Legal question about screenshots

Oh come on... any responsible person in this forum? I need an answer to know if i have to buy the game

Gee.... ummm...
One would think given Stardock supports "fan sites" and fair use concepts you would have no issues. Now I could be wrong and they could single you out (its personal you know) and take you to court (got a lot of money?) so Brad can retire soon.

This obviously isn't about a fan site. The OP wants to use designed ships in a browser-baqsed game which he says is not commercial. We need someone at stardock to respond to this. But I can see why he would like to use the ship designer to get some nice screenshots. I mean the game is perfect for it!

Exactly... it´s hard work to create good looking ships with 3DSmax.

Screenshots of the game may be used freely on the internet. If this game is not commercial and does not make you any money, You'll be fine I think. Though I would email/wait for stardock response first to be sure though

For example at guildwars you can find the following information about screenshots:

May I use your art or images for items, such as clothing, toys, or other game-related goods?

Our art assets — be they concept art, in-game screenshots, verbal content, or renders — are all copyright materials. Their use is strictly prohibited unless approved in advance and in writing by ArenaNet.

I dont know, if that rule only apply for screenshots taken by the company (i think so). But i think if anyone would use revised screenshots for a commercial then he would get some serious trouble with ArenaNet.

I really just don´t want to get problems later, regardless the fact, that Stardock would never find it out - it´s still a very small morpg with about 500 users and i have some Photoshop skills to disguise the screenshots
I wrote a mail to the support and i hope i will get an answer soon. I´m no step further yet, i still don´t know if i can use the screenshots. At least it´s a good practice for my english, i think i need it badly

Hey Serrpyc!

Ah yes, the joys of copyright. We're looking into this issues now, since there are legal ties to the content in the game. Basic opinion is that this should be fine, as long are theres a disclaimer ("ships made in GC2, with permission by Stardock" blah blah blah) and it's a non-commercial product, but we'll have to make 100% sure there will be no legal remifications for us (aka. "Oh, you've let this person use your art, now EVERYONE can-without permission") which wouldn't be cool

We'll get back with you ASAP!

Looks likes you've got the 'OK', with only the following stipulations...

1. In the credits, or on the title screen, include the text "Starship graphics designed using Galactic Civilizations 2 (www.GalCiv2.com) with the permission of Stardock Inc. (www.stardock.com)"

2. Remove the ships if the game is ever released commercially.

3. When the game is done, you ABSOLUTLY MUST....send us a link so we can see how the game turned out

And if anyone wants to do something similar, they'll also have to contact our support team to get per-case approval Thanks!

Ok, thanks a lot

I think all of that stipulations are ok, but i have to discuss this first with the creator of the game. I´ll post a link to the game and some screenshots (i dont know if you can register yourself at a german website ) as far as it´s done

I have a question for you
you say you don't have good english... where are you from??

DId you know that intellectual property rights are nation-based? So if your site's server is situated in Canada (example) you won't be affected by american laws. You'll also have to check out Canada's intellectual property laws on copyright.


But its all very complicated due to the fact that internet is international...

PS: Just to say that I'm a fourth year law student specialized in biotechnology and I live in Quebec, so I know a couple things about the subject

I think the laws in germany are in that case similar to the laws in the US (or where ever this game was developted ). The server is situated in austria or germany... i don´t know it exactly... i don´t think we are going to rent one in russia since Stardock said yes

We will probably write on the bottom of every picture "(c) by Stardock Inc." just to make it clear who the owner of the pictures is.

Just to muddy up the waters a bit you do realize that even if you don't charge for your game any revenue from web ads would qualify your game as a commercial venture

Ok, the game have some ads, but we don´t earn any money. In fact we pay more for our server than we get. In my opinion a browser game is commercial if you want some money for premium accounts or you pay the guys working on it. We don´t want to earn money with it, it´s just like a hobby. The ads are only there to pay the bills.

Correct me, if i´m wrong.

If simply not making money was the judging criteria most of the airline industry would be exempt hehe
So it really doesn't matter if your losing money overall or not since you'd still be making money off their product through ad revenue. Thus it is by definition of the term in 'commercial release'

But truthfully no one really cares about such distinctions but us legal geeks and I'm just making things more complex then they really need to be
You asked, he said yes, that's good enough for a small browser game
Because technically a) An internet forum posting is not sufficient to transfer a copyright and There is no proof that 'BoogieBac' is even in a position to confer such privileges to you. (Though there is probably enough proof to void any damages they could seek, but not enough that they couldn't arbitrary yank the privilege at any time)
But like I said, I'm just being difficult

True... true...

Because technically a) An internet forum posting is not sufficient to transfer a copyright and There is no proof that 'BoogieBac' is even in a position to confer such privileges to you. (Though there is probably enough proof to void any damages they could seek, but not enough that they couldn't arbitrary yank the privilege at any time)

If Sserpyc had not gotten premission what kind of damages could Stardock get from a money losing website, probably less than their legal costs.
If Sserpyc got permission in writing from Brad, could Brad still not rewroke that permission at any time in the future?

Q: If Sserpyc had not gotten premission what kind of damages could Stardock get from a money losing website, probably less than their legal costs.

A: A surprisingly large amount. First off the site is unlikely to be incorporated so they could sue the owner directly for his personal assets. Secondly in cases of copyright infringement the court can award attorneys fee to the prevailing party. Thirdly you can sue for more then actual loses, upto 150k.
http://www.copyright.gov/title17/92chap5.html

Q:If Sserpyc got permission in writing from Brad, could Brad still not rewroke that permission at any time in the future?

A: Totally depends on what the agreement says
If the contract says they're his rights forever then there would be no way to revoke those rights. If it says Brad retains the right to revoke permission at his discretion, well then obviously he could do that at any time he wants.

But that would not be very nice, and I would have to think twice about buying Gal Civ 3 then.