is this a Copyright infringement??

Hi,

I am trying to make a game where I use the Troll Face meme and other few memes, is this a copyright infringement? or can I use them for free.
I haven't found anything on the internet related to it and I have seen tshirts, dolls etc about memes so I would like to use them for my game..

Thanks

 

I am not a laywer.

If you didn't make it, and you didn't get permission to use it from the creator, then yes. It's a copyright violation.

That said, those people are getting away with using it because the original author doesn't appear to be exercising their copyright. Whether or not you'll get away with it is up to the creator as well. Personally, I wouldn't chance it.

 

"The Trollface was originally drawn by Carlos Ramirez, an Oakland-based artist known by his deviantART[1] handle Whynne, as part of a MS Paint webcomic webcomic about the pointless nature of trolling on 4chan’s /v/ (video games) board. The comic was uploaded to deviantART on September 19th, 2008."
http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/trollface-coolface-problem​

You could try asking the author.

 

I, too, am not a lawyer.

Copyright is one of the trickiest areas of law to really understand, and a lot of times things come down to specifics of the case. In the US, at least, a copyright is assumed at the moment of publication. In this case, the publication would be the Internet.

In order to enforce a copyright, the owner has to claim ownership of the original piece. According to knowyourmeme.com, an ownership of the image was claimed by Carlos Ramirez, and one incident of ownership was reported, though it's unclear if that was a real C&D or just Internet trolling. Since the case was never brought to court, it wouldn't count as an actual pursuit of protection of the material, though.

One could probably make the case that the image is so prevalent on the Internet that it's not owned by anyone, as the owner has made no attempt to claim it and protect his ownership, but again... I'm not a lawyer so this is not legal advice.

 

Why are so many people wanting to use content found on the Internet (not on a hey I made this and you can use it for free site) or even inside other games?

Many people say it is for prototyping but that makes no sense. The Unity Asset Store is filled with content you CAN use with no worries. A lot of it is FREE. A lot of it is paid. Besides the store there are other resources such as OpenGameArt.org

 

Because that's how Flappy Bird did it and he made a billion dollars!!!!

 

You need to contact the author of the meme and discuss it with him. If it is indeed something you need permission to use, make sure you get it in writing.

http://fairuse.stanford.edu/overview/introduction/getting-permission/
http://whynne.deviantart.com/art/Comic-Trolls-98357844

 

Thanks a lot guys for all the recommendations