Game Licencing
Hello Everyone,
One thing that I struggle to find help on the net is licencing of games. (EULA or whatever its called)
What method is required to get a EULA for your game.
Can I just use a EULA from the net or must I pay a lawyer for instance to write one?
One thing that I struggle to find help on the net is licencing of games. (EULA or whatever its called)
What method is required to get a EULA for your game.
Can I just use a EULA from the net or must I pay a lawyer for instance to write one?
Comments
How did a guy like the 16-year old kid that made Unturned (http://store.steampowered.com/app/304930/) get a EULA for his game?
http://www.soft14.com/upload/software_000039.htm
You could start with those. I don't think there's such a thing as a "standard" EULA, as every EULA should cover the specific legal needs of the person/company producing the software (taking into account where they live, and where the software is sold). There are clauses you'd want to include across the board though, stuff like: users shouldn't reverse-engineer your code, or post derivative works of their own, or break the game for other players, or resell the game for profit, etc.
Reason for me asking this originally is that I don't want to go and sell a game just to find out someone can easily sue me for no reason.
So lets say I just use this.
http://www.soft14.com/upload/software_000039.htm
Would I be protected from most issues?
Remember in most instances you are dealing with an international audience, so you need to be specific where your legal jurisdiction is ... thus preventing someone from sueing you in America and forcing you to defend yourself from South Africa.
What I would do is find a EULA that is made for a game or software and then modifying that to meet your needs. Always make sure you clearly define things like: Jurisdiction, Dispute Resolution, etc.
IMHO opinion, it is better to have a more comprehensive EULA then to have a simple one ... you never know what might happen and there are a lot of cheese-balls out there who will sue you just for the hell of it.
I basically don't have any funds to pay for an attorney and I want to publish my game on Google Play Store. I just want to make sure that I don't have any legal issues later on.
I wrote some software that interfaces with a car through a OBD key hardware, being concerned about somebody damaging their car electronics with improper use and then blaming it on the software, I made sure to include a EULA and make it compulsory to accept it. Not having a budget for legal advice, I copied one of the publicly available EULAs and modified it to my company and software. I haven't had any reported issues.
Also, having published a few games on the Google Play Store, my opinion is that you don't really need an EULA unless your game can cause some harm. And you probably shouldn't be making that game if that is a possibility.
is also a good resource for finding legal docs. Heres a simple eula for selling apps:
http://www.docracy.com/0ew0nws8i6g/simple-end-user-license-agreement-for-selling-apps
I'm neither convinced that games need EULAs, nor that they actually achieve much when games have them.
DD doesn't have a EULA, it just works. We sell it in the US perfectly fine, what benefits are we forgoing here?
A short blog on the matter can be found here.
http://www.nahmiaslaw.com/the-eula-what-it-does-how-it-works-and-what-does-eula-even-mean/
The benefits I consider valuable are:
warranty terms (most often, software provided AS IS)
limitations of liability (most often, producer/publisher maintains no liability for any damage the software may cause to existing hardware)
governing law
dispute resolution methods
I especially want to be sure that we agree that disputes are settled close to home should there be one. It would be pretty awful to be expected to fly to another country to sort out a claim.
Having said all that, Toxic Bunny does not have an EULA but we do have a privacy policy. For future games especially those with online elements we feel more comfortable with one.
This is not advice. Just my personal views. Seriously something of a legal nature you really should ask a professional in his professional capacity.