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There are "copyrights" for game characters?

Just a question:

Mario, for example.

Can a company, that is not Nintendo, create a character exactly like Mario and put it in a game?

Of course, that would be strangely ridiculous for game industry and consumers at all, but despite that, could Nintendo do something about it legally?

Replies

  • MissMaddyTaylor
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    MissMaddyTaylor greentooth
    Are you talking about having some likeness, or an exact ripoff?

    If it's free, I don't think they would care. If not, then they may take legal action. I think anyone would.
  • Mstankow
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    Mstankow polycounter lvl 11
    Nintendo takes legal action against free stuff as well.
  • Cibo
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    Cibo polycounter lvl 10
    And thats okay because Trademarks have a value and reputation.
    When i make Mortal Mario with extra Gore i can hurt the good reputation.
  • Deathstick
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    Deathstick polycounter lvl 7
    Something like Mario or even a stormtrooper, hell yes they can issue cease and desist orders. (LucasArts issued a lot of these to even just free starwars mods over the years) They would argue it is part of their intellectual property.

    However if it's generic soldier no. 157 then no. Other things get slightly more confusing to me, such as the shear amount of m4/m-16/black hawks in games. I'm guessing for those types of things you're free to create a model based off of them but would probably need permission of said weapon/vehicle manufacturer to use their copyrighted/trademarked name.

    (Probably why a lot of guns in games use generic names like "Assault Rifle" or something similar but made up)
  • Rick Stirling
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    Rick Stirling polycounter lvl 18
    They are absolutely copyright, and they'll go after you, free or not. Some companies are much more fierce than others and can come across as draconian, but they are simply protecting their intellectual property.

    If you fail to protect in just once you make it harder to protect it in future.
  • Greg DAlessandro
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    Greg DAlessandro polycounter lvl 6
    What about parody law?
  • Cibo
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    Cibo polycounter lvl 10
    Parody is a "distortet imitation".
    Copycat a complete character lacks the distortion.
    Best example maybe Wario and Mario from Nitendo itself.
    Wario is the evil mirror image from Mario and can be a Parody of Mario.
  • Kevin Albers
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    Kevin Albers polycounter lvl 18
    Virtually any artistic creation is automatically covered by copyright. The creator doesn't even have to file any forms to have it covered. Trademarks require legal forms, and certain types of action from the holder of the trademark, so they are a bit more complex.

    I'm certainly not a lawyer, so this isn't actual legal advice in any way. Copyright issues are definitely legal issues, and so to get a REAL answer, you would need an answer from a lawyer, as opposed to guesses from random people on a forum.
  • MagicSugar
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    MagicSugar polycounter lvl 10
    You can't copyright ideas just the expression of it.

    So you can make games inspired by Super Mario just not use any of Nintendos characters. For example instead of italian mustachioed chibi plumber make your player character clean cut prepschool-uniformed chibi named Tim instead (but don't use my example exactly cuz it's been done already).

    Otherwise, you'll have to license to use somebody elses characters and designs. Like how Sony can make Spiderman movies and Marvel does the rest: x-men, avengers, guardians....
  • Mstankow
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    Mstankow polycounter lvl 11
    The only leeway companies seem to give is with fan art. It's very rare for a company to ask someone to take down fan art, as long as it isn't for a product of some kind, just purely art for art sake or as a learning exercise.

    Because most fan art is basically free marketing and these companies treat it as such. It only becomes a problem when people try to make money off the fan art.
  • kat
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    kat polycounter lvl 17
    What about parody law?
    There isn't one. You're probably referring to "Fair Use" (in the USA), that's decided by the Court and not a 'thing' you can claim as a preventative measure to mitigate being taken down - the Rights holder still has the 'right' to request removal, you'd then contest that in Court.

    As for 'Fan Art'. There's no specific allowance for that either and as above, the rights holder is well within their 'rights' to request removal. The fact that they don't doesn't mean they won't, nor should it be taken to be implicit permission; that they don't is largely a matter of resources and going after 'obvious' infringements (things easily proved in Court).
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