4 replies to this topic

[Wrks]

Hello,

I'm about to release my finished game and i plan to release it independently. Unfortunately, i don't live in the US so i have no idea on how i can copyright my game. Maybe someone can help me?

[Mihail121]

Hi Wrks, in depends across different countries, but one thing that is very common are, sadly, the salty prices you need to pay to enforce the copyright against people. What I mean is, if somebody steals from you and you decide to go in court, you need to be prepared to give at least a 5 digit amount of money for court expenses. Do you have them? If not, just build some protection in the game and hope to sell something.

[fireside]

To add to this, everyone has copyrights by being the first to publish something. Mainly you want some kind of date somewhere on your work. A copyright is different than a patent. You can get patents for software but it's expensive and time consuming and questionable with a game. In some file just put "All rights reserved to whoever" and the date. It might be a good idea to put a contact of some kind in case there are copyright questions. If you want to go one step further to prove you published something on a certain date put a copy in an envelope or package and mail it to yourself and keep it sealed. What will probably happen if it's a decent idea is that someone will take it, make small changes, and publish. There isn't much you can do about that. You can, however, hire a lawyer if someone is selling your exact game or artwork.

[onyxthedog]

In that envelope be sure that you have the working build of your product, that if any questions come up, you can prove that you had it at the date on the envelope. In the US, I believe it costs somewhere around $15 to file for an official copyright. (Although, as soon as you make it it is copyrighted, this just is a piece of paper/record that the government recognizes.)

P.S. IANAL

[rouncer]

whats your game? im just interested.