What is the copyright status of game screencaps?

July 28, 2019 9:34 AM

More specifically, if I took a screencap to a place like Kinko's, would they refuse to print it for me? If it varies, under what circumstances would / wouldn't it be possible to print the image?

If relevant: the game is Dishonored 2; the image is props only, no game characters. Intended for my own home decor, not to sell.

posted by Spathe Cadet to Grab Bag (5 answers total)

Best answer: I am not a lawyer, and the below is not legal advice, just a layperson's speculation. You should consult a lawyer in your jurisdiction if you would like legal advice.

Technically, the answer is probably yes, the game creator would have a copyright claim on screenshots of the game, because the game creator owns copyright in all the images and elements they put into the game. See, e.g., Williams Electronics, Inc. v. Artic International, Inc., 685 F.2d 870 (1982) (an influential early case on this topic). (If you have meaningfully controlled the positioning of the content within the game in order to set up the screenshot, you could perhaps be said to have created a derivative work, in which case you would have a copyright on top of theirs. But this is not practically useful and does not negate their copyright.)

In practice, sharing screenshots and videos is a big part of gaming culture, and most game publishers are at least somewhat reasonable about this. Bethesda, for example, the publisher of Dishonored 2, has a permissive fan video policy. Even in the absence of this policy, there could be an argument for fair use, which is a complex topic that I won't get into. But suffice it to say that the copyright police are not going to bust down your door for printing a screenshot for private use.

As for whether Kinko's will permit it, well, your local Kinko's employee is not a copyright expert, and there's no accounting for random people's weird perceptions of the law. But it's likely that it won't occur to them that copyright is an issue, or that they won't care. I've had an entire video game manual printed at Kinko's with no issue before. I think your odds of success are quite good.
posted by Syllepsis at 10:13 AM on July 28, 2019 [3 favorites]

How big are you looking to get it printed
posted by FirstMateKate at 10:36 AM on July 28, 2019

Best answer: In my experience, when it comes to copyright enforcement, it 100% depends on who happens to be working that day.
posted by WaspEnterprises at 3:33 PM on July 28, 2019 [3 favorites]

Response by poster: FirstMateKate: currently undetermined. Probably not particularly huge, because cost is a factor, but the candidate images are in the general range of (10" to 36") x (8" to 18"),* without any resizing or cropping.

*(25-91 cm) x (20-46 cm)
posted by Spathe Cadet at 6:31 PM on July 28, 2019

Best answer: There's never going to be a great answer to this, because absent a clear written policy from the game publisher, your ability to rely on "fair use" with a copyrighted work is going to depend on a complicated four-part test that even lawyers get wrong. So a print shop employee has no hope.
posted by wnissen at 11:17 AM on July 29, 2019