Liability & Legality

**jamestl2** · 05-30-2009, 06:11 PM

OK, here's my issues:

I was considering starting up a site or two about a couple of video games that I enjoy playing. Basically the sites would be databases of game info, including images of weapons, items, characters, etc. walkthroughs guides, heck maybe even mp3 files if I had that possiblity.

I'd also like to monetize the site in someway (preferably with adsense), which is a whole 'nother beast entirely.

I haven't really gone too deep into this yet, as I'm not sure about the legalities of my situation, and whether companies (say Nintendo) would allow me to post images and copyright info on a commercial site. And I didn't want to get my hopes up too high.

Then again there's the whole "Fair Use" act, that throws me off here, so I'm not sure how many options I have. I wouldn't want to start building a site if it ends up violating the DMCA or conflicting with other online legal factors. Plus being unable to support maintenance on a monthly basis isn't something I can really afford without some stream of income.

Basically how far do you think I can take this idea?

**willcode4beer** · 05-30-2009, 06:50 PM

That's a tough one.

You might do better arguing "artistic use" instead of fair use. An example of artistic use would be when Saturday Night Live does a spoof.

The bigger issue is, even if you are right, can you afford a legal battle?

Now that's out of the way. You could still be successful. It just depends on the company. Many embrace fansites because they see it as free marketing. Others try to shut-down fansites because they want to "control the message".

Nintendo, and many game companies recognize the value of fansites. Just don't post cracked versions of games and plugins and you'll probably be ok.

It is very unlikely you'd get sued. If they send a DMCA take down notice, just remove the specific things mentioned. If it's not specific, ask them to be so.

**jamestl2** · 06-01-2009, 03:54 PM

Thanks for the tips Paul.

How do I know if it would argue "artistic use" rather than "fair use", I'm not familiar with it?

I know I wouldn't really want to fight a huge legal battle, and I can't afford it. I was hoping that I could either have the legal "right of way" somehow before I go through with the project, or just get their permission somehow (even though large companies like Nintendo probably can't be bothered with small-time claims like mine).

**willcode4beer** · 06-01-2009, 04:16 PM

Fair use generally describes the category of things like, copying a CD you purchased for backup and/or personal use.

Artistic use could be if you created your own image of Mario eating a mushroom while being shot out of a cannon. It would be clear that it's not Nintendo's work.

Though not legal advice, I'd say just go for it.

Here's an idea for monetization: Put up amazon affiliate ads for games and books about games. If anything happened, you could argue that the game publishers ARE receiving their share of site monetization

**jamestl2** · 06-02-2009, 02:36 AM

I really like that monetization tip (too bad I already gave TP for the previous post

).

As for the images, I'm not a graphical designer. I was thinking about just putting up icons of some different gameplay mechanics involved.

I've seen other sites out there that already use similar icons, but don't know if they're completely legal to use or not (they look like they're ripped right out of the game, but don't know how they'd done that).

And I'd also definitely make sure to claim that in no way do I own the images or am attempting to steal them from a game or two. Take the mariowiki for example. They have tons of pictures from various Mario games, yet they claim that they're in no way affiliated with Nintendo.

**jamestl2** · 06-19-2009, 04:32 PM

OK, I looked into a few sites (nintendo.com, xbox.com, etc.) and they don't exactly "approve" of allowing people to use images, content etc. for commercial purposes.

However though, they only really mention the content on the actual website (not random images you'd get from elsewhere).

This whole legal area is still a little fuzzy for me, and don't want to jump into anything with legal backlash that I was too ignorant of in the future.

**willcode4beer** · 06-19-2009, 05:54 PM

The legal area is just going to be fuzzy.

I would definitely try to avoid using images from their site (without permission) unless they are specifically open licensed. You can use screen-shots as long as you give it some context. At that level, you are more like a reporter.

**jamestl2** · 06-19-2009, 06:02 PM

Alright thanks Paul.

How about things like icons, items, weapons, characters, etc.?

That's the main focus of images I'd want to be using here. Like I said, The site(s) would be a database of game info.

**willcode4beer** · 06-19-2009, 06:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jamestl2

...How about things like icons, items, weapons, characters, etc.

Those are the things most likely to get ya in trouble. Even when making your own versions, they could pull the "derivative work" claim.
You'll probably be ok with making your own icon/items/weapons because most of that kind of stuff is pretty generic. Most companies try to guard character representations pretty strongly.

One thing to consider, try calling the marketing divisions (not ad sales) of some of the game producers. Tell them what you are planning, point out some of your web success (so they take you seriously). Ask them for some guidance, you may find it can be fairly easy to get permission to use images and things. They might even supply you with some that are unique on the web.

To build your site quickly, see if you can get some promotional materials (tshirts/posters/toys/etc). You can use that as give-aways to build your userbase quickly too.

Use your contacts wisely and you could get pre-release versions of games to review as well