I got to wondering the other day about classic novels and stories that we've all heard of. For instance, robin hood, or the three muskateers.

If you wanted to do a game based on a licensed property, say aliens, you'd have to pay a huge fee, however maybe it's possible for indies to approach that name brand recognition by using classic novels etc.. that have been public domain for a long time? Does anyone know anything about the legal implications of doing a sherlock holmes game? a game based on shakespear? King arthur?

I am no authority on this but I would think you would need to obtain permission for instance, I think that shakespear is governeed by 'the shakespearian society'. Homes is also most certainly owned by or at least governed by the publisher or auther (A.C-D).

Arthur I believe would not be governed this way as its based on a legend rather than being set in stone. I know there are several proniment scribes who wrote the story down but this was circa 1k years ago. But as I say I am no authority.

I think permission would need to be obtained, I dont think royalties would be required, ill do some reeasrch and report back.

Oh just wanted to mention, when my high school (all those years ago) put on a production of shakespear they had to obtain permission, from what body, I do not know. :D

Unless someone owns copyright to the story, you don't need any permission. Why you had to obtain permission for a shakespeare play I don't know, but I don't think it was necessary.

Here is a web page I found with a little info on this:
http://www.creativedrama.com/rights.htm

The more I think about it, I suppose it is possible (though I don't know for fact) that if you wanted to use a particular adaptation of a public domain work, there could possibly be copyrights held on the adaptation, but not the core work itself.

High schools often use adaptations of Shakespeare -- ones that have taken out some of the more difficult parts and the more ribald parts. While the underlying play is in the public domain, the adaptations are not. There are actually hundreds of variations of the more popular Shakespearian plays out there, and they're constantly being tried in new ways by even professional theatre companies.

I know for a fact that Arthurian ledged is public domain, that's the very reason Dark Age of Camelot uses it as the basis of it’s MMORPG.

<I'm not a lawyer, but>
Sometimes you can do both at the same time, if the hit blockbuster movie is also based on a public domain story or event.

A few examples I can think of:

1. Disney Animated Movies: Many Disney movies are based on public-domain works, like the Grimm fairy tales. They are planned years in advance, and some visits to the right websites can tell you what they are working on. So you could have more than enough time to make a game based on the same story that Disney is planning on releasing, at around the same time.

2. Real-life events: A game about Titanic, a game about the Gulf War, a game about Apollo 13. You can scour the Movie gossip sites to see when new movies are in the works. Again it could give you enough lead time in order to match the release of the movie.

It is important to note that you can't use any of the adaptation's original property. Be careful to NOT use fictional characters invented for the movies. Don't use Jack Dawson if you're doing a Titanic game. Don't use/abuse any trademarks, for example, find out if you can use the NASA logo in a game about Apollo 13. And sometimes the *rights* to a story are sold, and you can't use that. For example (again, I'm Not a Lawyer) but there were two "long island Lolita" TV movies about Amy Fisher. One was just one put together based on the facts of the story. The other was called "Amy Fisher: My Story" and was done with Amy Fisher's permission, telling her own side of the story. Information taken from the "authorized" amy fisher movie could perhaps get you in trouble if you made it into a game, whereas information taken from the newspapers only should be fine. But you should check with a lawyer.

Your source of information should always be the original work and not the Movie it was based on.

</I'm not a lawyer, but>

~Hanford

Here is some info (form LK's link)


These are the play companies, publishing houses, and people that need to be contacted in regards to performance rights. Most plays are covered by copyright laws, and a fee has to be paid and permission granted before they can be performed for an audience.

The exceptions are plays that are in the public domain, such as Shakespeare’s work, and the Greek and Roman classics. Sometimes these are called royalty-free plays, because the playwright does not receive a royalty if someone produces it. This does not mean that if the playwright is dead, no fee has to be paid. The owner of the rights is not always the playwright – sometimes his estate will receive royalties. But don’t avoid producing a play because you only have a small budget – for many plays, the cost of scripts and fees for a weekend’s worth of performances can be less than two hundred dollars. In general, musicals and more famous plays charge more for performance rights than a little known work.

