Hello! I have a few questions. So, I am part of a developer team, and we are making a Star Wars related game. I don’t know if this game would be deleted or not due to copyright. I have seen other Star Wars related games, but our game is really interactive and has lots of details.
Please only respond if you know if this could get copyrighted, or if you know a solution to making it so we can avoid getting copyrighted! Thanks!
Copyrights are a fine line to cross, but an easy way to solve it is to avoid using any images or assets directly ripped from the movies like a image or gfx made by LucasArts, also specify in a the menu or in the game description that you don’t own the franchise at all so it falls under fair use but this doesn’t
guarantee that it’s protected but this will certainly help.
Sincerely
funkmeist123.
The simple answer is that there’s no way around it if you use Star Wars intellectual property. You’re not guaranteed to receive a takedown from Disney, but there’s always a chance—it’s up to you to decide whether or not you want to risk all of that work just for the game to get shut down with no recourse.
I should add that even re-creations and renditions of Star Wars characters and objects (clone troopers, jedi, lightsabers, etc.) are still subject to copyright law, not just specific images and assets. Along with that information, I would also keep in mind that Disney is known to be rather prolific in their protection of Disney IP, so again it’s up to you whether you want to avoid legal issues altogether or go ahead and take the risk.
If the IP doesn’t belong to you or you haven’t been given permission, parody the entire franchise. Long term you’ll be grateful you parodied rather than ripped off Disney. They’re worse than Nintendo when it comes to copyrighting 
Remember that parody is typically a claim made in response to a cease and desist. Since the game is on Roblox’s platform and the issue is addressed in their terms of service, Roblox has no obligation to act as an arbiter between a game and a copyright holder. Roblox will typically disable the game until the infringing content is removed, regardless of any legal arguments (parody, for example) that may exist.
A claim as parody would only be effective if the development group legally contests Disney’s claim, which would accelerate the issue legally and enter a realm that most Roblox developers won’t bother with and would typically hope to avoid.
TL;DR Using parody as an excuse won’t work because Roblox doesn’t legally have to defend you in that regard and would it require litigation to keep the game up.
So sort of like how spaceballs was a legendary parody of star wars.
I still quote it to this day.
What about Saber Wars… Would that work?? Or Star Sabers?
Even still If you do make a parody like that probably avoid making gamepasses the conditions for spaceballs was that they couldn’t sell any merchandise, I could be wrong but I personally wouldn’t risk it.
While you’re correct, I believe parodying is the safest route to go when PBB (Pokemon brick bronze) has managed to survive another Nintendo DMCA takedown after successfully rebranding to loomian legacy.
It’s undeniable that loomian legacy is a clone of Pokemon without including any of Nintendo’s IPs. If @lando64000 can do it than anyone can do it.
Unfortunately disney is way worse than nintendo while nintendo probably knows it’s too different to be copyrighted disney probably won’t think the same about someone parodying star wars although who knows they could refrain from doing so.
Loomian Legacy didn’t exactly take the parody route, they completely remade the game with their own IP. By making everything themselves, they protected themselves from claims by Nintendo since nothing in the game is Nintendo IP.
You’re right that parody is the safest route relative to all others involving Star Wars IP, but since Roblox isn’t obligated to defend you I think the true safest route is to just make something new; Loomian Legacy is a great example of that.
Create your own iconic characters, storyline, and concept art. I.e You can substitute a light saber for a void stick.
Loomian legacy substituted a pokeball for a triangular disk, minor modifications like that will keep Disney’s legal team off your case.
Exactly, what I meant by parody is using star wars things but slightly changing them like making darth vader dark man or something but like you said completely changing it with new ideas or concepts is the right way to go.
Yes your game can be taken down if it obviously takes names and visuals from Star Wars. No Roblox will not stop you, even if your game hits front page because it is assumed you have all rights given for the assets you use. The only time I know that causes a game to be taken down is if the owner of whatever is copyrighted files a claim against your game. I do not know if the game will only be taken down with no charges towards you.
Not a good way to close off. You should try not to use other circumstances as justification for an action. One person doing something doesn’t inherently mean that everyone else is allowed: each case varies differently depending on the material at hand.
Although you aren’t wrong in what you say that majorly parodying source material is typically a safer route to go down as far as making something in the likeness of an existing IP goes, the ending justification here is flawed and does not serve as an appropriate “catch-all”.
I’m going to keep this incredibly short so that you don’t have to read through several paragraphs.
In my experience as a star wars genre developer for the past decade, it can be safe to assume that Lucasarts has a loose copyright policy for fan art. People monetize the heck out of games here and don’t get touched at all. Though your project being a game, it might come under more scrutiny, though highly doubt it, again based on what I’ve seen other games do.
Basically, don’t rip models or other graphics/animations from games already published by studios like EA, obviously put disclaimers everywhere, and if you want to be extra careful, don’t monetize it, at all.
If you have any other questions we can talk over discord: Lorenzo#1468