Samus/Princess Peach/Tracer/May in other games.

[JacksonGood]

What's going on everyone.

I'd like to get a discussion going regarding using other video game characters in our adult games.

Are any of you guys familiar with the legalities?
From what I've been reading, you can get thrown under the bus if the original creator finds you.

[ANooB]

I believe they'll get pissed if you start making money on it. If it's an indie project, you should be ok. This sites been up for 6 years founded on copyright infringement and nobody really cares, lol. Plus it's not like we stole actual resources. Everything is user-made.

[Dead2112man]

yep as long as no one using an ripped art work or is trying to make money off of a licensed character, they will be fine.

[JacksonGood]

That's the gist I got. Unfortunately it's too much of a grey area...

[VintageBass]

Here's the main thing that I know about this: all of this tends to fall under parody laws.

Granted not every country will have a law like this, but there is something in place that can cover porn as a form of parody, so long as there are a few conditions met for certain things. Like selling a product will usually mean transforming the character in a way they're not an exact replica, or going the free route and pretty much doing whatever and all. This site here is pretty much populated by people who are making stuff for free and making sure that their product is free, without having to worry about higher ups getting their panties in a bunch. Not to mention that you will have people out there that will do stuff like this, as it's just what we do as humans. We do want to show our appreciation for characters we like, even if we are using them in adult material.

So long as we're not selling something with them in it (or anything for that matter), then we should be in the clear. Not to mention that not a whole lot of higher ups really care too much about this sort of thing to begin with. They have other worries to deal with, so what's going to stop us from making things? There's also the fact that if you take something down, it will come back in some form or another and the Internet is forever eternal, no matter how hard some people try to clear things off of it.

[JacksonGood]

Here's the main thing that I know about this: all of this tends to fall under parody laws.

Granted not every country will have a law like this, but there is something in place that can cover porn as a form of parody, so long as there are a few conditions met for certain things. Like selling a product will usually mean transforming the character in a way they're not an exact replica, or going the free route and pretty much doing whatever and all. This site here is pretty much populated by people who are making stuff for free and making sure that their product is free, without having to worry about higher ups getting their panties in a bunch. Not to mention that you will have people out there that will do stuff like this, as it's just what we do as humans. We do want to show our appreciation for characters we like, even if we are using them in adult material.

So long as we're not selling something with them in it (or anything for that matter), then we should be in the clear. Not to mention that not a whole lot of higher ups really care too much about this sort of thing to begin with. They have other worries to deal with, so what's going to stop us from making things? There's also the fact that if you take something down, it will come back in some form or another and the Internet is forever eternal, no matter how hard some people try to clear things off of it.

I see. Reason I was asking is because we do want to include a parody version of characters from other games in Tap2Fuck. Obviously like you stated they will have to be free.
This works out well for both; us and the players.

[VintageBass]

At least from what I know, color swapping and doing like a punny name helps out in that department. Or at least something close that matches the spirit of what you're parodying.

So long as it's free...

[ANooB]

What if someone copies someone else's parody?

[JacksonGood]

What if someone copies someone else's parody?

That works the same way then. You'd have to do changes to it. Generally, when someone makes a design, it's automatically protected.

[AcetheSuperVillain]

You want to look up what they call "Fair Use". It's a pretty straightforward law and a lot of the previous cases have been very lenient to new content creators. If you are making a parody and not blatantly plagiarizing something, it's probably okay, at least in the USA. Warning, Fair Use laws are different in different countries. In the previous decade, I remember a sort of famous case where a Chinese company tried sue an indie developer from America or Europe in the Australian courts over copyright/fair use laws. (I think it was actually over the title of one of his Flash games) Nintendo is also somewhat infamous for going beast mode when it comes to protecting its trademarks. For example, the guy who originally invented Fire Emblem for Nintendo left to start his own company and Nintendo sued him because his new game was too similar to Fire Emblem. I don't think Nintendo won that suit, but paying to legally battle Nintendo is not the thing a small company or indie developer wants to deal with.

[Ungawa]

You want to look up what they call "Fair Use". It's a pretty straightforward law and a lot of the previous cases have been very lenient to new content creators. If you are making a parody and not blatantly plagiarizing something, it's probably okay, at least in the USA. Warning, Fair Use laws are different in different countries. In the previous decade, I remember a sort of famous case where a Chinese company tried sue an indie developer from America or Europe in the Australian courts over copyright/fair use laws. (I think it was actually over the title of one of his Flash games) Nintendo is also somewhat infamous for going beast mode when it comes to protecting its trademarks. For example, the guy who originally invented Fire Emblem for Nintendo left to start his own company and Nintendo sued him because his new game was too similar to Fire Emblem. I don't think Nintendo won that suit, but paying to legally battle Nintendo is not the thing a small company or indie developer wants to deal with.

Incorrect for a number of reasons.

Fair Use is a judicial statute, but it's not something that people find in preventing a company from suing you.

Nintendo was famously sued by Universal over Donkey Kong in the 80s but got away with it by having a bunch of lawyers claim it was Fair Use. It doesn't mean a company can't come out against you as they did with a pirate guy in Australia a few years ago.

The entire framework of copyright law is to prevent artists from making money and give it to publishers as a monopoly rent. Likewise, trademarks, copyright, and patents "protect" different aspects of a business but people conflate them as all the same thing. Nintendo going "beast mode" is to intimidate smaller artists and publishers from doing what they did to Universal.

Really is that simple...