Post by redonihunter in Randy & Manilla comments

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but if you look closely, it is not in an accurate enough font to be considered trademark infringement

And you know that, because you asked an actual legal expert on this? If not, then your statement is just an unqualified opinion. The ip holder might have a different opinion. Also, as I said, they can make a case out of a combination of things, that would alone maybe not be enough to infringe.

If you are greenlit on steam, that might be a good sign, but why is there no link to be seen on your page? Also, steam giving green light is not a legal advise from them. They take down things for infringement often enough.

Ofihombre17 days ago

The youtube videos have the Steam link of the game. Should I also link it on itcho?

There are moments when they are sued for looking very similar without understanding the context of why it is so. Those who are very maximalists of IP and Copyright demand that everything be completely original without being based on anything previous, but the reality is that now originality is almost non-existent.

If we think deeply, almost all human art is based on influences, on things that have already been seen, or even works in the public domain or with a Creative Commons license. The copying is even incidental, and not necessarily intentional.

Going back to the lawsuits for similar character designs, I know another case in another game called "The Last Archwing", and the villain in design is like one from Dragon Ball, and until now the game wasn't deleted by a takedown from Toei Animation just because of that detail, because they haven't found out yet or that the game isn't successful.

Well, like that game, for me the demand will also be late, because generally trademark and copyright lawsuits from companies like Disney or Nintendo focus more on mascots, music, or the most profitable IPs of the moment (in this case, by using Mickey Mouse, Star Wars or Marvel).

The last thing that occurs to me but at the same time useless, before that day, It is a comparison image that I made based on my research from watching both the movie and the game:

redonihunter17 days ago

Read about Sandtrix. Read the letter they got. Read about what constitutes trademark infringement. It is not about exact copies. If they can make a case that the combination of elements can make someone mistake your game as a game of their franchise, they probably will sue at some time.

If your game is at a glance clearly not of their franchise, you should be safe-ish. And it is not helping, that you named that shield skill glitched shield skill. As I said, it is the combination of elements.

Maybe read about other games that have parodied known franchises. How far could they go, and were there troubles.

Ofihombre17 days ago

I've already seen Sandtrix case, and the lawsuit was due to 3 reasons:

1. It was previously called Setris, and the lettering font was identical to the logo of the Gameboy version.

2. The design of the tetrominos was also identical to the game, but it was more for texture and not for shape.

3. Using a remix of a feature song from the game.

Despite this, most of the things about the game remain the same.

Glitch is not a protectable term, it would rather be the expression of the same.

itch.io

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