Legal Question: earning from Google ads on a website based on a brand

[Joseph DiPerla]

For all you legal experts out there, I had a question. I run a star wars game similar to star wars combine. I have Google ads running, like the combine does. I haven't earned a penny yet as it has only accumulated $12 in 3 years, which is less than the payout required.

However, modt of that has come in this month since there has been some renewed interest from the players. I don't sell or offer in app purchases or take donations. But at what point in my ad earnings would this become a legal issue if at all? The site will feature a blog as well as general star wars resources in the near future too. I just don't want to get sued. Thoughts?

[m0ds]

If the website is free to view and has adsense ads on it, you likely have little to worry about. If you gate the content behind a payment of some kind then you're looking for trouble, because you're then asking people to pay for star wars content which you don't necessarily own, well, certainly not the rights to star wars... It's the point where you start charging people for access to brands you don't own that the legal line starts to come into play. Sure someone may not be too pleased about adsense ads alongside their brands on a free website, but they're 99% not gonna do anything about it. I doubt you'll have any problems with an adsense ad...but that doesn't mean the Mouse isn't watching!