As aspiring #gamedev who neither knows or a lot about law nor cares too much about it I'm curious about something:
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As aspiring #gamedev who neither knows or a lot about law nor cares too much about it I'm curious about something:
Let's say you're selling your game in *some* country. Then, for some reasons, you'd be forced to pull the game from all stores in said country (or even worse, even pull it from libraries and reimburse all existing players).
Would it be legal in, most countries - let's take the US for this example - to publicly guarantee that players in that specific country are free to pirate it?
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Natasha Nox πΊπ¦π΅πΈreplied to Natasha Nox πΊπ¦π΅πΈ last edited by
Reason why I'm asking is the possibility of the US reintroducing patent trolling (see here: https://act.eff.org/action/tell-congress-we-can-t-afford-more-bad-patents ). It's not impossible that, if not fixed, this could lead to either mentioned trolling getting out of hand or, rather, an "industry" of selling "patent usage permissions" could emerge - perhaps both. Non-US indies pulling out could become a reality through this, so I'm pretty curious.
I'd want fans to be able to keep playing.
#legal #gamedev #patents -
Natasha Nox πΊπ¦π΅πΈreplied to Natasha Nox πΊπ¦π΅πΈ last edited by [email protected]
Also governments can put their censor or monitoring "necessities" where the sun never shines (mostly lookin' at you, China). I'd allow cΜΆhΜΆiΜΆnΜΆeΜΆsΜΆeΜΆ west-taiwanese citizens to "pirate" those games SO hard, lol.
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Leandro (Cerberus1746)replied to Natasha Nox πΊπ¦π΅πΈ last edited by
@Natanox
not a lawyer, nor legal advice, but based on some news.If it is prohibited you or your company cannot redistribute the game in any shape or form no matter what. If it is proven you have a hand in the illegal distribution you are in trouble.
If a third party does it, that's on the country to counter said piracy.
If they prohibit the selling, but not distribution that's another story. but what tends to be prohibited is distribution which would include the selling.
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bentreplied to Natasha Nox πΊπ¦π΅πΈ last edited by
@Natanox this depends on the laws of the country, and why it was pulled...
if you are compelled to cease and desist sale, distribution for free is likely just as bad. especially if its patent/IP based (see every nintendo lawsuit against free games).
Now, if you happened to make it available for free for everyone and people in banned countries just happened to have access to it, that might be something different.
Isnt law fun?
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Natasha Nox πΊπ¦π΅πΈreplied to Leandro (Cerberus1746) last edited by
@cerberus1746 Well, I wouldn't actively share it of course. It's just about the outspoken guarantee that sharing it around, let's say via Discord or sth, wouldn't get them in trouble (from my side).
I imagine it might be troublesome if that guarantee came with a hint towards a donation button though.
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tokudanreplied to Natasha Nox πΊπ¦π΅πΈ last edited by
@Natanox depends on a lot of definitions.
Copyright law is basically opt-in by the rights holder.
Since it's your game, you decide if and how far you want to enforce your copyright or not.
At least that's what copyright in "western" states means and the US has done a pretty good job of getting most countries worldwide to adapt that.If your game is banned, other laws may prohibit someone from getting your game, but copyright would still be your decision.
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Natasha Nox πΊπ¦π΅πΈreplied to bent last edited by
@shram86 Well, point is that I wouldn't be the one distributing it. I'd just say that anyone can share and download it if they see it *somewhere* without me ever screwing them over or even be angry about it.