Reality-Based Video Game

[Varine]

Oregon (not relevant I don't think)

This really isn't a copyright issue I don't think but I have no idea what it would go under necessarily, so I just kinda put it here (sorry...).

Anyway a while ago in high school, I made a small game for class based on the 1993 Battle of Mogadishu (and the link isn't working so there's a URL to a Wikipedia page at the bottom as I don't want to try anymore). Anyway I've been working on updating it for commercial purposes, and I'm wondering if I'd run into legal issues with it. I was planning on changing the names, because that seemed like the first thing that might be an issue (that is, I don't know anything about the legal side of using real people in video games without getting their consent). Other than that though, is there anything else that would be much of an issue that anyone can think of?

 

[Zigner]

Oregon (not relevant I don't think)

This really isn't a copyright issue I don't think but I have no idea what it would go under necessarily, so I just kinda put it here (sorry...).

Anyway a while ago in high school, I made a small game for class based on the 1993 Battle of Mogadishu (and the link isn't working so there's a URL to a Wikipedia page at the bottom as I don't want to try anymore). Anyway I've been working on updating it for commercial purposes, and I'm wondering if I'd run into legal issues with it. I was planning on changing the names, because that seemed like the first thing that might be an issue (that is, I don't know anything about the legal side of using real people in video games without getting their consent). Other than that though, is there anything else that would be much of an issue that anyone can think of?

Your question is way too broad for an internet forum.

 

[quincy]

I am going to use more words than Zigner to tell you basically the same thing.

The legal issues that can come from developing your game on the Battle of Mogadishu are best reviewed by an IP attorney in your area. The attorney can review all components of your game to see what in your game you can keep, what in your game you may want to protect through copyright or trademark registration, and what you need to change or eliminate in order to best avoid a potential lawsuit.

The attorney can also advise you on how to contact and get your game to a game producer or manufacturer or distributor, and how best to protect your rights in the game once you do.

You can visit the U.S. Copyright Office's official website for information on registering the elements of your game that are registratable (ideas, names, titles and method of playing the game cannot be copyrighted, for instance, but game rules, game boards, and game designs can be).

Go to http://www.copyright.gov or, specifically, http://www.copyright.gov/fls/fl108.html for information on copyrighting games.

Although there are many legal issues that may need addressing with your game, some legal issues can arise if your game is patterned after, or borrows any literary or pictorial expressions from, any one of the numerous books published about the Battle of Mogadishu, or if any part of your game is patterned after or borrows from one of the movies made about it.

There are copyrights held in the 1999 book "Black Hawk Down: A Story of Modern War" by Mark Bowden; in the 2001 film "Black Hawk Down" based on Bowden's book; in the 2003 book "In the Company of Heroes" by Mike Durant; and in the book "The Battle of Mogadishu" by Matthew Everson - to name a few.

One example of how an infringement issue could arise with your game is if you have "game cards" and the text on the cards is taken directly from one of the above sources without obtaining permission from the copyright holder. Facts taken from any of the sources listed above or any other source, however, can generally be used without a problem.

You have already mentioned that you intend to avoid using real people's names in your game, and that is wise, but any game character that is patterned after a real person and is recognizable or identifiable as the real person by the characteristics you attribute to the game character could also potentially lead to a suit (ie. invasion of privacy/publicity rights, defamation).

What is needed is a personal review of the game and that, of course, cannot be done on a forum, as Zigner said earlier, so I suggest you contact an attorney in your area.

I wish you good luck with your enterprise.