Preserving IP (part 1)

Rather than discuss lawsuits that could be filed against someone copying ideas, I wanted to talk this week about preserving IP. IP stands for “Intellectual Property,” which is defined as a category of property that includes intangible creations of the human intellect, and primarily encompasses copyrights, patents, and trademarks. Solar Echoes is trademarked, and Corefun Studios LLC owns the IP, which means that all the alien characters, the story, the game mechanics, etc., are protected material. Yet this can get complicated when working with other people that are collaborating on projects involving the IP. As an example for clarity, George Lucas aggressively protected his Star Wars IP, making sure that anyone that did anything using the Star Wars universe had to clear it with him first, often through licensing and other legal agreements. So what happens when a fledgling company like Corefun Studios wants to see Solar Echoes grow through fan involvement and ideas, but still keep things to a Solar Echoes “standard?”