Fan sites and law

ludachris

ludachris

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Jan 20, 2011
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London, UK
Hi guys, quick question regarding law and use of material on fan sites such as a video game fan site.

Are you allowed the name of the game in the domain? and are you allowed to use picture content?

And i suppose the big question is are you allowed to affiliate market on the fan site?
 


Copying that is complementary to the copyrighted work is fair use, but copying that is a substitute for the copyrighted work, or for derivative works from the copyrighted work is not fair use.” Ty Inc. v. Publications International (7th Cir. 2002).
Depends on what you're using it for, and in your case I'm guessing its for commercial purposes. Name of the game in domain...maybe? depending on what kind of site it is (there's a case involving sprint). Pictures, depends on the transformattive use. Nintendo will rape you with the litigation stick, I know that much.
 
From what I've seen, most of the larger companies are pretty sensitive to the name being used in the domain. If they find the site and there's anything there they don't like, they'll most likely send you a Cease & Desist whether or not there's a legal case for it.
 
Fear not if you live if you live in Russia or any former USS country. However, they can still shut down the website if they really want to.

I think that as long as you don't hurt the brand, and actually build a nice community site, not solely dedicated to sell stuff, you will do well.

My suggestion is, take down the site as soon as you receive the first warning from their lawyers.
 
As joe says, depends on the game.

Some copyright owners like Riot Games are totally fine with fan sites, as their game is very community based. They have specific fan kits with authorised materials for fansites.

Others may not be.

You could always ask the company - they will have an IP policy. If they say "No, we'll sue your ass", you've saved yourself a lot of trouble.

EDIT: Looking around, quite a few games have "fansite kits". Maybe google the term with the game you're thinking of e.g.

http://www.wizards.com/fankit/fantoolkitdnd.html


If they don't specifically allow it, expect trouble at some point. Companies are obligated to deal with people infringing their trademarks, because if they don't it can make it more difficult for them to enforce them in future,
 
-joe- said:
What company makes the game you're thinking of?

Different game companies have different reputations for sending out C&Ds.
Click to expand...

Activision.

I think most people can guess what game im talking about. I did a small fan site last year took me about an 1 hours and 30 minutes a week to update, ended up making about $400 (or whatever £300 is in $).

And yes the game is in the domain name. I'm tempted to ditch the domain name because it only has the game name in it and buy another saying blog, or info after it or something. just so activision knows its a fan site.
 
Being technical, yes they can shut it down. However, most see fan sites as a nice compliment and condone this. If your super slick, you can prob get away with making some good $$ from it too.
 
Was about to ask something similar myself so thanks for this thread. Have another slightly related question though.

I assume if i were to directly copy content from another fan\community site I would be infringing on some copyright, but if i just read \learn the content and write my own article about it (e.g a game guide) Then obviously I cant be infringing on anything.

But what about pictures? Am I right in assuming that such fan\community sites hold no rights to ingame pictures, as those rights belong to the game publishers themselves? What if an ingame picture has something added to it by the site, like adding directions or some sort of graphic to it or something?
 
Given Activision includes Blizzard as well, I'll jump into this. DiabloFans.com is owned by Curse Network and the site receives content exclusively from Blizzard including images and interviews. They actively work together. There are truckloads of WoW, Diablo & Starcraft websites that have operated for years without issue. Even if they don't have the name of the game in the title, some sites like TL stream games. When it comes to a TM, you can't pick and choose which fansites/companies you're going to allow to use your TM and which ones you're not, it's all or nothing.

Blizzard has always been good (but not as good as they were in previous years, look at the WC radio debacle over Blizzcon tickets) when it comes to fansites unless you were distributing hacks. With Activision in the picture, I'm not as comfortable as I once was but I still don't think it's anything to worry about at this point. It wouldn't surprise me if this one day changed.

Come to think of it, I've never heard of any major GameForum.com being seized either but maybe it's happened before, can anyone cite any?

Going back to Curse, they operate numerous domains with the game title in the domain name these days as well as copying and distributing content from these games (screenshots, movies, staff comments) of which much is sent to them from the gaming companies themselves. I think you'd see a change on the big sites like Curse first if/when these gaming companies change their attitude (and decide hey, there is money in this, fuck off, we're going to operate the fan sites now).
 
Stumbled over this regarding blizzard and their policies


What is Blizzard Entertainment's® copyright/trademark policy for the Internet, specifically for fansites? Can I use Blizzard Entertainment's® images, text or sound on my web page? Is it ok if I use screenshots I take in-game on my web page?
Yes, within certain limits. We asked our legal department to provide some guidelines for you, and here is what they said:

Blizzard Entertainment® hereby grants you a personal, non-exclusive, non-transferable and non- assignable license to use and display, for home, noncommercial and personal use only, one copy of any material and/or software that you may download from this site, including, but not limited to, any files, codes, audio or images incorporated in or generated by the software (collectively the "Downloaded Content") provided, however, that you must include or maintain all copyright and other notices contained or associated with such Downloaded Content. You acknowledge and agree that you may not sublicense, assign or otherwise transfer this license or the Downloaded Content and that no title to the Downloaded Content has been or will be transferred to you from Blizzard Entertainment® or anyone else. You also agree that you will not alter, disassemble, decompile, reverse engineer or otherwise modify the Downloaded Content.

Also, we reserve the right to revoke this limited use license at any time, for any reason, and at the sole discretion of Blizzard Entertainment®. You may not use our materials on sites that feature defamatory pornographic, or inflammatory content, including, but not limited to, hacks and cheats for any of our games or any other content that Blizzard Entertainment® find objectionable or unlawful.

Are there any legal notices and disclaimers that I need to have on my site when talking about your products?
Yes. You must include all copyright, trademark and other notices as appropriate. Appropriate notices can be acquired from here.

Can I register a domain names containing some portion of your product names such as "star-craft.com" or "war-craft.com?"
No. We are concerned that such use could cause confusion for our customers who may assume that the domain is associated with Blizzard Entertainment®.



Blizzard Entertainment: Blizzard FAQ
 
The legal issue mostly boils down to the issue of confusion. (Would someone mistake your site for one run by the owner of the trademark?)

The real issue you should be concerned about is, will the game maker care about your fan site? It's really not going to matter if what you are doing is legal; if a brand owner is threatening you with legal action, are you really going to fight them in order to continue to run a fan site for their product?

Legality isn't a question you should care about unless you KNOW the trademark owner won't like it and you are going to go ahead anyway.

Otherwise, it's the approval of the game maker that you are looking for.
 
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