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interlectual property rights
Author
me and some guys are developing a game for fun. We think that we''ll self publish. But how exactly does one go about registering trademarks or this interlectual property thing?
Contact a specialist lawyer. We use Osborne Clarke.
It aint cheap though, set aside a few (e.g. 10) thousand quid for legal fees when you make your business plan.
To be honest if you don''t have access to that type of money then you don''t have the money to fight anyone who violates what you own.
When you make something you automatically have copyright on it.
When you trade under a name it''s automatically a trademark.
If you can **proove** in a legally valid way that you did something first or used a name first then that''s all you need. Realistically though, fighting anyone who wrongs you and ensuring what you do is legally sound, and doing stuff like registering a trademark [(R) vs (TM)] requires specialist, qualified help
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Simon O''Connor
Creative Asylum Ltd
www.creative-asylum.com
It aint cheap though, set aside a few (e.g. 10) thousand quid for legal fees when you make your business plan.
To be honest if you don''t have access to that type of money then you don''t have the money to fight anyone who violates what you own.
When you make something you automatically have copyright on it.
When you trade under a name it''s automatically a trademark.
If you can **proove** in a legally valid way that you did something first or used a name first then that''s all you need. Realistically though, fighting anyone who wrongs you and ensuring what you do is legally sound, and doing stuff like registering a trademark [(R) vs (TM)] requires specialist, qualified help
--
Simon O''Connor
Creative Asylum Ltd
www.creative-asylum.com
I have to agree. Trademarks don''t come with court appointed lawyers. If you can''t afford to enforce it, I wouldn''t worry about it. If you believe that your game has potential to be remotely successful, then trademark it. The costs we see quoted are around $2K US per trademark. Copyrights are significantly cheaper but less versatile. Oh and don''t forget DNS variations too. Buy all of those and keep them current as well.
If you only see your game as something minor in the market, I''d document your sales, document and press release your release date and sit back. If someone steals it, you could then try to make a case that some of their success is yours because you were first with the idea.
In the end, the only one that can help you is a lawyer and they cost money. Like I said before, if you can''t enforce it, all your trademark will be is a nice couple sheets of paper for you to hang on your office wall.
Kressilac
If you only see your game as something minor in the market, I''d document your sales, document and press release your release date and sit back. If someone steals it, you could then try to make a case that some of their success is yours because you were first with the idea.
In the end, the only one that can help you is a lawyer and they cost money. Like I said before, if you can''t enforce it, all your trademark will be is a nice couple sheets of paper for you to hang on your office wall.
Kressilac
Sound advice I think. Osbourne Clarke is expensive, but they are located in the UK, where you are.
Your material will have copyright protection in any country that is a signatory to the Berne Convention (which the UK is), but for certain enforcement rights and damages you will need to register your material.
Trademarks will help build your brandname. If the logos or phrases associated with your product are not famous (and they won''t be with an Internet distribution mechanism) competitors will not find them as attractive to "steal." Nonetheless, registration of a trademark serves as notice to all competitors and would gain you the right of enforcement.
Shop around the UK for a lawyer that will give you a free consultation (usually an hour) concerning your IP.
Good Luck.
Your material will have copyright protection in any country that is a signatory to the Berne Convention (which the UK is), but for certain enforcement rights and damages you will need to register your material.
Trademarks will help build your brandname. If the logos or phrases associated with your product are not famous (and they won''t be with an Internet distribution mechanism) competitors will not find them as attractive to "steal." Nonetheless, registration of a trademark serves as notice to all competitors and would gain you the right of enforcement.
Shop around the UK for a lawyer that will give you a free consultation (usually an hour) concerning your IP.
Good Luck.
Just to be clear, the ~£10k I specified for legal fees wasn''t an *actual* example, certainly not a specific or ballpark figure for "what Osbourne Clarke charge"...
...it was purely intended as an example of a total that in my opinion should be set aside in your business plan for legal fees. Definately set aside something in the multiple of 1000s ballbark though IMO (assuming you don''t actually have to fight anyone).
