This is an information topic concerning the legal aspects of fangames and fanfictions. This topic does not aim neither to frighten you nor to say not to make a fangames or fanfictions but it has to inform you about what you can do and what you cannot do regarding especially video games having copyrights.
Sources :
[url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fangame]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fangame[/URL]
Sources: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legal_issues_with_fan_fiction
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fanfiction
Each company has its own policy regarding fangames and fanfictions. Some of them judges that they are acceptable, some others judges that it is a violation of copyrights. If you want more detailed informations, take a look at the sources.
-Dargor
Some companies go out of their way to shut down fangames, declaring them copyright infringements. Such shutdown has been believed to have a chilling effect on free speech, where amateur developers can't predict what a court will find as fair use. The term "foxed" is often used to describe these incidents, stemming from the original coining of the term from 20th Century Fox's shut down of an Aliens-themed total conversion of Quake. In the vast majority of cases, the original copyright holders have full legal justification to order a cease and desist upon fangame projects, as by definition, fangames are unauthorized infringing uses of copyrighted property. Many fangames go as far as taking music and graphics directly from the original games.
A notable case in late 2005 involved Vivendi Universal shutting down a King's Quest fan project, The Silver Lining. Initially, the game was to be named King's Quest IX: Every Cloak Has a Silver Lining and be an unofficial sequel granting closure to the series, which had been languishing commercially, as the last game to be produced in the series was released in 1998. After a letter-writing campaign[2] and fan protests, Vivendi reversed its decision and gave permission for the game to be made. As part of the negotiations, the developers were required to remove "King's Quest" from the title.[3]
Other times, companies have endorsed fangames. Very few companies have ever officially made comments on fangaming, however. This is seen through a Myst fangame, called The Ages of Ilathid, where Cyan Worlds, the original creators of Myst, had given permission to the creators of the fangame. [4] Most companies that don't outwardly promote or challenge fangames have in the past exacted a de facto policy of non-involvement or neutrality, officially stating that their copyrighted material may not be used without permission, but refusing to prosecute fangamers for doing so, in much the same way as fanfiction is tolerated.
Because fangames are developed with a relatively low budget, rarely is a fangame available on a console system; licensing fees are too prohibitive for fangames, even if the game is made with original content. However, homebrew fangames can occasionally make it onto consoles with prolific homebrew gaming, such as the Sega Dreamcast and PlayStation Portable.
A notable case in late 2005 involved Vivendi Universal shutting down a King's Quest fan project, The Silver Lining. Initially, the game was to be named King's Quest IX: Every Cloak Has a Silver Lining and be an unofficial sequel granting closure to the series, which had been languishing commercially, as the last game to be produced in the series was released in 1998. After a letter-writing campaign[2] and fan protests, Vivendi reversed its decision and gave permission for the game to be made. As part of the negotiations, the developers were required to remove "King's Quest" from the title.[3]
Other times, companies have endorsed fangames. Very few companies have ever officially made comments on fangaming, however. This is seen through a Myst fangame, called The Ages of Ilathid, where Cyan Worlds, the original creators of Myst, had given permission to the creators of the fangame. [4] Most companies that don't outwardly promote or challenge fangames have in the past exacted a de facto policy of non-involvement or neutrality, officially stating that their copyrighted material may not be used without permission, but refusing to prosecute fangamers for doing so, in much the same way as fanfiction is tolerated.
Because fangames are developed with a relatively low budget, rarely is a fangame available on a console system; licensing fees are too prohibitive for fangames, even if the game is made with original content. However, homebrew fangames can occasionally make it onto consoles with prolific homebrew gaming, such as the Sega Dreamcast and PlayStation Portable.
[url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fangame]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fangame[/URL]
A great deal of both original creative work and fan fiction is produced in the United States, a country whose economy strongly depends on the commerce of entertainment. Therefore, U.S. law is particularly important when determining the legality of writing or sharing fan fiction. According to current United States copyright, copyright owners have the right to control or restrict the publishing of "derivative works" based on their material, though they do not receive ownership of those works. For example, in the famous case of Anderson v. Stallone, 11 USPQ2D 1161 (C.D. Cal. 1989), Sylvester Stallone successfully pursued an action for copyright infringment against an author who wrote a proposed script for Rocky IV. The owner of the original work (film, TV show, etc.) therefore has some legal power over fan fiction through their ability to sue the creator of the derivative work for copyright infringement. Generally, authors who do not want derivative works being written without their direct permission and/or the ability to control it, request to major archives the removal and banning of such derivative works based on their own. There has yet to be a case of a major archive failing to comply with such a request, and many of them feature a full list of authors whose work cannot be the source of a fan fiction on their site.
That said, American copyright law specifically protects parody, and also includes a provision that the specifically protected categories are not necessarily the only protected categories.[citation needed] Because of this, some argue that most fan fiction lies in a legal gray area between fair use and violation of copyright law - at least in cases where U.S. copyright law would apply to the author or online publisher of the story. [citation needed] An example of this principle can be found in Suntrust v. Houghton Mifflin Co., 252 F. 3d 1165 (11th Cir. 2001), in which the author of The Wind Done Gone successfully defended herself from a lawsuit based on her use of the characters from Gone With the Wind. The key difference between this case and the Stallone case was that the latter use clearly intended to comment on the original author's work by making a mockery of it.
That said, American copyright law specifically protects parody, and also includes a provision that the specifically protected categories are not necessarily the only protected categories.[citation needed] Because of this, some argue that most fan fiction lies in a legal gray area between fair use and violation of copyright law - at least in cases where U.S. copyright law would apply to the author or online publisher of the story. [citation needed] An example of this principle can be found in Suntrust v. Houghton Mifflin Co., 252 F. 3d 1165 (11th Cir. 2001), in which the author of The Wind Done Gone successfully defended herself from a lawsuit based on her use of the characters from Gone With the Wind. The key difference between this case and the Stallone case was that the latter use clearly intended to comment on the original author's work by making a mockery of it.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fanfiction
Each company has its own policy regarding fangames and fanfictions. Some of them judges that they are acceptable, some others judges that it is a violation of copyrights. If you want more detailed informations, take a look at the sources.
-Dargor