I'm sure you've seen games on mobile that features a guy with golden spiky hair that looks like Goku, or a ninja that looks like Naruto in a game about ninjas, or the Pocket Whatevers that features a lot of stuff that looks like Pokemon. Now, I always hear the internet experts saying how this is surely a case of copyright infringement and illegal, and while I don't want to get into being more armchair quarterback than the typical internet warrior, this is something I've been thinking for a while. I know Nintendo and similar companies sends cease & desist letters to even fan projects that someone like Eric occasionally let us know about, so it'd be pretty weird if this is a slam dunk illegal thing and Nintendo is just somehow unaware that someone is doing a Pokemon clone but they're totally aware of every fan project Eric ever linked to us before. So the fact that these games exist seems to suggest that it is clearly not as clear cut as it'd appear.
A popular explanation is that these might be in countries (like China) where copyright protection is weak, but I don't think that alone is enough. It doesn't explain why these games are marketed to area outside of China where copyright is strong, and if copyright doesn't apply just because the country of origin is China then a good question is why aren't there more blatant ripoffs? I remember seeing ads for selling Diablo 5 in China before Diablo 3 was even a concept, and that's what it should look like if there is no respect to copyright whatsoever. We wouldn't be talking about a Marvel or DBZ look alike, but rather games that actually call themselves Diablo 5 or Avengers 6 or Hyper Mario Brothers since if you're going to be wholesale stealing things might as well go all the way.
I'm thinking that despite the obvious implications, most of these games are so lazily made/poor quality that you can either say it's kind of a parody or that it's so just so poorly made that it doesn't resemble the original source so nobody will confuse the two. Sherlock Holmes is a widely copied character in detective story, but as long as your guy doesn't say 'Elementary, my dear (sidekick's name)', you won't get in trouble just because you have a super smart guy that can deduce impossible things out of thin air. James Bond is an obviously copyrighted character, but that doesn't mean you can't have some handsome guy that gets all the women in a spy thriller. Marvel and DC mutually steals ideas from each other, and despite a lot of striking similarities between their characters I've never heard either successfully sued the other on a large scale and that's two companies that definitely have a reason to bring the other down. I'm sure if you go through a formal process you'll find the obvious knockoff indeed infringe on something, but I don't think it's as obvious as it looks which is why you see the obvious knockoff show up and stay on App Store for a pretty long time, and usually what shuts them down isn't copyright infringement but rather the game itself just flopping and closing for financial reasons.
A popular explanation is that these might be in countries (like China) where copyright protection is weak, but I don't think that alone is enough. It doesn't explain why these games are marketed to area outside of China where copyright is strong, and if copyright doesn't apply just because the country of origin is China then a good question is why aren't there more blatant ripoffs? I remember seeing ads for selling Diablo 5 in China before Diablo 3 was even a concept, and that's what it should look like if there is no respect to copyright whatsoever. We wouldn't be talking about a Marvel or DBZ look alike, but rather games that actually call themselves Diablo 5 or Avengers 6 or Hyper Mario Brothers since if you're going to be wholesale stealing things might as well go all the way.
I'm thinking that despite the obvious implications, most of these games are so lazily made/poor quality that you can either say it's kind of a parody or that it's so just so poorly made that it doesn't resemble the original source so nobody will confuse the two. Sherlock Holmes is a widely copied character in detective story, but as long as your guy doesn't say 'Elementary, my dear (sidekick's name)', you won't get in trouble just because you have a super smart guy that can deduce impossible things out of thin air. James Bond is an obviously copyrighted character, but that doesn't mean you can't have some handsome guy that gets all the women in a spy thriller. Marvel and DC mutually steals ideas from each other, and despite a lot of striking similarities between their characters I've never heard either successfully sued the other on a large scale and that's two companies that definitely have a reason to bring the other down. I'm sure if you go through a formal process you'll find the obvious knockoff indeed infringe on something, but I don't think it's as obvious as it looks which is why you see the obvious knockoff show up and stay on App Store for a pretty long time, and usually what shuts them down isn't copyright infringement but rather the game itself just flopping and closing for financial reasons.
