What are the legalities behind this idea?

Hi there all,

Just wondering what the legalities in regards to copyrights that I would have to watch for if I use items from known characters in other media. So example, Captain America's Shield, or Thor's Hammer as usable items. Would I have to change the names of the items? The idea was more for Easter eggs anyways, but either way, in a commercial game, I don't want to get sued.

Thanks in advance,

Sindaine

Thor's Hammer? Thor's Hammer was invented on Norse Mythology a long time ago before even the Thor that you might have known existed. Anyways, for the legalities issue, you might want to change the name especially if it is already a trademark. This is also often done in television shows that never had the original issue, or any copyright of the product...like changing their names, spelling, graphic etc.

Personally, I wouldn't want to mess with anything associated with Disney and their copyright in any way shape or form. You're just fine using Mjölnir because it's historical but Cap's shield is probably a bad idea.

Thanks for the replies. I wasn't sure if it's Captain America's Sheild that is copyrighted or just Captain America, or both. As for Thor's hammer, I understand that mythology. Again, they were just going to be Easter Eggs, but I don't want to mess with anything either. I was planning on many other references, but maybe I won't do that.

You can always alter the names so people will still see the reference e.g. The Avenger's Shield (Captain America), Thundergod's Hammer (Mjolnir),

The Wolverine's Claw. 

If they're going to be Easter eggs you may also parody them - Captain Bangladesh's Shield etc. I think people will understand the connection and I don't think that you'll break any copyright laws this way.

At least in the US, parody is protected by first amendment.

If you're going to use it as a serious and substantial part of the game (an equippable item for example) then you could get sued for using trademarked names or things similar to the Marvel counterparts. When people think "Thor's Hammer", for example, they think of the Thor in the recent movies. It's not an open and shut case, but it's arguable. Mjolnir, however, is a name that comes from antiquity and that you can use, as it can't be trademarked. The same goes for any character called Thor that is not the Marvel Thor. You could, for example, make a viking sprite, put electricity around it, and call it Thor and as long as it doesn't look like Marvel's thor you'd be good. Captain America you can't use for serious purposes because it's a Marvel original.

That being said, in the US parody, satire, and comedy are protected under the 1st amendment and under fair use. So if in one scene in your game in some field somewhere you had a Captain America sprite that said "Man, I'm so depressed. Everyone else has super powers and I'm just some drugged up soldier" and had it walk away to never be seen again, that would count as protected as it is making a parody of C.A.

There's a weapon called "Thor's Hammer" in the very first Final Fantasy...


Have we really now lost the right to use mythology as the basis for our stories just because of the popularity of a few recent movies?

 I would say no....any judge (I would hope) would laugh them out of court if presented with that.

Marvel has no exclusive rights to Thor's name, what they do have rights to is they way they have portrayed Thor in appearence, powers, and their own changes to the Norse myths to fit their universe.

Thor's Hammer and Mjolnir are both fair game.

Edit: I would like to add that, by my understanding, fair use (in the USA anyway) is an affirmative defense, meaning if Marvel were to sue you and it went to court it is on the defendent (you in this case) to prove that they have the right to use it however they did. I'm not a lawyer and you should not take my knowledge as accurate, but I believe that is the way it works.