I’m designing a game called Alt. My collaborator recently raised an issue about likenesses and copyrights. The players have their choice of 6 Agents. I came up with names and art images for each Agent, as well fictional bios and stats.
A possible copyright conflict might stem from the names and pictures I used. For each Agent, I googled “Russian Spy,” “American Spy” etc. I wound up using the names of actual spies, like John Walker, Valery Mikhailov, etc.
For their images, I googled image results and chose pictures that seemed to fit the character I had in mind. I didn’t reproduce the actual pictures. I used them as models and references for my artwork of these characters.
The Russian Agent might be problematic. The name “Valery Mikhailov” is actually a man’s name, which I didn’t realize at the time. The image is based on what I thought was a model with flaming red hair and a gun. I found out later the pic I used as a reference is that of Anna Chapman, a Russian Spy who was given up in a prisoner exchange between the US and the Russians. She achieved celebrity status after she made the news, because she is one HAWT chick. She offered to marry Edward Snowden so he could get Russian citizenship.
I googled Anna Chapman copyright and found a linkwhere she’s suing Russia’s News Media Group for using her image without permission. I guess I should change her picture. What about the others? As far as I know, they were models dressed for the part.
How close is the resemblance? Nobody has any sort of rights to generic “hawt redhead”. If your specific hawt redhead is specifically recognizable as Anna Chapman, then she might be able to make a case. But it’s not like she’s able to sue over, say, Carmen Sandiego.
And to the extent that intellectual property law is relevant here at all (some jurisdictions might also have laws specifically about likenesses of identifiable people), it’s all trademark, not copyright. The only copyrights here are the ones you hold over your own drawings.
I would also suggest if you use someone by name and “occupation” and the picture bears a passing resemblance, then the person might be happy to sue for libel - after all, yes they were a spy but they never machine-gunned anyone nor threw a grenade into a room… Whatever your game involves.
True, the studio was sued under British law, but still… There was a whole separate thread on use of “any resemblance to characters living or dead is coincidental…” over the antics and murder of Rasputin.
(which disclaimer incidentally was the funniest line in the movie “The Greek Tycoon” about a US president’s wife who marries a crude Greek billionaire after her husband is assassinated).
If somebody (presumably) hired a model and had professional pictures of her/him taken, wouldn’t that suggest that these pictures could indeed be copyrighted?
The individual pictures might be copyrighted. That would not necessarily protect a drawing of the individual, which is what the OP did. It’s also not clear whether the original photos were intended as stock images. It’s possible to use a stock image in a derogatory fashion but it would be a very hard case to make. Being a spy is not a priori an insult.
IANAL - But depending on what the “Character” can do in the game, that may be considered an insult. Like I said earlier, something like “yes I sold secrets but I never machine-gunned a room of people”.
“Trademark” IIRC has to be applied for. Unless the person has trade-marked their likeness (usually reserved for Hollywood stars?) or their nickname (“Hulking Badness Spy!”?) then odds are you are not violating their trademark.
“Copyright”? The original photo unless it has some distinctive characteristic, or the art is too faithful a copy - if the work is “transformative” rather than a slavish copy or trace then it is new. A simple portrait may itself be copyright, but it does not preclude any other portrayal of the person. (IANAL, however)
See the dispute over the red-white-blue Obama Hope poster - the person basically took a news photographer’s picture and posterized it. It is still simply and easily recognizably the same photo - same pose, same expression, same angle - hence the copyright dispute.
I don’t think any of the Agents in my game demonstrate any intention to portray whomever they may resemble in derogatory fashion. They’re more like Fox & Mulder from the X-Files, investigating places where something weird occurred.
Since this is a legal question and will probably be shunted to IMHO soon, I’ll respond as if I were there.
I suggest changing the names. I doubt your drawings look enough like the real people to be identifiable. The names could be, and people do Google their own names. Even if their complaints would have no merit, it’s better to err on the side of caution while you can.
