I got about 6 month into the development of my game when I found out (from a friend), that their was already a cartoon character who was a penguin named "Chilly".

My game, "Chilly's Challenge", is about a penguin who catches ice cubes. But now I'm afraid that I could be sued if I actually release the game!

Here is a link to a screen shot... I actually don't even know if my penguin even looks like the other Chilly!

http://www.saltedsoftware.com/img/shot.jpg

So, am I up a creek without a paddle? Can someone have a copyright on a name and an animal type? For instance, if I made a game with a mouse named Mickey, but who looked nothing like "Mickey Mouse", could I be sued?

Tony

BTW,

The background is a wallpaper I got from Digital Blasphemy. It will NOT be shipping with the game! I just needed something back their while it's in development... I have the right to everything else however...

Tony

why don't you just change the characters name. Nobody has copyrighted penguins per se.

I will if I have to... But I really like the name "Chilly", because then I can name the game "Chilly's Challenge"... Which I think is a great name...

Tony

The "other" penguin is "Chilly Willy." You're probably not in any danger unless you use the word "Willy."

I'd change the name - why take the chance? Just because it's not exactly the same doesn't mean they can't try to get you to quit using it, either nicely, or via a lawsuit.

Pro-change: Names are cheap. How about "Chatter's Challenge"? "Shiver's Shapes"? My sister suggests "Beaky's Boxes".

Anti-change: What are the odds that anyone will ever notice? The stuff you worry about in life almost never happens. And recall Grace Hopper's advice: "It is easier to get forgiveness than permission."

Another anti-change: Even if someone does take notice and cares, the worse you are likely to see is a cease & desist notice. At which point you can change the name and move on.

Hey Tony ... the game looks to be shaping up nicely!

Why not just call it "Chilly's challenge" but never reference the character as just Chilly in the game? "Chilly's Challenge" is the title, so there should be no problem.

In the game you could reference him with a longer name like "Chilly Waters" or "Chilly Weathers" or something like that. Seems like there's a million cool possibilities (get it? Cool? I crack myself up!)

~Hanford

You could always call him Hot-Wings Harry.

Why not call the character 'Chillie' instead of 'Chilly'?
Or use a general pinguine name, penguine is a general word, so everybody may use that in a name.

Martin
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Thanks for the advice everybody!

I think I'm gonna leave him named Chilly. I will probably take Hanford's advice and never refer to the character as "Chilly" (I don't think I do anyway)... My penguin looks nothing like "Chilly Willy" and my penguin is named "Chilly", not "Chilly Willy".

Tony

Yeah, Chilly shouldn't be a problem especially since he doesn't look like Chilly Willy.

Now if you decided to name him Tux, the only problem you might have is that Linux/Open Source gamers might get upset if your game isn't free. B-) Otherwise, I think Tux is not something that any one person owns. I could be wrong here though.

I really like the sound of Chilly Waters... if you ever do need to use a longer name, I think that's a great one.