Submitted 4 weeks ago by ryujin470@fedia.io to [deleted]
I'm not interested in developing software that comes bundled with these colors. Just looking for a concrete answer because, seriously, couldn't find one.
reasonable interpretation? No.
Reality? Depends if there’s enough money and interest in litigation.
like “Naughty Dog Yellow” for climbable interactive things? I don’t think so
If you can point to it becoming an industry standard you’ve got a lot of strength on your side. Many games have now replicated the naughty dog yellow approach and naughty dog hasn’t sued.
Yeah most recent I’ve seen was the Final Fantasy VII remake
IANAL but from my understanding, colour of the UI can’t be copyrighted, but the design of the UI as a whole can be. Colour can be a significant factor of the design, but its rarely going to be enough to have enforcable copyright on alone.
Trademark can cover a specific colour, but thats more limitted, generally, and likely wouldn’t cover the colour of a game UI unless its a definining part of the appearance of the game.
xmunk@sh.itjust.works 4 weeks ago
Depends.
First off some UIs may be incredibly distinctive (Cyberpunk 2077 springs to mind) and replicating them in blue vs. the original red might tip the balance enough to make a genuine lawsuit against you.
Secondly, do you have enough money to fight frivolous lawsuits? Trump recently sued NBC over them saying he raped someone. He did rape someone. NBC ended up settling the lawsuit anyways. The right party isn’t guaranteed victory in most justice systems and even if you win it might cost you far more money than you’ll ever get (see the lawsuits against Alex Jones about Sandy Hook).
The legal system is complicated. There is no clear answer and if you’re building a game commercially and you have doubts then either play it extra safe or talk to a lawyer.
Actually, let me revise my answer. The clear answer is…
Talk to a lawyer.