game titles - license

Hey guys,

when I want to create some sort of an Arkanoid style game, may I use the title "Arkanoid" ? For example - Arkanoid + some kind of subtitle...

or maybe the title "Breakout" or "Brick Breaker" ??

Arent such titles somehow forbidden to use?

Not unless you will try to sell that game.

Well, there are examples for each games. You can't sell a game that has "The Legend of Zelda: the Reborn Sutekh", for example, but stuff like Tetris/Arcanoid is alright to use.

fassFlash

but when I want to sell that game I cant use the titles like Arcanoid or Breakout, right?

Arcanoid and Tetris are very old games that defined the very laws of game design. I THINK it would be okay to use those titles. And I have no idea what breakout is.

it is the same as Arcanoid..

great.

You are likely to get bombarded by the creators of those titles , just find an original name , like "Breakanoid"

hm..hm..

actually "Breakanoid" is not bad at all :)

fassFlash is wrong, copyright infringement is still illegal even if you are not making any money. Just find a unique name - 'breakanoid' probably won't get you in trouble unless you get very popular.

And what about those fan projects, like Mother 4, Metroid 2 remake, I wanna be the guy(who use other people's SPRITES, which is even more "illegal")? Why aren't they banned yet? Why aren't their creators in jail while an immortal skips rope with their entrails? Huh? Huh?

THE WABBAJACK!!!

Why aren't they banned yet? Why aren't their creators in jail......Huh? Huh?

It's Russian roulette... and if you're game gets any kind of real success, trust me, the creators will be all over it. Fan based stuff is usually free marketing for the real deal game. But when it starts to be anything other that a benefit for the original, then SHUTDOWN!

Create your own brand, don't be a copycat wanna be. It pays better to be the company who created "Angry Birds" (trust me they made a lot), and the countless copycats are still starving wanna be's.

"Arkanoid" it a trademark, according to this: trademarkia.com/arkanoid-77126327.html.

In any case, you are better off with making an original name.

Can not warn enough:

Use game concepts like Breakout/Arkanoid to learn game development. Atari/Taito will be flattered.

But don't, never ever, publish a Breakout clone. It is not the name that is copyrighted, it is the whole game!

You might get away with it when you're not making much profit or gain any attention. But it is intelectual property that you are using without permission. Getting away with it doesn't mean it's legal.

And as soon as you are making profit, gain attention or get in competiton with the copyright holder (e.g. publishing for iOS, where Atari already sells their own Breakout derivatives), the lawyers will knock at your door.

You don't think so? Just google for "breakout copyright" and you will see what I mean.

From the U.S. Copyright Office: "Copyright does not protect facts, ideas, systems, or methods of operation, although it may protect the way these things are expressed."

So in the case of Breakout this means, you may very well have an idea of a paddle pushing a ball that destroys bricks of a wall and bounces back. But when shaping this idea to a game, it MUST NOT be similar to the game Breakout. By substantially altering it, you avoid copyright infringement. For example, use a slingshot instead of a paddle, use real world physics and let the bricks of a wall instead be balloons floating in the air. Now it's your own original work and no derivative anymore. Unless you describe somewhere, that you based this game on Breakout...

But seriously, wouldn't it be easier to create a unique game with an original idea?

tulamide , game ideas aren't copyrighted , he can make a tetris clone with his own assets and no one will harm him ...

tulamide , game ideas aren't copyrighted , he can make a tetris clone with his own assets and no one will harm him ...

What's the point of making a Tetris clone other than learning, though?