WHAT ARE YOU THINKING ABOUT RIGHT NOW?

For us Europeans, is SMTIV going to be the Detox of jRPGs?

author=LockeZ
Fanfiction, remix music, and using screenshots or quotes from the game in a forum discussion are actually all exactly as illegal as a remake of the game. Copyright law is extremely broad so that content creators never have to worry about someone skirting around the edge of the laws. They can technically prosecute basically anyone who mentions the game's name, as long as it wasn't part of a news broadcast or an accredited educational curriculum.

The question is not whether it's illegal but whether they will ask you to stop. If what you're making gets enough publicity and they believe it might cut into their profits, they will ask you to stop.

For the record I think they've only shut down two Chrono Trigger fan games? Maybe three? There are a few hundred others they've left alone.

Remix music, maybe. Fanfic that quotes original material, certainly, but you cannot, cannot, cannot, copyright names. Period. In most cases you can't even trademark them, otherwise, the producers of the Halloween movies would be able to sue Mike Myers.

Copywriting names, titles, designation is...not...legal.

Trademarks require that a name be unique. Cloud; not unique. Cloud Strife; unique enough that most judges would probably uphold a trademark, but not all judges would.
Chrono; this is an actual word used for time. That's like Hershey's trying to trademark "candy". Crono: unique spellings may qualify, but they also may not. Chrono Trigger or Crono Trigger: probably sufficiently unique.
If Cloud is not eligible to be trademarked, then Squall definitely isn't. How about William Riker. Common names absolutely cannot be trademarked.
Jean-Luc Picard: May be unique to an American, but this name screams France. Definitely not unique.

Caselaw: The Freecycle. The Freecycle was created on Yahoo Groups, but a group of people who didn't like the excessively strict rules started their own group network and called the Freecycle. Original Freecycle owner sued over trademark infringement. Ruling: Freecycle has had three previous uses and is not sufficiently unique to justify a trademark. So that the owner wasn't out 450 bucks for the trademark, the judge amended it to Freecycle Network, stating that there was no instance of this term being used anywhere that could be found and as such, he COULD trademark Freecycle Network.

Caselaw: Paramount Pictures vs. Fanfiction dot net over Star Trek fanfiction. Ruling: IN FAVOR OF FANFICTION! Breakdown: The majority of fanfictions cited did not quote or plagiarize original source material and thus DID NOT VIOLATE COPYRIGHT LAWS. The names of the characters and the implements they used such as phasers and transporters have found their way into the English lexicon and have become so common, trademarks do not apply except where capital is changing hands. It was determined that FANFICTION IS A RESULT OF A CULTURE CREATED BY THE ARTIST AND IS PROTECTED FIRST AMENDMENT SPEECH. There is nothing vague or out of the way about this law.

Finally, for those of you screaming about C & Ds. These are not legal documents. Legally, all they are is evidence that the company contacted you with regard some, such, or the other intellectual property. SquareEnix did not shut you down. You cowered. It is not a court order. It is not proof that you plagiarized. It is what is referred to in more intellectual internet circles as a lolsuit. You can ignore C & Ds. They are worth less than tissue paper because you can't wipe your ass with them. C & Ds are big bark.

Big companies only write them when they aren't sure if a judge will support their position. Otherwise, they sue you outright. Doesn't matter that they won't get anything. They make examples. Trust me, I've been in one of these fights and they do get nasty. I never received a C & D. My lawyer taught me a lot about copyright law. The fight was over ownership of a book I wrote. The company claimed that since I was under contract, they legally owned my work until the end of the contract, even though they had never honored my contract in any way, shape or form. The stopped selling my book entirely and when I self-published it, they sued me for, among other things, copyright infringement.

Turns out, a publisher can't own an author's copyright. I won.

It's called Avalon's Eclipse. You can find it on Lulu. Author name, T. R. Myers.

author=seiromem
It's also a loudspeaker.

Interesting.

Yes, I remember the Google searches. Memories.

Trying to finish this assignment on programming and it's going well. The regular trips to RMN to break the programming up with light relief helps me think this isn't work! :)

^Space Dandy is the best, baby.

T...telemarketing....


There are two amazing concerts next month, one of them on my birthday, and it looks like I'm going alone to both. I need better friends 8U

Kentona's an owl.

Important lesson: Never try to be funny or creative in your children's game

Beware of humans posing as owls!