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Copyright problems in mods?
Author
Hi there! I´m planning to make an small mod for Q3 soon, just some new weapons and items. The problem is that those weapons already exist on other FPS games that I´ve seen and here´s my question: Can I have copyright problems by "borrowing" those weapons and including them in my mod?
Thanks in advance for your answers!!
--Ignacio Liverottti
iliverotti@hotmail.com
If they didn't come with a readme, you'll problably have to contact the creator of them. Something like that he problably has copyrighted. Some of them will let you for non-commercial use.
-UltimaX-
"You wished for a white christmas... Now go shovel your wishes!"
[edited by - UltimaX on May 22, 2003 9:10:35 AM]
-UltimaX-
"You wished for a white christmas... Now go shovel your wishes!"
[edited by - UltimaX on May 22, 2003 9:10:35 AM]
Author
Well, the aim of my mod is not commercial at all, I want to make it for fun. In fact, I think that mods cannot be sold. The weapons I would like to borrow are, for example, the "Flame Wall" from Rise of the Triad or the "Laser Trap" from Duke Nukem 3D. Since those games were 2.5D, I´ll just borrow the concept of those weapons and I´d have to make a 3D model by myself. Do I have to contact 3D Realms to do that? Believe me, it´s not that I´m lazy to write an e-mail to them, but I don´t want to make them lose their time answering my questions.
Thanks for your input!
--Ignacio Liverotti
iliverotti@hotmail.com
Thanks for your input!
--Ignacio Liverotti
iliverotti@hotmail.com
I belive that the recent release of both those games'' sourcecode is a pretty clear indication that the developers couldn''t care less. Don''t sue me if im wrong though 
-Lord Maz-
-Lord Maz-
I think the concepts of flame walls and laser traps are pretty generic. Since you''ll be implementing them yourself, it would be kind of the same thing as borrowing something like a helicopter. You can even rename it if you want.
Author
Thanks for your input. I think I´ll write 3D realms an e-mail just to be sure that I won´t experience any kind of problem.
quote: Original post by Ignacio Liverotti
Well, the aim of my mod is not commercial at all, I want to make it for fun. In fact, I think that mods cannot be sold. The weapons I would like to borrow are, for example, the "Flame Wall" from Rise of the Triad or the "Laser Trap" from Duke Nukem 3D. Since those games were 2.5D, I´ll just borrow the concept of those weapons and I´d have to make a 3D model by myself. Do I have to contact 3D Realms to do that?
You only run into copyright issues by using actual copyrighted material (graphics, models, text, music, etc...). Ideas and concepts cannot be copyrighted, only physical (umm, or digital) works.
However, I would like to point out that the purpose of a project, commercial or otherwise, has no bearing on copyright cases. If you make a freeware game that uses the original works of another without their consent, you are still in violation of copyright laws. But again, this doesn''t apply to ideas or concepts.
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