FreeGameDev

Hey guys,
I want to create a game but because I would like to create it for commercial purposes, there are many things I am worried about concerning copyrights.

Probably the 2 most important things (features) are:

1) GAME TITLE
How am I supposed to know whether a chosen title hasnt been already taken by someone else? Should I simply "google" it?

2) TYPE OF USED FONT
I found a very interesting website - cooltext.com which even claims that I can use "any of the generated graphics in any way, shape, or form without asking permission" BUT on many different discussion forums I found out that people should ask for a permission of an owner of a parictular font ?

Could you please somehow clarify these things for me?

1. Definitely google it, otherwise you could look up registered trademarks. But ultimately there are always cases which you can not predict (see Mojang's "Scrolls" game). I wouldn't worry about it too much though.

2. I would recommend to use fonts from sites that license their work more clearly and also post contact details of the original artist so that you can contact and ask for permission if unsure. This one for example is a good resource for clearly licensed fonts: http://openfontlibrary.org/

For game titles, I believe this article is relevant: http://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/ElyotGra ... _steps.php

There are trademark/patent search engines, use them to see if your name (or anything similar) is taken. For commercial games, it is especially important to get a good domain name, so check if they are taken (avoid google, definitely avoid using registrar's searches as they'll just squat). Or just avoid anything with "edge" in the title

Trademarks (note: this has absolutely nothing to do with copyright; it's a different law) typically have to be registered to be enforced beyond the level of getting people to stop using the mark (e.g. you can't typically be sued for damages), so if you simply search the appropriate database for your country, you should easily be able to avoid trademark problems.

Disclaimer: I am not a lawyer.

Alright guys, I think you can close this topic.. Everything I needed to know has been mentioned. Thanks for you advices and attached websites.