BBC
People like to gawk at bad things. They would quickly realize they'd found a real diamond and not a chocolate diamond.
so what should i do.
1. make it without asking
2. email the person and try and get permission
1. make it without asking
2. email the person and try and get permission
If you're still not sure what you want to do, then I am having a hard time believing that you want to go through with this at all.
closed account (z05DSL3A)
| Doctor Who - Fan fiction You are welcome to write Doctor Who fiction for your own enjoyment, but we should remind you that it is not permitted for you to publish this work either in print or online. |
They will, in all likelihood, not give you permission if you ask...and then you are on their radar if you go ahead anyway.
If you do it without asking permission you open yourself to multiple law suits.
Yes. For anything with a risk of consequences for not asking, it is better to ask and be shot down so you don't go ahead with it and get sued. Being sued is not fun. You don't even have to ask someone with experience.
just in case they say no i have one more question.
As i understand it personal use doesn't require any permission. but am i allowed to share it amongst friends?
As i understand it personal use doesn't require any permission. but am i allowed to share it amongst friends?
You should be fine, anyways how would BBC find out if you and/or your friends play it? I don't think they are personally spying on you.
closed account (z05DSL3A)
Cronnoc, Do not take legal advice from people that are not able to give it. It doesn't matter what people here tell you, you need to speak to qualified legal professionals.
@Cronnoc
Of course personal use negates all legal issues. The issue with letting friends have copies is that they could, unbeknownst to you, put it online for others to play. If BBC caught wind of it they could chose to pursue legal actions against you for it.
Your best bet is to just contact them and find out the answer. If they say no, then you need to change the idea from Dr. Who to your own personal project using original characters and art. If you decide to make a Dr. Who fan game after them saying no, you would be playing legal roulette at that point.
Of course personal use negates all legal issues. The issue with letting friends have copies is that they could, unbeknownst to you, put it online for others to play. If BBC caught wind of it they could chose to pursue legal actions against you for it.
Your best bet is to just contact them and find out the answer. If they say no, then you need to change the idea from Dr. Who to your own personal project using original characters and art. If you decide to make a Dr. Who fan game after them saying no, you would be playing legal roulette at that point.
closed account (z05DSL3A)
| BHX Specter wrote: |
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| Of course personal use negates all legal issues. |
| Canis lupus wrote: |
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| It doesn't matter what people here tell you, you need to speak to qualified legal professionals. |
This.
If you are looking to do this legally, you need to talk to a lawyer.
Of course this isn't going to be free. Likewise... it's not going to be free for the BBC either, which is why their blanket answer is going to be "no". I'm 100% sure of it. It's easier and cheaper to just reject proposals outright than it is to spend the time and money to pursue all of them.
They might make an exception for an established video game company that approaches them with a business model and can show how the game will be profitable to the BBC. Since you will not be able to do that, it's a guarantee they will not give you permission to use their content. It just does not make business sense. There's no way they'll go for it.
Throughout gaming history, there have been tons of indie fan games which used copyrighted material from a big-time corporation. Though I can count on one hand how many of them got official support from the copyright holder: zero. It just doesn't happen.
So your options really are:
1) Don't use copyrighted material
2) Acknowledge that you'll be violating copyrights and just use it anyway (as has been said... BBC likely won't care unless you do something dumb like try to sell it)
3) Contact BBC either on your own or with a lawyer, be rejected, and then have to pick from option 1 or 2.
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| Canis lupus wrote: |
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| Is that your considered legal opinion? For everyone reading this? There is no blanket 'Personal Use' clause in UK IP law (to the best of my knowledge). |
You realize that question makes absolutely no sense? If he makes it for personal use (ie he is the only one that sees it or plays it), then how can he have legal action taken against him?
The legal action would come from if he does the second half of his question and puts it out on the internet or gives it to friends and they sneak and put it out there so that the BBC finds out about it.
closed account (z05DSL3A)
| You realize that question makes absolutely no sense? If he makes it for personal use (ie he is the only one that sees it or plays it), then how can he have legal action taken against him? |
What I am having an issue with is the suggestion that if it is for personal use the law does not apply and the unqualified nature of the remark.
The question of whether or not someone is in breach of the law is a different one to the likelihood of them getting prosecuted for that breach.
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Cronnoc,
IP is a tricky minefield that you should take great care in. You need to check who own what rights to the things that you are doing. The Doctor Who series and characters appearing thereon are copyrighted by the BBC. The term "TARDIS" is trademarked by the BBC although I believe that there is currently a challenge to the copyright status of "TARDIS". If you want to use a Dalek, I believe that you would need to speak to Terry Nation. There may be other characters/terms that you would have to find out who has what rights to.
Last edited on by Canis lupus
@Canis lupus
Making it for personal use does negate the law because it falls under 'fair use', but if you make it available to others it then breaks the copyright laws. So he can make it without permission, but he can't give it to his friends or it breaks the law.
Making it for personal use does negate the law because it falls under 'fair use', but if you make it available to others it then breaks the copyright laws. So he can make it without permission, but he can't give it to his friends or it breaks the law.
Personal use isn't fair use; it isn't even within the scope of copyright law, which concerns itself with distribution of material. Without involving other people, you can do anything you want with a copy you own, except make copies (copies for personal use may fall under fair use).
| BHX Specter wrote: |
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| Making it for personal use does negate the law because it falls under 'fair use' |
Can you back that up with any reference to, y'know, actual laws? Because, as a layman who's done some research into IP law, that's not a part of the legal definition of "fair use" that I've ever seen before.