industry practice - copyright protection and ip

Copyright Protection and IP

Copyright Protection refers to the way companies and induvial protect their work from being stolen or copied by other people. Under copyright protection, Work is protected from others using it without permission. In the games industry, this mainly includes things such as intangible assets owned by a game or company. This can consist of things like character designs or game assets, which stop other people or companies from using them. This benefits studios or people greatly as it keeps there work protected from unfair mis-use. In the UK, copyright laws provide that copyrighted work can be protected for the lifetime of the publisher as well as 70 years after their death. 

Copyright Infringement refers to when work protected by copyright is distributed stolen or reproduced without permission of the copyright owner. An example of this in the gaming industry could refer to things like assets from a game being stolen and re-sold by someone else for profit without permission. This could also refer to things such as using copyrighted work of others such as music without permission. The video game 'Guitar Hero' was sued for this reason, as they were found using copyrighted songs without permission. 

"If you create literary, scientific and artistic work, you automatically have copyright protection, which starts from the moment you create your work, so you don't need to go through any formal application process." 

Studios can protect their IPs by Trademarking their belongings. this is usually applied to things such as Logos and Names for companies and games. This is marked by a TM symbol next to names/logos.

References:

Anon, 2022. Copyright [online]. Your Europe. Available at: https://europa.eu/youreurope/business/running-business/intellectual-property/copyright/index_en.htm [Accessed 16 May 2025].

Anon, Definitions [online]. Copyright.gov. Available at: https://www.copyright.gov/help/faq/faq-definitions.html [Accessed 16 May 2025].

CITMA, Copyright and video games [online]. Org.uk. Available at: https://www.citma.org.uk/resources/copyright-and-video-games-blog.html [Accessed 16 May 2025].

Strebeck, Z., 2023. Examples of copyright infringement in video games [online]. Video Game Lawyer | Zachary C. Strebeck | Attorney at Law. Available at: https://strebecklaw.com/copyright-infringement-games/ [Accessed 16 May 2025].