Japanese game copyright: attack of the clones
Go to the Canadian Broadcast Company's website, and play
X Attack -- seem familiar? The game is a nearly pixel-for-pixel recreation of
Space Invaders, the classic top-down shooter from Taito. The infringement is illegal, yet many companies outside of Japan show a lack of concern in copying Japanese games for commercial use. John Andersen, a market consultant and frequent contributor to Gamasutra, outlines the problem and provides examples of some of the large companies infringing on the rights of Japanese developers.
Andersen suggests that Japanese developers should legally document their games at the U.S. Copyright and Patent and Trademark offices, since it has an online database that is accessible anywhere and gives the name and contact information for who has ownership to the idea.
[The image above shows two games: PopCap's
Zuma (left) and Mitchell Corporation's
Puzz Loop (right), which came out six years prior to
Zuma and whose developer receives no credit or pay for what appears to be an obvious idea theft.]
