3D Printed Games Workshop Figures and the Law
January 26, 2016 2:23 PM   Subscribe

I've been having fun designing and 3D printing figures for use in Games Workshop's board game Blood Bowl and I'm thinking of uploading my figures to Thingiverse. Do I have to worry about GW coming after me? Blood Bowl is out of print, but GW is famously litigious.

If I do upload to Thingiverse, should I be careful to avoid mentioning GW's trademarked terms? Can I say something like "You can use this troll slayer in Blood Bowl" if I make it clear they are not official?

Relevant details:

- I live in Canada
- Other companies like Impact! Miniatures make and sell models that are designed for use in Blood Bowl, but they're careful not to mention the name of the game on their website
- The models are not exact replicas by any stretch of the imagination, but it's clear what they're supposed to be to anyone who knows Blood Bowl
posted by Prunesquallor to Law & Government (8 answers total) 1 user marked this as a favorite
 
Without knowing anything about this field in particular, I say this as someone who has been drafting an intellectual property/patent contract with several attorneys and collaborators for several months: if you can describe a company as "famously litigious," then you may have already answered your own question. Even if a legal claim has no merit, it can be made to inconvenience you in terms of time and money while the merits are sorted out by the system.

If you can somehow make it clear that they're not what they're supposed to be--distinguishing characteristics, something that separates it from the text of a trademark--you might (might) be hedging bets in your favor.
posted by late afternoon dreaming hotel at 2:29 PM on January 26, 2016


I would suggest following the example of Impact Miniatures. If they don't mention the game by name, don't mention the game by name. (I'd also be careful about seemingly generic terms like "troll slayer" if they have rulebook significance - a lot of those names are trademarked too.)

The books usually note which terms are trademarked - that isn't a complete list, but more information is better than less.
posted by anonymisc at 2:32 PM on January 26, 2016 [1 favorite]


Best answer: Games workshop regularly sends DCMA takedown notices for the exact situation you describe. Even for things in the "style of" Warhammer.
posted by Karaage at 2:59 PM on January 26, 2016 [1 favorite]


I would also be especially beware, as GW will be bringing Blood Bowl back soon.
posted by zabuni at 3:47 PM on January 26, 2016 [3 favorites]


Best answer: This is anecdotal but, I also live in Canada, and once found myself under threat by a law firm contracted by a huge international corporation because I made a thing that resembled something of theirs. I was almost certainly on the right side of the law but the expense of actually defending myself would have far exceeded value of the work in question, probably the value of my total net worth, so I let them have that one.
posted by rodlymight at 4:36 PM on January 26, 2016 [1 favorite]


Games Workshop are real jerks when it comes to stuff like this so no, I wouldn't bother with the hassle.
posted by turbid dahlia at 6:18 PM on January 26, 2016


Yeah, "famously litigious" is almost an understatement. They have enough money to make your life very difficult, and they have a history of doing so at the smallest of perceived violations. Granted, they can't come after you just for making fantasy miniatures, but if you're doing stuff that's obviously intended as stand-ins for GW miniatures, you're going to increase the odds that they take notice.

At the very least, I would not under any circumstances market them with any GW trademarks in the description.
posted by tocts at 7:03 PM on January 26, 2016


Best answer: Honestly, they are litigious to the point where I think the decision to post this question under an apparently real name prior to the activity in question puts you at added risk.

With that said, I think you should be okay if all of the following are the case:
1. You are extremely generic in description (i.e. Sports Monster rather than Blood Orc Receiver)
2. The figures are suitably generic that a casual observer wouldn't immediately make the link to GW properties (they have a specific stocky broad shoulder with skulls around look and the farther you are from that, the safer)
3. You aren't going around to various sites promoting the figures as a print alternative to Blood Bowl products.

Of course, likely all three of these fly in the face of your goal to get people the opportunity to play BB with these figures. But, those are the breaks with tightly guarded IP.
posted by meinvt at 8:11 AM on January 27, 2016


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