Attack of the clones

[thijs]

I know this subject has been discussed in great lengths in these forums. I've read all of them and from what I've read the conclusion is if you use your own art and if the name+gameplay differs enough from the original, you're *reasonably* safe. Ive made some remakes in my sparetime, which im thinking about making business out... I searched a bit around but it seems even the bigger portals offer clone games (even with similar names to the originals):

King.com - Startris (tetris clone)
Miniclip - flashman (pacman clone), commando (metalslug clone)
addictinggames.com - offers various clone games
arcadepod.com - offers various clone games

Where there any lawsuits actually carried out against such activities in the past? Can those portals offer games like this without having to sweat each time the phone rings?

[Bad Sector]

I think that the "tris" postfix is prosecutable, but as you'll often hear in this forum, IANAL :-). To be safe, though, i named mine Turbo C++ Explorer Test (http://www.slashstone.com/badsector/index.php?p=17) (see the bottom - although this isn't that safe, since it has Borland's product name, but it's also a phrase and i give it for free, so i doubt Borland will come after me :-P).

[Dyno Kid]

Diner dash and match 3 enough said.

Darren.

[Andy]

I think that the "tris" postfix is prosecutable, but as you'll often hear in this forum, IANAL :-). To be safe, though, i named mine Turbo C++ Explorer Test (http://www.slashstone.com/badsector/index.php?p=17) (see the bottom - although this isn't that safe, since it has Borland's product name, but it's also a phrase and i give it for free, so i doubt Borland will come after me :-P).

When you give it away for free do you use it to promote either your website or your developer brand? - I'm not standing at any side. Just to explain that there is no any serious difference if you deliver it for free or not. At least this is how law interprete this.

[MrQ]

Sega tried to sue fox/ea a for cloning thier Crazy Taxi games and lost.

http://news.teamxbox.com/xbox/5197/Sega-sues-Fox-EA-over-Crazy-Taxi-Clone/

[Bad Sector]

When you give it away for free do you use it to promote either your website or your developer brand? - I'm not standing at any side. Just to explain that there is no any serious difference if you deliver it for free or not. At least this is how law interprete this.

Yeah, i know. What i meant above was "i'm giving it for free so Borland won't go after me". I assume that if they do, i'm lost :-P.

Btw, i gave it for free just for fun. In a few days, the post will be buried by other posts and i don't have it elsewhere than my blog. Although in the game i mention the blog's URL, so this may count as "blog/website promotion". And it gets installed in a Slashstone Program Files directory and in a Slashstone start menu/programs folder, so it may also count as developer brand promotion.... ehm, i think i'm fried :-P.

[GBGames]

Trademark law doesn't address whether or not you are making a profit. Trademark is about letting the public know that when they see a name and associate it with a person or company, they aren't being misled. If people can easily think that your "Turbo C++ Explorer Test" is associated with Borland, then you are violating their trademark.

Of course, it also means that if you call a jar of peanut butter "Turbo C++", it isn't like you can really confuse your peanut butter with Borland's products and it should be fine. The trademark is only associated with software (or maybe swag like bookbags or whatever else Borland might slap the name on), and so using it for a food product should be fine. Weird, but legally fine.