Industry Practice: Session 13: IP Law

 Industry Practice: IP Law

This lesson we looked at IP and Copyright laws. We started by looking at the definition of Rights, which are defined as "conditions and protections that cannot be breached or taken away by others, even by the government or the state. In liberal democratic systems, every individual is assumed to have certain rights. It is the duty of the government and legal system to protect and uphold these rights." We will be looking at this in the context of the gaming landscape next, but it is important to know the basis of what rights are and how they apply to everyone in a societal context.

Intellectual property rights, also referred to as IP laws, are designed to protect the rights to intellectual, creative and commercial endeavours. This could mean games, music , character designs, etc.
They are designed to protect intangible property, which is different to tangible property.

Thomson Reuters describes the difference between the two as "An asset that is not tangible (that is, has no physical substance). Intangible assets include goodwill and intellectual property. They are distinguished from tangible assets, such as property, plant, equipment and stock."

In a gaming context, intangible assets could include copyrights and design rights to a characters design, code or UI.

It is also important to understand what is protected by copyright and laws. A famous example in games is the Red Cross symbol. Many games use variations of the red cross symbol, which is actually a violation against the Geneva Convention. Steven Petite from digitaltrends (2017) talks about how games have been moving away from the red cross being used as a symbol within games because of this.

Carl Velasco from Tech Times (2017) details an example of copyright law being broken: Blizzard and NetEase suing 4399EN GAME for making a game that was a "blatant Overwatch clone". 4399EN GAME was ordered to pay $570,000 in damages.

How do studios protect their IP?

Firstly, they use copyright. What that defintively means is a right to prevent the copying of creative expression. This includes writing, art, music, architecture, film and computer software. Copyright overall is an unregistered system regulated by the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. Copyright itself isn't concerned with ideas, just the expression of those ideas.

A trademark is a name and/or a logo for goods or services. The owner of a trademark may acquire the exclusive right to the use of the trademark with protection from infringement.

If you wanted to trademark something, some of the reasons could be that it serves a source of origin and reputation for your art/game. Without protection, someone else could produce artwork/games in your name. That could possibly mean that they could ruin your reputation.

What is Fair Use?

Fair use permits a party to use a copyrighted work without the copyright owner's permission for purposes which include criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, or research.

there are four main factors that must be considered in deciding whether something is fair use. The factors are:
  •  Purpose and character
Is the work transformative?
Is the work satirical, or a parody?
Is the work for educational purposes?
  • Nature of the Work
A judge will consider the Nature of the Work fair if the copied work is informational or entertaining in nature.
  • Amount and Substantiality
the more you copy directly,  the less likely you will get away with it, especially if there is a low amount of the persons own substance.
  • Effect on the Market
The effect of the use upon the potential market.


Applying this to our own game

In terms of our own game, the only thing I think we should honestly have copyrighted is our character designs. This is because they are really unique, and honestly so different from most of the games in the market. Our game is clearly inspired by other games we have mentioned, but not to the point where it is not fair use.



Anon, Intangible assets [Online]  Thomson Reuters Practical Law. Available at: https://uk.practicallaw.thomsonreuters.com/7-107-6279 [Accessed 7 May 2025].

Steven Petite, 2017. Games that use a red cross to denote health violate the Geneva Conventions. [ Online]. digitaltrends. Available at: https://www.digitaltrends.com/gaming/video-game-red-cross-health-pack-emblem/ [Accessed 7 May 2025].

Carl Velasco, 2017. Blizzard sues Chinese ‘Overwatch’ Clone Called ‘Heroes Of Warfare’: How Similar Are They? [Online]. Tech Times. Available at: https://www.techtimes.com/articles/214363/20171014/blizzard-sues-chinese-overwatch-clone-called-heroes-of-warfare-how-similar-are-they.htm [Accessed 7 May 2025].

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