What are the restrictions/rules for making a SW mod? (copyright)

[CaptainCrazy]

It's something that I've been pondering a lot lately to be honest.  Obviously Star Wars is copyrighted and such yet we are allowed to make mods for this game?  How does that even work?  I know that we're not making any money or profit off the mods because we're not selling it as a game.

 

So, for example, say i made some models based on Star Wars characters and put them into my mod, could i get sued for that?  I mean the entire game IS Star Wars and we can mod it so how could be get sued for something that they've allowed us to do in the first place?

 

I have seen a lot of you guys make some awesome stuff for this game, some great models of characters, etc. but does that mean you can be sued because of it?

 

I wish to begin modding this game but I'd just like to clear that up first, not that I'm afraid of being sued or anything because there are a LOT of mods out there for JA and JK.

[Circa]

I'd also like to know this. There are many interpretations out there that I've heard over the years but not one official explanation.

[eezstreet]

General:

You may NOT:

• Charge money while using a SW copyright, unless you have express permission from Disney
• Port from any BioWare game (yes, they will sue you!)
• Redistribute the original game assets for free

You MAY:

• Ask for donations
• Recreate the original game assets
• Reverse engineer the original .exe file (legal gray area)
• Use the Star Wars IP (no formal action taken against any Star Wars mod projects, such as Star Wars mod for Starcraft)

 

Game:

You may NOT:

• Release a standalone game which uses the original assets (unless you require the original game)

You MAY:

• Release a standalone game which uses a modified GLA/skeleton (legal gray area, you can acquire a GLA for free off of most modding sites. Raven hasn't commented on this)

 

There's no chance of people getting sued over making models, people have been making models for years using the Star Wars IP.

[Futuza]

Otherwise, JKG would be screwed if these things were not true.  That's a very nice compilation and made simple eez, good job.

[Pande]

Also note you can't go distributing the London Symphony Orchestra LucasFilm recordings with your project, something just about every map maker or mod team has been/is guilty of including MB2, JKG, Eve of Coruption, etc etc etc.

[Futuza]

^^Although if it was included with the original JKA you're free to use it in a JKA Mod.

[Omicron]

Can't you use the models and maps from the demos of jka/jk2?

[eezstreet]

Can't you use the models and maps from the demos of jka/jk2?

Maybe. (I'm leaning towards Yes.)