If I had a good idea for a yugioh themed website, that I believed would generate alot of interest from the yugioh community, could I legally monetize it?
monetizing a Yugioh themed website
- Thread starter PromethianSpark
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Pretty much answered in the first post. I mean, the second you start representing yourself on behalf of Yugioh or anything like that and start making money on it you will be receiving legal papers. What's your intent with the site?
Sorry for the late response, had bed and work since the op.
My intention would be to provide a service that Yugioh players might find useful, but would in no way substitute the need for having real cards. I would aim to monetize it through advertising.Redlin5 said:
I find this response confusing, as you seem to be implying that it would be fine at first, but then suggest that it wouldn't be.Armadox said:
Ah, I get your confusion.. Allow me to explain. You do not own Yugioh. You can not sell anything related to yugioh save reselling the property you own. As for the IP (Characters, monsters, even sometimes the font used) those do not belong to you, and can not be used in a commercial sense. That will give you a cease and desist which will give you a few days before they sue you. They have to do this, mind you, because if they don't then the next person who uses their property without their benefit can point to you sand say "he did it first".PromethianSpark said:
From what it sounds like, you're trying to build a community board, which yes.. can be made and you can run ads on it for profit. You're profiting from the page itself and not it's content. As long as you do not build it to be directly yogioh affiliated. Can't put their logo on it, can't make it seem like an officially endorsed site, etc.
Honestly, it'd be much more trouble then it's worth for you in the long run. I'd attempt to see if I couldn't get a license with them first, that way you can use their stuff and they take a pull of the profits.
Best bet, contact the owners of yugioh directly to find out if your site would be ok with them. If they say no then you have your answer, if they say yes you may even gain some indirect help with it. Alot of companies have fankit packages for website creation related to their products.
Either way asking the owners directly seems like the smartest choice as ultimatly it is up to them whether they pursue legal action against you.
If you do recieve confirmation allowing such a webiste keeping a copy of that corresondance could also afford you some legal protection as you could offer it as evidence of complacency. Worth noting though i am not a lawyer so you know don't blame me if it all goes wrong.
Either way asking the owners directly seems like the smartest choice as ultimatly it is up to them whether they pursue legal action against you.
If you do recieve confirmation allowing such a webiste keeping a copy of that corresondance could also afford you some legal protection as you could offer it as evidence of complacency. Worth noting though i am not a lawyer so you know don't blame me if it all goes wrong.
What is is it you're trying to make exactly? As a Yu-Gi-Oh! player I want to know what it is, considering there are already apps for keeping track of LP, card rulings, and price checkers. What is your new fantastical idea that will take the Yu-Gi-Oh! world by storm?PromethianSpark said:
If the idea is as good as I believe it to be, you could imagine me being reluctant to share it.White Lightning said:
If we dont know the idea, then all we can really answer to whether you can monetize it is "it depends". Sites like Pojo and also certain apps can monetize just fine, its best just to go ahead with it and see if there's even demand for it in the first place.
Funnily enough, Upper Deck hasnt been involved in Yugioh for years, Konami sued the licence off them for distributing counterfeit productArmadox said:
http://www.yugioh-card.com/en/news/2010/news_100203-settlement.html