Anyone know legal stuff?

[Sotoeovoeon]

I want to make a fan game ( no profit of course)Ã,  of the original star wars.Ã,  Ã, I was wondering if anyone knows the if this is legal or do i need lucas films permision?Ã,  Ã,  Ã, Im thinking it is legalÃ,  like case of star wars revolutions (fan made film).Ã, Plz reply if you know for sure i dont wanna go to jail on a guess . Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  P.S.Ã,  Ã,  (E-mailÃ,  Ã, SoToEoVoEoN@yahoo.com if have game suggestions or would like to help).

( I still need to know if its legal before i put to much time in to my game, Flukeblake has a good point though I think he might be right)


K YAKSPITÃ,  explintation made a lot of sense.Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã, I think I'm just ganna follow what he siad.Ã,  Ã, thnx for eveyoneelses input alot.

[LGM]

I'm sure any court would tell you:

Please, for the love of Skywalker, DON'T DO IT!

[Las Naranjas]

The Geneva Convention, for the purposes of preventing Crimes Against Humanity, outlawed such games, you might have to go to North Korea to make it.

[Tiki]

Alas, nobody is able to top

.

It's impossible.  Even for Sotoeovoeon.

[PsychicHeart]

What?
Are you sure its illegal?
Then what about that Simpsons Fan Game and the Futurama fan game and ( various other ramblings )?

[TheYak]

Under US law, you can use portions of a work for purposes of critique or tribute.  This would include likenesses, characters inspired by, and a plot line based upon, the work in question.  However, in order to defend their copyright, Lucasfilm Ltd., could present you with a cease and desist request.  You could attempt to fight it in court, but your chances wouldn't be great.   To be on the safe side, I would:

1) Attribute credit for the basis of your work prominently in your game (e.g. The Star Wars characters, storyline, and concepts are copyright Lucasfilm Ltd.)
2) Make sure people know that you are not attempting to present the concept as your own (with phrasing like #1) and also that you are not presenting your game as the "genuine article." (i.e. Mention in credits, readme.txt, etc., that it's a fan game and is not authorized or attributed to Lucasfilm).
3) If you wanted to extra-cautious, you would make sure all artwork/sound/characters are your own and merely inspired by Star Wars (following this guideline, there's not really anything LFL could do). 

Don't be scared off by the precautionary recommendations, just use some basic ethics and you'll be fine: Give credit where credit is due, don't claim things that aren't true.  Worst case, you'd have to stop work on your game or curtail its distribution.  For a scenario like this, there's no worry about official prosecution or jail time.  If you're thinking about selling it, unless you had a very skilled attorney, you wouldn't have much hope of distribution. 

To the rest of you, sorry to ruin your fun, but you should at least have a *little* mercy on the new guy, neh?

[monkey0506]

However, in order to defend their copyright, Lucasfilm Ltd., could present you with a cease and desist request.

On this note LucasArts hasn't shut down a fan-project in a few years.  But it is always good to include the disclaimers for your own protection.

[LGM]

We weren't saying don't do it cause it's illegal, don't do it because the world will unmend itself and we will fall into oblivion.

[Eggie]

Maybe if you submitted a trailer for your game in the Staw Wars fan film festival. Then it would magically become alright for you to make the game...

[mlsq42]

And don't try to make money off it, obviously.

But you already knew that.

[monkey0506]

We weren't saying don't do it cause it's illegal, don't do it because the world will unmend itself and we will fall into oblivion.

Of course.  I knew that, but I was just saying that LA hasn't shut down a fanproject in years, so it's highly unlikely that LA would be the one to make him stop (which is what this is really all about, isn't it?).