HELP wanted- Warhammer 40K Vehicle/Close quarters combat HL2 mod

[[CA]cerberus]

How much did it cost to license warhammer 40k?

[fattdex]

this is going to be a non-profit fan made mod

based around the universe of the Games Workshop tabletop vehicular combat game, GorkaMorka

no need to be a wiseass dude :wise:

[[CA]cerberus]

theres a widely held misunderstanding that if you make a game non-profit you cannot be sued. This is totally untrue. Workshop can not only sue you to force you to stop making the game and take down your website, they can also sue you for damages and trademark infringement. SOME mods have recieved special permission, and others have been sued into oblivion.

[fattdex]

yeah well you dont know until you try do you.
did jrr tolkiens son sue GW for putting orks in space or anything other to do with their games for that matter?
no, because they only took inspiration from his work
worse comes to worse i just remove all GW related imagery.
:wise:
this is boring if u dont want to help then dont!

[waynepashley]

No, seriously dude, GW take the copyright of the intellectual property very serious indeed. Before you even start it would be very wise to read this and aproach them about your project. Its not a matter of if worse comes to worse, if you use GW IP without their permission they will come down on you like a ton of bricks.

http://www.games-workshop.com/ippolicy.htm

[fattdex]

Modifications, Total Conversions, and Games

We want people to express their enjoyment of our games with as little interference from us as possible, as long as they behave reasonably with our IP and follow any reasonable requests that we may make. We are not inherently opposed to hobbyists creating games or mods using our IP, in fact we are flattered that people want to spend so much time creating games and mods in the GW universes.

If you want to make a game, TC or a mod using our IP you must adhere to the following (in addition to the general principles as outlined above):

Any game or mod must be a "total conversion." In other words, you must not use our intellectual property (logos, images, names etc.) in relation to the worlds, names, logos, or images of any other company. For example, you cannot place our Space Marines in a Disney total conversion using the Unreal engine, but you could make a TC solely using Space Marines with the Unreal engine. This is, of course, assuming that you have permission to use the Unreal engine.

Please bear in mind that we may require you to remove the game or mod from any public forum at any time so that we can comply with any licenses that we may have with computer game publishers/developers. Be aware that we may even have to insist that the mod be destroyed. Please take very careful note of this statement, as we would not want you to feel unfairly treated at a later date.

The game or mod must be strictly non-commercial – this includes any web site that the mod or game is hosted on. You also cannot pay a printing company to publilsh copies of it onto CD. It may also mean that you cannot get sponsorship.

It must be made clear on any readme files, splash/intro screens and accompanying material that the game or mod is unofficial and the origins of the intellectual property must be made obvious (e.g., your mod might say “Battletoes _ a total conversion for XXXX (insert game name) using intellectual property owned by Games Workshop. Used without permission...etc." See the relevant disclaimer on the following page.).

The game or mod must not devalue any Games Workshop product in any way.

Any distribution (zipped or otherwise) of the whole, or any part, of the mod or game must be accompanied with the appropriate disclaimers and must also follow these guidelines.

The functionality, atmosphere, and parameters of any mod or game must be consistent with the relevant IP.


theyre vey good like that

Please bear in mind that we may require you to remove the game or mod from any public forum at any time so that we can comply with any licenses that we may have with computer game publishers/developers. Be aware that we may even have to insist that the mod be destroyed. Please take very careful note of this statement, as we would not want you to feel unfairly treated at a later date.
is my only issue.

[chris.scherer]

come to think of it: to what extent does a trademark imply a copyright ??? From the looks of it, GW has a trademark to the terms "ork", "dreanought" and others, but these are common names, the one being a slightly modernized version of a medieval fantasy creature, the other being a naval ship class...

I just ask because this thread is concerning these things and I am still puzzled by the various national, international and personal rights you can possibly run into in this networked world...

[[CA]cerberus]

it basically comes down to whoever has a larger army of lawyers. Its rather well known that if you get an army of 50,000 lawyers you can conquer most of the western hemisphere. The downside is that an army of lawyers that large also triggers the four horses of the apocolypse.

[st0lve]

Originally posted by chris.scherer
come to think of it: to what extent does a trademark imply a copyright ??? From the looks of it, GW has a trademark to the terms "ork", "dreanought" and others, but these are common names, the one being a slightly modernized version of a medieval fantasy creature, the other being a naval ship class...

I just ask because this thread is concerning these things and I am still puzzled by the various national, international and personal rights you can possibly run into in this networked world... GW will first give you a warning to remove all GW stuff from the mod, if not they will probably sue you.

fattdex, I need to talk to you, I've sendt you a mail.
(my mail: lp@st0lve.net msn: djungelvralar@hotmail.com)

[chris.scherer]

Hmmm. Okay, I know all that, and I am not yet involved with any mod:

I just wanted to get that "trademark" vs. "copyright" issue straight, as "ork" is by no means an international intellectual property of GW. First they´d have to change the german spelling rules...and "ork" wouldnt even be spellable in any two-byte language like Japanese...

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