Howdy, I have an interesting question that I do not think there is any real legal answer to. Previously, some friends and I were in the process of making a free game we were going to distribute on the internet. However, over time some of them either did not do anything at all (never came to meetings), and others just dropped out and we decided not to use their stuff. The rest of our group has decided that we might actually sell the game as shareware on the internet, or at this one game shop that deals in selling cheap amateur games. The question is, should we consider giving some of the profits to the other past members: a) Those that were part of the group, but never helped. b) Those that sort of helped before, but we are not going to use any of their stuff. Legally, we don''t have to since there were not any signed agreements before, and no copyrighted material is going to be included. The group is leaning toward not giving them anything, but I am just curious what everyone else here thinks, or might had experience with. Thanks!

This is more of a fun topic really. While the situation is real, it is far from actually causing a problem. The product in question is still far from completion, but it is pretty far into production, actually to a point that should be considered serious.

It is indeed a personal choice, and I do not wish to make any friends angry. However, if we did decide to sell this game, I do not wish to give those ''friends'' money for just coming over for a free lunch some times and throwing in a couple of ideas. Some have helped and done considerable work. Others have done nothing, or just done enough to add to stack of rejected ideas.

Do I sound selfish? If I do, when does one stop worrying about being selfish and being a businessman? Maybe there is not an answer to it.

If you look at a similar situation where you feel that you should get a portion of your buddy's paycheck every week because you helped him get the job, you'll see how ridiculous it would be for them to ask for money from you.

The fact that someone didn't do anything, coupled with the fact that you're not using any of their work should completely preclude them from getting any type of profits from what you are doing.

Legally, you're not obligated to give them anything because there's no signed contract and (much more importantly) you're not using anything that they created. That makes it an original work which they did not help with.

I don't think I'd be morally obligated to give them anything either. An idea is just that. An idea. You can't copyright or patent an idea. You can legally protect an implementation, but as you already indicated, they haven't done anything. No work, no pay. Simple as that. I'm sure an arbitrator would agree.

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[edited by - mtaber on November 25, 2002 3:31:00 PM]

Provided you are 100% sure that nothing they created is in your game then I am with mtaber. They don''t get any money from the game. If these guys are your friends and are local (as it seems from the "come over for a free lunch" comment then buy everyone a free lunch to celebrate the launch of the game and just tell them that is all the money it earned. - if you actually get any money.

Good luck. have fun and make sure you learn from the experience - sort this stuff out first.

Dan Marchant
Obscure Productions

I say go with mtaber.

he sums it up well. but I would comment on this, next time around when your looking to start a new game tell the people up front if they drop out before the game is finnished then they don''t get anything from it (even if the next is a freeware... just in case). make shure it is documented some how, e-mail, phone recording, ect. perferably have a legaly binding contract signed.

note: I don''t know if this would work with out a contract, but also put in there that anything they contributed is owned by you(or company), and that if they drop/kicked out then they don''t get anything from the project, but you still can use all they''re work...

My opinion is that the ones who dropped out but still did some work should get at least some money, They did put in theire own time and effort into the project and i''m sure even if you didn''t use any of theire main ideas you still probably used some of their minor ones. If you did get some money from the project (which is quite possible, i got about 60 dollars for a 3-D pong game I programmed in two hours) you wouldn''t mind giving them a well earned two dollars.

Any man can destroy, but few can create.

Unless an agreement has been signed, you need their authorisation to use any of their code, as they own the copyright to it. Beyond that, anything goes.