Kevin, Can you tell me if you're a legal advisor, because your understanding of copyright/trademark seems to differ from mine so I'd like to know if I've got things wrong.
As far as I'm aware copyright requires using actual material lifted from their app (e.g. graphics, reverse engineered source code, etc.), or reproduction of something to a level that's indistinguishable to an average person (i.e. parts or the whole look exactly the same, not just similar, but exactly the same). As for trademarks, these tend to only cover brand names and logos/ images. So you can't, for example, trademark a game, but you can apply for a trademark on its' name and/or it's logo. But as I've said before, I'm no legal advisor, so if you are a clarification of these definitions would be great. Al. On Mar 23, 4:02 am, Kevin Duffey <andjar...@gmail.com> wrote: > So question Richard... btw, I play the trial game.. great job on that game. > Have you ever played their game before you wrote yours... did you get the > idea for your game from theirs? They site specific details, like the layout > of the runways, the premise of the game, edge alerts, etc... that sounds > very similar to what your game is. I don't know that I would take a couple > of emails from the CEO as something to worry about just yet. I'd do as the > other guy said above.. ask them what specifically they refer to that you > "stole" from their game, etc. However, I would guess if they > trademarked/copyrighted their game, you may have no choice. But the letter > isn't from a legal firm or anything at this point.. it wouldn't hurt to get > legal representation, as well, maybe youtube their game and read up on when > it was published, when you started yours, etc. Who knows..maybe they stole > your idea and just copyrighted/trademarked it and you didn't, so they feel > they have some legal ground to stand on. > > On Mon, Mar 22, 2010 at 1:19 PM, Mario Zechner <badlogicga...@gmail.com>wrote: > > > > > I have no legal advice as i'm the last person to ask about such > > questions. I just want to share my concern that this will happen to a > > lot of game developers on Android. If you happen to get more info on > > the matter from say a proper legal advisor please share it here with > > us. > > > On 22 Mrz., 19:34, MrChaz <mrchazmob...@googlemail.com> wrote: > > > I guess it depends on just how similar the layout of the levels are, > > > they might have a case for IP infringement. I don't think they can > > > have any claim over the gameplay etc but if the art style and layout > > > is a clone they I dunno IP law seems really complicated :( > > > I would seriously contact a lawyer to see where you stand > > > > On Mar 22, 12:24 am, Richard <rtaylor...@googlemail.com> wrote: > > > > > Hi everyone, > > > > > I'm the developer of a game, Flying Aces, that was released last > > > > September. > > > > > It's a simple line drawing game, of which there are now several > > > > variations on a similar theme. > > > > > There is a very popular iPhone game, Flight Control, that is one of > > > > the most popular (over 2 million sales) developed by Firemint. > > > > > Firemint, according to their website, are porting their Flight Control > > > > game to Android very soon. > > > > > I was contacted last week, with this email: > >http://stickycoding.com/fa1.pdf > > > > > I promptly replied, asking whether it was some kind of joke, and asked > > > > whether they are accusing me of using any of their graphics/audio/ > > > > resources (which I do not). > > > > > I got this response today:http://stickycoding.com/fa2.pdf > > > > > They appear to be demanding (they haven't explicitly mentioned, but > > > > I'm sure they will mention legal proceedings in their next reply) that > > > > I stop selling my game, because it is vaguely similar to theirs. Now, > > > > yes, you land planes by dragging a path, but that's the line-drawing > > > > genre. And mentioning similar things such as "helicopter landing site > > > > with a big H". > > > > > Does anyone have any opinions on this matter? I'm assuming they have > > > > contacted developers of similar apps (Flight Director is very similar > > > > to my game, and is more popular, I would assume they were contacted > > > > first) so I've emailed them to see. > > > > > I don't take to kindly to larger businesses trying to nudge indie devs > > > > like myself out of the way to create a monopoly for there game before > > > > it is even published. > > > > > I know this isn't a programming question but, I figured it applies to > > > > many developers like myself, and there isn't much in the way of advice > > > > other than on here. > > > -- > > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google > > Groups "Android Developers" group. > > To post to this group, send email to android-developers@googlegroups.com > > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > > android-developers+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com<android-developers%2Bunsubs > > cr...@googlegroups.com> > > For more options, visit this group at > >http://groups.google.com/group/android-developers?hl=en > > > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to android-developers+ > > unsubscribegooglegroups.com or reply to this email with the words "REMOVE > > ME" as the subject. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Android Developers" group. 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