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Game Title Same as Movie Title

Discussion in 'General Discussion' started by Slaimx, Mar 29, 2021.

  1. Slaimx

    Slaimx

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    Hi Guys,

    I just wondering if i can use a name that is same as popular Movie Title. But the title have do not have any special meaning on it, just general. Is anyone know anything about this? Maybe from Unity Staff? or anyone?
     
  2. MadeFromPolygons

    MadeFromPolygons

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    Without knowing the title, sort of hard to give any meaningful insight. Also, nobody here are lawyers. Unity staff are unlikely to give you legal advice for your own product unless its to do with usage of their TOS.
     
  3. MDADigital

    MDADigital

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    Its an interesting topic, Like a game about pizza baking called "Heat". Would it be ok :D
     
  4. MDADigital

    MDADigital

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    I know Disney did the opposite, they named a movie Onward. And now when you google that game you get disney hits.
     
  5. neginfinity

    neginfinity

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    If it is trademarked, then - not really.
     
  6. Vryken

    Vryken

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    I'd only risk this if the movie title is extremely generic and can be used different contexts.
    Say for example, popular 1986 film "Aliens".

    Obligatory I Am Not A Lawyer though, so take that advice with half of a half of a grain of salt.

    If you want to be safe, make your game's title more descriptive so that it's unique.

    "Aliens" is generic, and if one were to bring it up in regular conversation with no context, it could refer to something other than the movie.
    "The Lord of the Rings" is very descriptive & unique, and there's no mistaking what one would be referring to if they bring it up in regular conversation with no context.
     
  7. You can have Aladdin or Titanic or Sherlock Holmes, but you can't have Harry Potter or Superman. You really need to talk to an IP lawyer instead.
     
    NotaNaN and MadeFromPolygons like this.
  8. CityGen3D

    CityGen3D

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    In a general sense its fine to name a creative work the same as something else, it happens all the time.
    Just think song titles, and there are even movies with the same name (amazingly sometimes even released in the same year!)

    But as others have suggested, this mainly depends on how generic your title is and most importantly whether its considered by a current user to be part of a brand.

    You can tell this because there'll be an (R) after it's use for registered trademarks.
    You'll also see (TM) which a way of saying that the company will likely try and protect their legal ownership of it, even though the phrase itself is perhaps too generic to be officially registered.

    So if your preferred title is very generic, then it's probably fine, but that will also make it harder for you to protect it if it were successful, so for that reason alone it's sometimes better to be unique.
     
  9. Joe-Censored

    Joe-Censored

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    Last edited: Mar 29, 2021
    Martin_H likes this.
  10. aer0ace

    aer0ace

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    Does the title have the word "Saga" in it? Then, no.
     
  11. warthos3399

    warthos3399

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    Its just not a good practice to name a game after any movie or game, your just risking too much by doing so.
     
    Martin_H likes this.
  12. MDADigital

    MDADigital

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    The world would be a better place without US patent and copyright laws :p
     
  13. sxa

    sxa

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    Name of a film or game falls under trademarks, not patents or copyright.
     
    Martin_H likes this.
  14. MDADigital

    MDADigital

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    The world would be a better place without US patent, copyright and trademark laws :p
     
  15. sxa

    sxa

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    The rest of their world is already without, and outwith, US patent, copyright and trademark laws.
     
  16. Naheedmir

    Naheedmir

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    In my view, Titles cannot be copyrighted, but they can be trademarked. If the title of a movie
    is not trademarked, and your video game has no other connection with that movie, then you
    are free to give your game the same title.
     
  17. MDADigital

    MDADigital

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    Its a too big market to ignore sadly.
     
  18. sxa

    sxa

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    There's definitely a precedent in that a trademarked name could be used (or even trademarked) for non-competing market sectors. So 'Unity Coffee. technically, should be fine.

    Where this breaks down of course is where someone has a bigger lawyer than you.

    Trademarked designs (ie name/logo/font combinations) however arent included in that.
     
    Joe-Censored likes this.