As Adam says, shop around - be aware though that price shouldn''t be your only criteria, the high street lawyer who charges you £100, whilst being able to set up _something_ and point you in the right direction is unlikely to have much/any intellectual property experience or games specific experience.
--
Simon O''Connor
Creative Asylum Ltd
www.creative-asylum.com
...it was purely intended as an example of a total that in my opinion should be set aside in your business plan for legal fees. Definately set aside something in the multiple of 1000s ballbark though IMO (assuming you don''t actually have to fight anyone).
As Adam says, shop around - be aware though that price shouldn''t be your only criteria, the high street lawyer who charges you £100, whilst being able to set up _something_ and point you in the right direction is unlikely to have much/any intellectual property experience or games specific experience.
--
Simon O''Connor
Creative Asylum Ltd
www.creative-asylum.com
back to the original post though "me and some guys are creating a game for fun" ... which of course you hope to protect your ideas, and make some money eventually I''m sure. But in these cases, when you are not securing any investment funds, and the end result is not expected to make you greater than say $50,000 US, then there really is no reason to actually register your trademark or copyright. There are thousands of independent games produced every year, and copying is actually constant and unavoidable, so the question becomes, who do you expect to sue, over what forseen problem.
The little guys who copy your ideas, you can''t sue. The little guys who steal your images (copywritten material) are not worth suing, just send strongly worded cease and desist letters. The little guys who steal your trademark names, you might sue - IF you are actually the first and only person already using that name for that purpose, but just like web names, most simply names have already been used for a game sometime before. Unless you are combinning farily unique words together to make a title (like say Unreal Tournament or Super Smash Bros) these things are really just not that big a deal. The big companies will not steal your sound or artwork, because it''s just not worth it to them, they have art departments and enough money to be a target for lawsuits - so they try to cover their ass. They do steal ideas, as we all do, which is why those things are not protected (except with these insane software patents).
Register all of the related DNS names, and then you have the only important aspect of the trademark anyway.
Another way to look at it, Norton and McAfee are major utility software companies right. Neither one prevents competitors named Norton or McAfee from starting up shop with the same name, because (at least in the US) anyone is allowed to run a company and sell their product using their own name. Therefore the only reason they maintain a strangle hold on that name is because when a customer goes to www.mcafee.com they get that company (I know because my last name is McAfee).
So make a company, buy up the websites for it, make the game, buy up the websites for it, and make some money.
The little guys who copy your ideas, you can''t sue. The little guys who steal your images (copywritten material) are not worth suing, just send strongly worded cease and desist letters. The little guys who steal your trademark names, you might sue - IF you are actually the first and only person already using that name for that purpose, but just like web names, most simply names have already been used for a game sometime before. Unless you are combinning farily unique words together to make a title (like say Unreal Tournament or Super Smash Bros) these things are really just not that big a deal. The big companies will not steal your sound or artwork, because it''s just not worth it to them, they have art departments and enough money to be a target for lawsuits - so they try to cover their ass. They do steal ideas, as we all do, which is why those things are not protected (except with these insane software patents).
Register all of the related DNS names, and then you have the only important aspect of the trademark anyway.
Another way to look at it, Norton and McAfee are major utility software companies right. Neither one prevents competitors named Norton or McAfee from starting up shop with the same name, because (at least in the US) anyone is allowed to run a company and sell their product using their own name. Therefore the only reason they maintain a strangle hold on that name is because when a customer goes to www.mcafee.com they get that company (I know because my last name is McAfee).
So make a company, buy up the websites for it, make the game, buy up the websites for it, and make some money.
quote: Original post by Xai
Another way to look at it, Norton and McAfee are major utility software companies right. Neither one prevents competitors named Norton or McAfee from starting up shop with the same name, because (at least in the US) anyone is allowed to run a company and sell their product using their own name.
That certainly isn''t true in the UK and I would expect it is not the case in the US either. You could set up a shoe shop called Eidos or Rare but if you tried to set up a software publisher/developer they would almost certainly object and your application would be rejected.
Dan Marchant
Obscure Productions
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