srachit Posted February 25, 2012 Share Posted February 25, 2012 Hey everyone, I have a question, is it illegal for me to use names from a game series for my mmorpg? To be exact am I allowed to use Pokemon names in my game and make my game around the Pokemon series? Thanks Rachit Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spudinski Posted February 25, 2012 Share Posted February 25, 2012 Yes it would be. I'm pretty sure Nintendo has trademarks for every thing they use. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nickson Posted February 25, 2012 Share Posted February 25, 2012 Those are registered trademarks are far as I know, best thing you can do is contact the legal department of nintendo/nintendo creatures/gamefreak to be sure? If you were to be a site that's purely providing information, you could call upon the "freedom-of-use-right" (or whatever it is called) as long, you give all credits to the original owner and are not making any money of it. However, the second you receive 0.01 cents or less, you need to have permission of the licensee. It doesn't matter whether you're making a loss on it, or whether it is just to cover your costs. As soon as you're receiving some money, you need to have permission. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobbylien Posted March 7, 2012 Share Posted March 7, 2012 What about using information, pictures or logos for... well.. lets just say a car for example. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rulerofzu Posted March 7, 2012 Share Posted March 7, 2012 Artwork is copyrighted if not to a company then to the original artist. That includes cars which people get paid a significant amount to design them. In reality your probably not going to get any action taken against you for using a pic of a car. Disney has been known to take court action against even the most minor sole traders for using their artwork so has George Lucas. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cronus Posted March 7, 2012 Share Posted March 7, 2012 I would say basing your site around pokemon using the images and actual names is a bad idea. While there are informational sites all over for pokemon, they don't make money other than ad sales, and most major companies will not companies for ad revenue on a site. However, if you are making an actual rpg using their characters and images, and are profitting, that is definitely illegal and they could shut your site down instantly as soon as they saw it with a simple DMCA. I highly doubt your host is going to stand up to Nintendo and keep your site online when they send them a DMCA. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lucky3809 Posted March 7, 2012 Share Posted March 7, 2012 (edited) If you type in bleach rpg you will bring up quite a couple of them, what is all your take on those games, using copyright pics from that anime show? Just wondering... I personally would say they were all illegal. However not one single one has been shut down. Edit: Same thing as typing in Pokemon rpg you will bring up hundreds, they seem to let you use their trademark.pics.names as long as you are crediting them by your own copyright on your site, if you look at those websites that uses them... Edited March 7, 2012 by lucky3809 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cronus Posted March 7, 2012 Share Posted March 7, 2012 I think it really depends on how popular your site becomes and if a nintendo rep were to ever see it. Chances are they wont ever see it, but if they do and you made a lot of $$, you stand to lose a lot if they sue. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
a_bertrand Posted March 7, 2012 Share Posted March 7, 2012 The issue with copyright is that even it's illegal, it's not always easy for the owner of the copyright to do something. I mean, you send a DCMA? And then? Nothing as the site owner could re-open somewhere else. Try to sue somebody? Where? On your own country or the country of the person which made the illegal act? And you know... suing somebody can be extremely expensive both in terms of time and money. So even if your are sure to win, maybe it will cost you more than simply leaving the copyright infringement alone. Looking from a different prospective, even if copying music is illegal (at least in many countries), suing all who even have some MP3 from some illegal source is... basically impossible. And behind the music industry there is HUGE groups. If they fail trying to do so, think about smaller groups. Said that, does it mean we are all allowed to use the work of everyone else without permissions / license? No. And as we all want to be game owners or coders or artists here on this board, I would say we should the first one to show that we do actually care about copyrights, which is nothing else as understanding that somebody else invested time / work to do something and we shall not simply use it without proper license / agreement or whatever. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
srachit Posted March 7, 2012 Author Share Posted March 7, 2012 The issue with copyright is that even it's illegal, it's not always easy for the owner of the copyright to do something. I mean, you send a DCMA? And then? Nothing as the site owner could re-open somewhere else. Try to sue somebody? Where? On your own country or the country of the person which made the illegal act? And you know... suing somebody can be extremely expensive both in terms of time and money. So even if your are sure to win, maybe it will cost you more than simply leaving the copyright infringement alone. Looking from a different prospective, even if copying music is illegal (at least in many countries), suing all who even have some MP3 from some illegal source is... basically impossible. And behind the music industry there is HUGE groups. If they fail trying to do so, think about smaller groups. Said that, does it mean we are all allowed to use the work of everyone else without permissions / license? No. And as we all want to be game owners or coders or artists here on this board, I would say we should the first one to show that we do actually care about copyrights, which is nothing else as understanding that somebody else invested time / work to do something and we shall not simply use it without proper license / agreement or whatever. +1 --tooshort-- Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spudinski Posted March 7, 2012 Share Posted March 7, 2012 The issue with copyright is that even it's illegal, it's not always easy for the owner of the copyright to do something. I mean, you send a DCMA? And then? Nothing as the site owner could re-open somewhere else. Try to sue somebody? Where? On your own country or the country of the person which made the illegal act? And you know... suing somebody can be extremely expensive both in terms of time and money. So even if your are sure to win, maybe it will cost you more than simply leaving the copyright infringement alone. Looking from a different prospective, even if copying music is illegal (at least in many countries), suing all who even have some MP3 from some illegal source is... basically impossible. And behind the music industry there is HUGE groups. If they fail trying to do so, think about smaller groups. Said that, does it mean we are all allowed to use the work of everyone else without permissions / license? No. And as we all want to be game owners or coders or artists here on this board, I would say we should the first one to show that we do actually care about copyrights, which is nothing else as understanding that somebody else invested time / work to do something and we shall not simply use it without proper license / agreement or whatever. To add to the relevancy of the OP: 1. It's stealing. 2. Nintendo is a very large corporation. 3. They have a lot of money. 4. They have dedicated teams of laywers. 5. They will make mincemeat out of you. 6. We highly suggest you promptly get this idea out of your mind Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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