Legal Question in Intellectual Property in New York
A board game using movie characters
One of my friends recently invented a
board game based on a movie and a
party game. I am thinking about
helping him design and publish the
board game. But there are a lot legal
issues involved.
First, the game title and game roles
are borrowed directly from the movie.
I remember movie title and
characters' name are not protected
by copyright. So does it mean I can
use the movie title and characters'
names in my game?
Secondly, I wanna use characters'
portraits from the movie in my
design. (They are celebrities
themselves.) I know it will be
copyright infringement if I just
making some derivative images
based on photographs from the
movie or website. But what if I draw
the portraits by myself, say, in
cartoon style? And since the
characters are celebrities, am I
violating something called ''right of
publicity''?
Thirdly, the game rule is based on a
party game called Mafia. Or you can
say, the game is just like a Mafia
game being applied to a movie
theme. Is a game rule protected by
copyright or patent?
Thank you very much.
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: A board game using movie characters
The movie is protected by copyright, and trademark, as well as rights of publicity. To make a game derivative of the movie will be difficult without the permission of the movie owners. You will be violating their rights.
It's not that the title is copyrighted, but it is a trademark and you can't make a board game which people are likely to think is associated with the movie, when it is not. Alternatives are to make a game that's wholy new , yet inspired by this idea, or to obtain the license to do your idea. Both are possible. If you tell me more about the idea, I can more precisely advise.
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