Copyright laws: expression/idea

[raees]

Can anyone help me distinguish the difference between the expression and idea of a game.

[smasher]

Originally Posted by raees

Can anyone help me distinguish the difference between the expression and idea of a game.

In terms of copyright the "ideas" are usually the general plot or setting (war in space, knights and orcs) and the genre (FPS, RTS, match-3 puzzle, etc). These things are not copyrightable; no one can keep you from making a game with knights and orcs, just like no one can stop you from making a movie with "boy meets girl."

The specific expression is the characters, sounds, and artwork for that game. You can not copy the pac-man sprite file, and you can't draw another yellow circle that looks too similar to the pac-man sprite. Trademark may also apply here, but you can avoid both problems by not copying someone else's characters. You can not copy textures, backgrounds, sounds, etc. So you can't make a game in someone else's setting like "Halo for Iphone" or "Pocket World of Warcraft" without permission.

Gameplay in general is not copyrightable, although the specific code that performs the gameplay is. If you never see the code you don't have to worry of course. So running, jumping, breaking, matching, fighting, even recent innovations like portals or reversing time are not copyrightable. The only exception to watch out for here is Tetris, who seems to bully or sue anyone who makes a falling tetrominoes game, unfairly (in my opinion) extending copyright to an area where it doesn't apply.

[Kalimba]

Then there's stuff like this -- Ghost Mode Patent -- that falls into the gray area somewhere in between.

[smasher]

Originally Posted by Kalimba

Then there's stuff like this -- Ghost Mode Patent -- that falls into the gray area somewhere in between.

You're right. Software patents in general make me angry.

[raees]

Originally Posted by smasher

In terms of copyright the "ideas" are usually the general plot or setting (war in space, knights and orcs) and the genre (FPS, RTS, match-3 puzzle, etc). These things are not copyrightable; no one can keep you from making a game with knights and orcs, just like no one can stop you from making a movie with "boy meets girl."

The specific expression is the characters, sounds, and artwork for that game. You can not copy the pac-man sprite file, and you can't draw another yellow circle that looks too similar to the pac-man sprite. Trademark may also apply here, but you can avoid both problems by not copying someone else's characters. You can not copy textures, backgrounds, sounds, etc. So you can't make a game in someone else's setting like "Halo for Iphone" or "Pocket World of Warcraft" without permission.

Gameplay in general is not copyrightable, although the specific code that performs the gameplay is. If you never see the code you don't have to worry of course. So running, jumping, breaking, matching, fighting, even recent innovations like portals or reversing time are not copyrightable. The only exception to watch out for here is Tetris, who seems to bully or sue anyone who makes a falling tetrominoes game, unfairly (in my opinion) extending copyright to an area where it doesn't apply.

So would a shark jumping in space be the idea or expression?

[MiniRobinho]

Originally Posted by raees

So would a shark jumping in space be the idea or expression?

That would be the "idea" of your game. The expression of your game might be your shark character for example. If you make a shark character another person can't come along and use that shark character or something too similar to it, even if it's a completely different game.

Copyright laws are so confusing, it's too difficult for it not to be ambiguous, a lot of uncertainty about what is "too similar" and what isn't

[smasher]

Originally Posted by raees

So would a shark jumping in space be the idea or expression?

That sounds like an idea to me. The expression would be the code, artwork, and sounds that you create to express that idea.

[rocotilos]

Good info, smasher.

I think Im going to annoy Tetris and make a falling brick game.
They just ask Apple to remove it right? Any chance my dev license
going to be in jeopardy?

[rocotilos]

[double post.. internet connection problem]

[Kalimba]

Originally Posted by raees

So would a shark jumping in space be the idea or expression?

It sounds like most others feel that this is more of "the idea" than "the expression".

But suppose we're talking about implementing a version of the game Chinese Checkers. Now the "sharks jumping in space" concept falls more into the expression category, as it is how you're choosing to present the basic game, no?

[dre]

Originally Posted by rocotilos

Good info, smasher.

I think Im going to annoy Tetris and make a falling brick game.
They just ask Apple to remove it right? Any chance my dev license
going to be in jeopardy?

If you really-really-really want to annoy Tetris Company, make Tetris clone and publish it as open source. Every spammer will take it and publish it to appstore to make quick $10. Let's see how Tetris Company is gonna deal with it