There are other factors which can affect the fees – if the admission is free, or the play is produced for a non-profit organization, if there is radio and television advertising – but always, always, secure the performance rights before you produce the play. It is illegal to present copyrighted material without permission. Even after you secure the rights, you will still have to be careful. Some playwrights do not allow cuts (taking out certain words, lines or scenes) or changes in their scripts. Samuel Beckett, for example, requires that his stage directions be followed exactly. Several of these companies have catalogs of their plays, so that you can browse through descriptions of all of their properties.

The school may have been using an adaptation or particular script, I dont remember (I just controlled the lighting/sfx) :)

That quote seems to explain a lot, but I would seriously investigate any theme before embarking on a game based on an established scenario.

It's an interesting thought. I have a feeling there may be some royalty free gems out there that could provide indie's with name brand recognition at low or no cost.

Oh well... I'm off to work on Bloodspear...

"Rooouunnnd 1! : Hamlet vs. Merchant of Venice! FIGHT!"

:-)

I know one indie developer from the ASP (Kathy Salisbury) has done adventure games based on Alice in Wonderland, the Cherokee Trail of Tears, and Benjamin Franklin's life. Her site is at http://www.pharosgames.com.

My understanding is that one has fairly narrow rights when it comes to adapting someone else's copyrighted intellectual property, except for a few important exceptions. You can find tons of information about this topic by doing a search for "fair use" in any search engine. One site which has some good info on this topic is www.publaw.com (http://www.publaw.com). In particular, there is an article (http://www.publaw.com/parody.html) on how fair use applies to parodies. Though the discussion centers on parody, it discusses all the criteria for fair use and gives examples of their application. Here's a good summary, taken from that article:


The Copyright Act in Section 107 enumerates four "fair use factors" that must be analyzed to determine whether a particular use of a copyrighted work, such as a parody, is fair use. These factors are the (1) purpose and character of the use, including whether the use is commercially motivated or instead is for nonprofit educational purposes; (2) nature of the copyrighted work; (3) amount and substantiality of the portion used in the newly created work in relation to the copyrighted work; and (4) effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work. A court when evaluating a fair-use defense takes into consideration each of the four factors as no single factor by itself is sufficient to prove or disprove fair use. The following discussion will describe the specific fair use criterion and provide an overview of the key issues involved in the analysis of the fair-use defense.


Disclaimers: 1. I'm not a lawyer and, 2. this applies only to US law. I know there are international copyright agreements, but not all nations honor them.

However, if you know that a work is in the public domain, I believe you are free to make use of it in any way you see fit.

Most things said here match my understanding of copyright law, but I thought I'd add my IANAL two cents. :) Once the copyright expires, the work falls into the public domain. You may make a derivative work based on any existing copyright you own or have licensed, or anything in the public domain, and you'll own the copyright on that derivative work. All adaptations are derivative works, so it makes sense that you'd have to to pay a royalty for a Shakespearean play. Shakespeare is notorious for lacking stage directions, so I imagine it's worthwhile to pay for a work that supplies them. Determining copyright expiration can be complicated, especially when you mix in international copyright law, but in general in the U.S. a work falls into the public domain 70 years after the author's death. In some cases it's more or less, and if Lawrence Lessig (http://www.lessig.org) has his way it will change some more. ;) Here's more information about investigating copyright status (http://www.loc.gov/copyright/circs/circ22.html) from the U.S. Copyright Office (http://www.loc.gov/copyright/). A work does not have to be registered with the copyright office or even display a copyright notice -- any work created is automatically copyrighted the moment it's penned.

Seeing this article (http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20030216/tc_nm/column_programs_dc_1) reminded me of this thread. If you're going to adopt a classic character from literature, better be sure you do it right! :)