Forum Discussion

Merilsell's avatar
5 years ago

Dragon Age Copyright/IP Infringement?

Okay so, this is less about the game Dragon Age: Inquisition and more about the IP as a whole, since i have no idea where to turn to or where to put it in order to reach out to EA/Bioware. I tried twitter, but i feel this is going under there, as i have no reach on the platform. The thing is, i stumbled over a kickstarter page just now, where a person with no rights to the IP plans to sell an analysis book about Dragon Age: Inquisition. 

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/dreadwolf/dreams-dragons-and-dread-wolves?ref=android_project_share

I understand that fanwork is a gray area legally in general but afaik allowed/tolerated as long no money is generated from it, such as fanart or fanfiction. However, this is not the case here and crossing if not infringing on EA's copyrights, since no unsubstantial sum is generated from this planned project of that person:

Plus it is giving any other fanwork a bad name in trying to profit from an IP/franchise they clearly have no legal rights to, but acting as an authority of it. Hence why i made this forum post, in the hope this will be forwarded to anyone at EA in the position to handle the legality of the matter, if needed. 

4 Replies

  • EA_Kent's avatar
    EA_Kent
    Icon for Community Manager rankCommunity Manager
    5 years ago

    Hi @Merilsell,

    Thanks for taking the time to write this up. I'll pass this along for review. 

    /Kent

  • No problem, and thanks for the quick reply and cooperation 🙂


  • @Merilsell wrote:

    a person with no rights to the IP plans to sell an analysis book about Dragon Age: Inquisition. 


    I'm not a lawyer, but I don't think you need to own an IP to be allowed to write and sell a commentary on it. This looks like an interesting book and I hope she finishes it.

  • I'm not a lawyer either, but I also believe it's fair use to write about another work of art, in the same way that people write reviews and commentaries on novels or movies.