hey guys, I am desining the new UI of Shark's Treasure,and because there will be a new character mermaid, I let the artist to draw a beautiful one in reference of little mermaid, famous movie of Disney but when the result come out(look above) it's too much like the original one, alrough the face,the color of tail maybe not the same so here is the question, can I use this one? or absolutely not, or change to what kind,then can be used? thanks a lot.
I wouldn't do it - Disney has the tenancy to sue the heck out of people at a moment's notice... At the very least put a very different looking mermaid (change the face/hair/shells) on there.
Hair... The hair must be changed I think. The RED hair is what makes me think of the disney version. Maybe a different color and the eyes .... those are the main features that stand out and say hey, I'm the Little Mermaid.
I hate for my first post to be so negative, but your artist is ripping off both you AND Disney if he charged you for tracing The Little Mermaid. It's actually pretty lucky that he copied something everyone can recognize so easily.
thanks derlbs and bossman696 I guess a big change will be needed. hair and eyes,yes, that's the featured thing
Agreed. The drawing of the mermaid's face needs to change. For example, if your artist drew something like this: http://images1.fanpop.com/images/photos/1400000/Ariel-classic-disney-1445176-555-882.jpg Then although the hair color, etc, is the same, its really hard to say that its Disney's character.
I would say if you made the hair blonde and added a couple of extra touches like maybe a pearl necklace or a bow in the hair... that would distance it enough.
Copyright, Trademark and Fair-Use I'm going to suggest that you recreate the image from scratch. If your in game graphics look like this then you may have a bigger issue on your hands than just with the splash screen. Copyright relates to test, as in the copy in a book. Trademark refers to images, type and iconographic representation and while you can make a play for fair-use for copyrighted materials, you have to get permission for trademarked materials - which you will 99.9999% not get. Also, I hate to say it but when I saw the graphic I thought "Little Mermaid" and immediately thought of the legal ramifications - one being that Apple will not publish your game. Two you would probably be sued if Disney ever got wind of it. The hair, the shape of the hair, the shape of the eyes, the proportions of the body all say, well, Disney (if not plagiarism). So back to the drawing board - literally. Good luck. Best, Kevin Able Pear Software http://www.ablepear.com
Agreed, it is far too similar to The Little Mermaid. Get the artist to change it or give you your money back. You could always look into finding stock art/graphics as well.
outch. without reading your commentary, i thought, that you just take a screenshoot and put it into your screen. it`s completly like the disney figure. just find the picture, your artist used: at the right you see, that it`s exactly the same picture (green lines put from the original). this is just a copy of the picture, so i wouldn`t use it.
thanks everyone for the good advise nickcavemen,it;s very kind for saying that,and good luck for your game
If the artist is youthful, I'd give them a good lecture. If they're an adult, I'd never do business with them again. If you had gone ahead and published without posing the question here first you would have found yourself without an app to sell at the minimum, and possibly the target of a lawsuit. Disney does not play ping-pong. They play hardball.
