copyrights

[ScarletMutation]

I was showing a concept for one of my comics to a friend, and he told me that there was a chance I might get sued for it. The comic mentions some common products like Halo and X-Box. I really don't think I'll get sued over it because I never claimed to own the products. Having as limited a budget as I do, I don't particularly want to get sued. Do I need a disclaimer to put on my page, and if so is there a standard one? Thanks.

[Thought]

First, names can not be copyrighted. They can be trademarked however. I know almost nothing about trademarks but I do know a little something about copyrights.

As long as you don't intentionally steal the idea (or exact structure) of something you are safe. What I mean is, having a comic about a fat lazy orange cat, a dorky owner, and a yellow dog sidekick with a long tongue would be very close to violating the copyright to Garfield. However a parody on starwars could include things like energy swords, some all powerful "force", etc and as long as it is not too much like star wars you are good. If it is a parody, you are fairly safe.

As for titles, I think (but am not sure) that famous names can be used freely in reference as to what they are (that is, you can talk about the x-box in your comic as long as you are talking about microsofts x-box). However if you named your comic x-box then you could get in trouble.

I hope that helped a little (I know, it wasn't too clear.


Joel

<A HREF="http://haffn.keenspace.com">Hyperactive Fast Food Ninjas!</A>: it's grand opening week. Stop by and see the wild wild... um... wildness

[ScarletMutation]

Thanks. That's what I thought, and argued with him about, but I wanted to be sure. Thank you. ^_^