping neither copying, there is nothing to worry.


You say that your sprite is x3 the size of a FF sprite.


So, if you get an FF sprite and zoom x3 and can't find too many similarities (and by similarities, i'm talking about the pixel arrangement, not only the poses).there is not much they can do against you.

 

[MikePjr]

If you're not ripping neither copying, there is nothing to worry.


You say that your sprite is x3 the size of a FF sprite.


So, if you get an FF sprite and zoom x3 and can't find too many similarities (and by similarities, i'm talking about the pixel arrangement, not only the poses).there is not much they can do against you.

Yeah.


I guess i was more or less seeing if similarities were against he law.

 

[Victor Sant]

Yeah.


I guess i was more or less seeing if similarities were against he law.

Want an example?


Look at FFIV (SNES version) and FFIV:TAY (WII version)





Even though they have a very similar motion style, they are pretty different from each other, enough that if they were made by different companies, they couldn't claim that one was a copy of another. (Notice that, color scheme aside, they are the same character)


So you can keep the same motion style, with some similarities  in the visual style, as long you don't directly copy it.

 

[MikePjr]

This should help.





From left to right... my character, the FF6 mobile version battler, then the PSP style for FF4, and finally.. old 16 bit FF6.


So looking at this, i'm gonna guess, that i have very little to worry about?

 

[kovak]

You are safe, should have posted this pic when the thread started

 

[MikePjr]

You are safe, should have posted this pic when the thread started

I was unsure if it was okay to post ANYTHING copyright.. even as just an example... otherwise i would have.

 

[cekobico]

I'm pretty sure that anything that is modeled after SquareEnix's stuff is a no-go. Even if it is 3x the size, or renamed, rebranded, etc. it is still the intellectual property of SquareEnix and off limits. Your stuff can be used in non-commercial stuff but anything other than that is not allowed. 


I could be wrong, so maybe a moderator could tell you for sure. 

Are we doomed to be using YEP that were modeled after FF for commercial use then? xD 


(ATB/CTB, Enhanced TP a la Overdrive System, etc)