How To Judge Legal Risk When Making a Game Clone?

An anonymous reader writes "I'm an indie game developer making a clone of a rather obscure old game. Gameplay in my clone is very similar to the old game, and my clone even has a very similar name because I want to attract fans of the original. The original game has no trademark or software patent associated with it, and my clone isn't infringing on the original's copyright in any way (all the programming and artwork is original), but nevertheless I'm still worried about the possibility of running afoul of a look and feel lawsuit or something similar. How do I make sure I'm legally in the clear without hiring an expensive lawyer that my indie developer budget can't afford?"

Comments

The real question: WOULD they sue?

[Senes]

The question can not be asked whether someone "can" sue, because anyone can file a suit for any reason. And in modern legal warfare, that is a good assessment of how things go down. Instead it is a matter of whether they WOULD sue. The questions you should be asking yourself: -Who holds the rights over the original game? -How litigious have they been in the past? -Do they belong to an industry association?

You can't

[dreamchaser]

How do I make sure I'm legally in the clear without hiring an expensive lawyer that my indie developer budget can't afford?

You can't. The worst thing you can do is what you're doing; going to a bunch of random armchair lawyers on the Internet.

If you're that worried, get a lawyer or do a different project.

Re:Laws have become horribly, horribly complex

[adamrut]

Gameplay in my clone is very similar to the old game

Pretty much all games have used and extended ideas from previous games, copied user interfaces, themes, etc. So I don't think you'd get into trouble making something similar (at least a token effort should be made to put some original styling to the game).

and my clone even has a very similar name

but I think this is the bit where the pants get sued off.

Re:Laws have become horribly, horribly complex

[Profane MuthaFucka]

Don't ask permission. When you're in front of the judge, they're going to pull out a file folder with your call transcript in it. They're going to argue that you KNEW you were infringing, when you asked permission you were TOLD NO, and you INFRINGED on their rights anyway. The judge will be impressed, and you will be ass-raped if you're lucky.

Don't ask any permission. Just do it and have a good lawyer ready. And don't talk to anybody who calls about infringement. Tell them to talk to your lawyer.