Most of Telltale's characters are themselves licensed from somebody else, and Telltale likely doesn't have the rights to sub-license. So unless you're making a Soda Poppers game, you'll have to go to the actual owners of the characters.
Well, the first thing to do would be to remember that Telltale don't own these characters.... The second thing to do would be to remember that very few fangames are created with the permission of the copyright holders; rather, they go ahead hoping against hope that lawyers don't suddenly turn up with "cease and desist" letters, lawsuits, and menacing hired goons.
Alternatively, just make it and add a disclaimer at the beginning that these are not your characters. There's not really much else you can do beyond that. If you get a Cease & Decease, then chances are they weren't gonna let you make it in the first place. If they say nothing, then you're good to go.
This is always a fuzzy area for me -- I appreciate that fans respect these characters and are just trying to express that affection, but there's actually a certain amount of risk to creators when they DON'T actively enforce their ownership.
Robert Crumb reportedly lost all rights to his "Keep On' Truckin'" art after he let a friend use it on notepaper with no copyright notice. When he later sued a bootleg T-shirt producer, that "unauthorized" use was cited as evidence that he was not maintaining appropriate diligence over his copyright, so he lost the suit.
And Bill Watterson refused to license his "Calvin & Hobbes" characters beyond books and calendars, meaning that later on there were no licensing revenues and no licensees with a commercial interest in helping him quash the various unlicensed urination/mischief/prayer ripoffs of his character now seen on pickup trick windows all over the US.
That's why IP owners are skittish about this sort of thing -- it's hard to allow one unlicensed project to go forward without opening the floodgates and losing control. If it's a property that's seen as having little commercial value, it may be okay, but if any sort of official revival is ever planned, then things like official fan licenses have to be arranged and respected.
I think consumers are more savvy today and the Internet is better at making "fan projects" clearly labeled as such, but it's a legally difficult line to walk for both fans and creators.
Alternatively, just make it and add a disclaimer at the beginning that these are not your characters. There's not really much else you can do beyond that. If you get a Cease & Decease, then chances are they weren't gonna let you make it in the first place. If they say nothing, then you're good to go.
Comments
:winslow:
Sam & Max?
Well, the first thing to do would be to remember that Telltale don't own these characters.... The second thing to do would be to remember that very few fangames are created with the permission of the copyright holders; rather, they go ahead hoping against hope that lawyers don't suddenly turn up with "cease and desist" letters, lawsuits, and menacing hired goons.
Wow... that sounds WAY harsher than a cease & desist.
...I got better.
Nope. Purcell has the rights actually.
Hired goons?
Somebody should make a game where all the sprites are photos of tattoos
Robert Crumb reportedly lost all rights to his "Keep On' Truckin'" art after he let a friend use it on notepaper with no copyright notice. When he later sued a bootleg T-shirt producer, that "unauthorized" use was cited as evidence that he was not maintaining appropriate diligence over his copyright, so he lost the suit.
And Bill Watterson refused to license his "Calvin & Hobbes" characters beyond books and calendars, meaning that later on there were no licensing revenues and no licensees with a commercial interest in helping him quash the various unlicensed urination/mischief/prayer ripoffs of his character now seen on pickup trick windows all over the US.
That's why IP owners are skittish about this sort of thing -- it's hard to allow one unlicensed project to go forward without opening the floodgates and losing control. If it's a property that's seen as having little commercial value, it may be okay, but if any sort of official revival is ever planned, then things like official fan licenses have to be arranged and respected.
I think consumers are more savvy today and the Internet is better at making "fan projects" clearly labeled as such, but it's a legally difficult line to walk for both fans and creators.
Thanks for this..