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Mimishu1995's avatar

Am I plagiarizing with my design? (details inside)

Asked by Mimishu1995 (23798points) March 23rd, 2022

So the online game I’m playing is holding a contest. Basically players would design costumes they want to see in the game (hair, hat, clothes, stuff like that) and post their images on their Google form. The winners will be announced on their social media and may have a chance to see their costumes being made in the game. And one rule is that designs must not plagiarize/infringe copyrights of “others” that’s all what they say.

I have been having a little fantasy of seeing some kind of noble costume in the game. So I designed a costume that is supposed to be a cartoon version of an 18th-century naval officer. I was kind of inspired to make it by an in-game costume of a pirate. The pirate costume was a rare costume that could only be obtained from a special game way back when I wasn’t a player. Only a handful of players have the costume and it is rarely seen anywhere, though you can still see it on the game’s older trailer.

This is what I ended up designing

And this is what the pirate costume looks like, from a fan wiki

As you can see, I drew my design by taking screenshots from the game and the wiki, then drawing a layer on top of the screenshots. I had to do it because I wanted to scale my design to match the game’s graphics.

As a result, I can see quite some similarities between my costume and the pirate costume, especially the coat and the hat. Yeah, I drew my coat and hat on top of the pirate ones, but that was because I had to make sure my design could be realistically implemented in the game. I had no intention to copy the pirate costume as my own. But does it look like that from the outside? Would it look to you like I’m stealing the design of someone else for my costume? Or could all the similarities be explained away that back in the day pirates and navy officers basically had similar clothing? :D

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8 Answers

Hawaii_Jake's avatar

Yes, it can be explained away that sea going men wore similar clothes.

JLoon's avatar

You’re a pirate Mimi – Pirates never ask permission!!

NO RULES AND NO MERCY!!!

Forever_Free's avatar

Was the original Copyright protected?

The rule of thumb in copyright and trademark protection is that you are allowed to review, read, look at anything and then make your interpretation of it.

In my opinion, tracing may side on taking a copy. But if there is no copyright protection on the original, go for it.

Mimishu1995's avatar

@Hawaii_Jake @JLoon Yeah, that’s what I think too. Ever seen Pirate of the Caribbean? My design is basically a James Norrington to their Jack Sparrow or at least that’s what I’m thinking anyway :P Now I wonder who is attacking who :D

@Forever_Free Now this is a bit… murky. I’m designing something that might become the game company’s property anyway. Most participants take screenshots and put their designs on because they also need to scale their designs. In my case the clothes just so happen to look similar to a costume they already have.

Their copyright rule is for participants ripping off other participants, and they are mostly thinking of things like stealing art. So I’m not sure how it applies to me.

And besides, this game is notorious for recycling their own assets for different designs. I’ve seen and owned a lot of items that look similar to each other but are of different designs. So…

Forever_Free's avatar

@Mimishu1995 Thanks for the clarity. You should be good then.

Mimishu1995's avatar

Update: I got an award for my design! Now it’s the game of fortune whether it will become an in-game costume.

Brian1946's avatar

Xin chúc mừng! ;-D

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