I'm torn on it, personally. I agree that a stylized art style holds the test of time much much better. But I also really love the new PBR materials and realistic looking frames. We're going to experiment with Udon and non-Udon styles. Maybe even try to mix it a bit...Udon style characters in realistic frames. Might work, might not. Might look like Appleseed (the CGI version), which would be cool.
The irony of a Chinese company enforcing IP is hilarious.
But keep in mind I studied law, have a degree, and my specialty was intellectual property law. Names can be trademarked, but Thumper and Frame were never trademarked by Red 5. Copyright doesn't protect names, per se, but can be used to show that one book or movie is a derivative work of another.
Trademarks protect the source of origin of a product. The key on infringement is consumer confusion. If a consumer mistakes your products name for being made by someone else, then that is confusion of the source of the product. I don't think we have any issues there. Nobody is confusing Ember as being from Red 5 or The9.
Copyright protects the *expression* of an idea, but not the idea itself. If you wanted to write a book about hunting a giant white whale, you'd be fine and not infringing on Moby Dick so long as you did not use the same characters, plot, etc. But its the WHOLE of the work that is judged together, not individual elements in isolation. So Ember is quite different as a whole, and its "thumper" is vastly different from anything Firefall ever had.
There is a ton of confusion about IP law out there, but I'm pretty well versed in it. I think we'll be fine
But keep in mind I studied law, have a degree, and my specialty was intellectual property law. Names can be trademarked, but Thumper and Frame were never trademarked by Red 5. Copyright doesn't protect names, per se, but can be used to show that one book or movie is a derivative work of another.
Trademarks protect the source of origin of a product. The key on infringement is consumer confusion. If a consumer mistakes your products name for being made by someone else, then that is confusion of the source of the product. I don't think we have any issues there. Nobody is confusing Ember as being from Red 5 or The9.
Copyright protects the *expression* of an idea, but not the idea itself. If you wanted to write a book about hunting a giant white whale, you'd be fine and not infringing on Moby Dick so long as you did not use the same characters, plot, etc. But its the WHOLE of the work that is judged together, not individual elements in isolation. So Ember is quite different as a whole, and its "thumper" is vastly different from anything Firefall ever had.
There is a ton of confusion about IP law out there, but I'm pretty well versed in it. I think we'll be fine
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