question about copyright

[rednova]

Hi all:

I am planning on making a new amiga game.
I want it to be a free, public domain game.
When is done, I will upload it to aminet for all to download
who want it. I am afraid someone might get it and resale it
for money, to make money off it, when I want it to be free.
Do I need to copyright the game ? And how do I do that ?
I just want the game to be free for everyone.
please help !!!

rednova

[AndyFC]

The specific law will depend on where you are based, but if you are able to prove that the work is all your own that should be enough for you to assert your intellectual property rights. Include some text in a readme file which states it's copyrighted and cannot be sold.

It doesn't have to apply to the whole game. If someone took the music, a graphic, or even something in the gameplay which is unique to your game, they can be covered by copyright.

You will need to be able to prove it came from your game e.g. you should make a timestamped backup made with a system which can't have the date and time artificially set. Uploading it to Aminet would be a good way to do this because all the files have an upload date.

[nbache]

Also, you should probably not use the term public domain in that case, but rather freeware.

Public domain is often understood (maybe also in the law?) as something to which you give up all rights - which is not what you're after.

Best regards,

Niels

[rednova]

Hi:

thank you for your replies. I am going to use lightwave 3d for the graphics,
so I will keep original objects and scene files in my pc, so it will be easy for me
to prove I made the game. i will upload to aminet, so it will keep in file the date
it was put. I just want the game to be freeware, so everyone can play it for
free. Thank you all !!!

rednova

[slaapliedje]

Not sure about for software, but a friend of mine just got a copyright on a book he wrote and it was 50 or 55 USD, something like that.  So you could put a legitimate copyright on it and then give it away for free.  But everything I've seen, has been mentioned that you can provide a LICENSE file with it that has whatever license you want for it.  You could always use this; http://www.wtfpl.net/ 

[psxphill]

Do I need to copyright the game ? And how do I do that

Write this text on it "Copyright [insert your name here] [the year you wrote it]"

Depending on what country you live in you may want/need to register the copyright.

However the biggest problem is if someone does violate your copyright then you have to pay to sue them & it's generally not worth it.