Comments for A Terrible Idea

Comment on I’m Offering $500 For The Best Space Marine Parody Game by biffboff

biffboff — Thu, 28 Feb 2013 13:34:50 +0000

I thought I’d better get my title in here and copy-righted in a show of ironic support. Ready for it?
“Burkes! Marine Lawers in Spaaaaace!” (that’s T.M. with 5 “a”‘s)
Elevator pitch:
“The Many. The Litigious. The Marine Lawers.
The Galactic Whoremonger, a 40,000 ton Dread-Very-Little Hammer class “War Ship”(T.M.), teaming with “Marine Lawers”(T.M.), scours the “Galaxy”(T.M.) armed with rapid fire “Cease-and-Desist” (T.M.) heavy armament; to seek out and squash new ideas and new creations, to Boldly Sue Where No-one Would Sue Before!”
“The”(T.M. pending) actual game play is irrelevant, as long as you win (“win” is a copy-righted “biffboff Off-shore Industries” Trademark – as is the word “Trademark” and all derivatives of the letters used in said Property ). Speaking in parentheses is T.M. to (Steven) Wright and no challenge (is) implied.

Comment on 3d10 Game Scripts by Chechire

Chechire — Wed, 13 Feb 2013 11:38:16 +0000

I seem to be having a problem with your blackjack script. For some reason I get:
Invalid argument supplied for foreach() on line 24. and then repeats:
array_shift() expects parameter 1 to be array, boolean given line 66
It seems to work locally when using Xampp, but not live on the net. (not sure if that helps).
When I echo $hand and $dealer, they both seem to be empty.
Somone suggested it might be the size post can pass, but I bumpted it up to 99 meg and still no go. (php5.3 I believe)
Any suggestions?

Comment on I’m Offering $500 For The Best Space Marine Parody Game by Steve

Steve — Fri, 08 Feb 2013 00:29:26 +0000

From Trademark Protection and Prosecuton by Ann Carrington (which deals only with TMs, not copyright law):

“Parodies are permitted. A parody is a form of artistic expression that is protected by the 1st Amendment. Parody is a humorous form of social commentary and literary criticism. A parody must convey two simultaneous and contradictory messages: that it is the original, but also that it is not the original and is instead a parody. Survey evidence is used to prove actual confusion. Very compelling evidence is required. Courts look to see if defendant made it clear to consumers that it was a parody.”

So parody is clear, as long as it’s clearly parody but also clear that consumers are supposed to think it’s GW’s Space Marines but not to the point that consumers will confuse it with GW’s Space Marines. Perfectly clear, right?

Of course, much like the author quoted in the Boing story, anyone challenged would have to fight GW in court to actually prove that their game was a parody, so in this case your disposable cash reserves matter more than whether you are legally in the right. If anyone who does this gets a C&D from GW, I’d suggest adhering to it unless you’re willing to spend a lot of money to prove a point (though I for one would applaud anyone who did fight them in court).

(I’m not a lawyer and don’t play one on TV, so I accept no responsibility if I don’t know what I’m talking about).

Comment on I’m Offering $500 For The Best Space Marine Parody Game by xMattieBrice

xMattieBrice — Thu, 07 Feb 2013 17:19:16 +0000

@Threadbare @ATerribleIdea @rupazero Y’all won’t know what to do with yourselves once I make games on the regular.

Comment on I’m Offering $500 For The Best Space Marine Parody Game by Roger Dodger

Roger Dodger — Thu, 07 Feb 2013 06:47:03 +0000

BanHammer 40K? Sounds like a plan.

Comment on I’m Offering $500 For The Best Space Marine Parody Game by Duane

Duane — Thu, 07 Feb 2013 04:02:12 +0000

Ok, so I did some thinking about this, and a bit of reading. IANAL but based on what I’ve read i believe that trademark use in parody is still fair use, but the legal bar is higher.

That said, I’ve moved the “It must have Space Marine in the title” from a criteria to a bonus point item. Submitters should be comfortable with what they create, and this is primarily about wanting to encourage parody of this ridiculous situation.

Is it still a terrible idea?

Consider the source.

But the bounty stands.

Comment on I’m Offering $500 For The Best Space Marine Parody Game by Le Blue Dude

Le Blue Dude — Thu, 07 Feb 2013 02:06:43 +0000

What ever happened to Starship Troopers and their space marines? Came long before Warhammer 40k

Comment on I’m Offering $500 For The Best Space Marine Parody Game by Threadbare

Threadbare — Thu, 07 Feb 2013 00:43:14 +0000

@ATerribleIdea @rupazero I’m pretty sure that @xMattieBrice is going to craft the best Space Marine Dating Sim anyone’s ever seen.

Comment on I’m Offering $500 For The Best Space Marine Parody Game by Nathan V

Nathan V — Wed, 06 Feb 2013 22:52:34 +0000

Much like your domain name suggests, this is, in fact, a terrible idea, likely to lead to more legal action from GW. You’re going on copyright law, which doesn’t apply to trademarks. Using the term “space marine” in a game will, unambigiously, infringe on GW’s trademark.

Comment on I’m Offering $500 For The Best Space Marine Parody Game by Jeff Sepeta

Jeff Sepeta — Wed, 06 Feb 2013 21:37:52 +0000

I guess I should try to get first dibs on my new game idea, “Space Marine Madness”, as Ren & Stimpy’s “Space Madness” is one of the best animations of all time http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PZCiZpph9jo