{"id":3306,"date":"2016-11-22T16:01:09","date_gmt":"2016-11-22T16:01:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/yeeply.com\/en\/blog\/?p=3306"},"modified":"2024-02-06T10:04:25","modified_gmt":"2024-02-06T08:04:25","slug":"protect-mobile-game-development","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/yeeply.com\/en\/blog\/mobile-game-development\/protect-mobile-game-development\/","title":{"rendered":"How to protect your mobile game development?"},"content":{"rendered":"

The video game market is growing at a staggering pace and mobile game development \u2013 due to the growing variety of platforms on which to play \u2013 is becoming a closely monitored industry. In fact, smartphones constitute currently one of the favourite gaming platforms. In this article, we’ll be discussing app development but narrowing it down to mobile game development<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

We must consider the legal aspects associated with mobile apps when addressing the legal issues of mobile games<\/strong>. We must go beyond the legal aspects of regular apps because video games are a bit more complex in this regard, so we’ll have to be paying attention to ensure we fulfil the law.<\/p>\n

DO YOU WANT TO CREATE A MOBILE GAME? TELL US ABOUT YOUR PROJECT!<\/a><\/div>\n

However, such regulations will also prove useful for protecting your mobile game development process. So it’s not all just about having to meet certain legal requirements to launch your app<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

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Legal tips to protect your mobile game development process<\/h2>\n

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If you want to avoid legal problems related to your game \u2013 regardless of whether it’s still just an idea or if it’s already developed \u2013 we advise you to take these 5 pieces of legal advice into account to protect your mobile game.<\/p>\n

1. Protect your idea<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Every single game starts as an idea. Even if your app was at first simply that \u2013 an idea with no business model or monetisation strategy behind \u2013 you will need to share such idea with many people when it becomes a full-fledged mobile game.<\/p>\n

A development team, a marketing team, designers, experts… They will all have to get to know your idea.<\/a> And an idea on its own is worth nothing: it’s useless without a strategy behind it. A very same idea can lead to very different outcomes depending on who is guiding the project. Don’t be afraid about your idea being stolen from you.<\/p>\n

However, you may protect your idea if you want to rest assured and “shield” it if you think it’s good enough. In such a case you must put in place a non-disclosure agreement. Yeeply also offers the possibility of requesting all developers who want to obtain access to your project to sign this kind of agreement, so you should not worry about your idea being stolen from you on our platform.<\/p>\n

2. Protect your software<\/strong><\/h3>\n

As we have already pointed out, you will need to have people working with you side by side on game development to carry your project out. As for software development, you can do it yourself if you have some app programming skills (be it of cross-platform app development with HTML5<\/a> or of native apps) or someone you know if you have friends and acquaintances who are experts on the matter. It may also be the case that you have no programming notions and there’s no app developer among your contacts<\/a>. In this case, you’ll have to resort to outsourcing your project.<\/p>\n

In either case, you should take care of the issues related to protecting the intellectual property of the software you develop. Pay attention to legal concepts such as “commissioned work” or “work created under a contractual relationship”, as they must be reflected in detail in the agreements that you execute with third parties or experts developing your project.<\/p>\n

By defining these in the agreement you are establishing yourself as the party hiring app professionals to carry out a specific project under your instructions and guidelines in exchange for remuneration (the price defined in the budget). You also establish that you hold the rights on the property or the commercial exploitation of the resulting app or game.<\/p>\n

You may protect your games in three different ways: by copyright (on the software programme or database), by the reservation of rights (on human characterisations, fictitious or symbolic) and by industrial property rights (on the trademark).<\/p>\n

3. Don’t breach the privacy of users<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Your users are something you should really take care of if you want to create a successful app, so you should never breach their privacy. This is also one of the major issues of concern in the digital world \u2013 both for users and businesses.<\/p>\n

Defining from the very beginning which access permissions will your mobile game request is of the utmost importance<\/a>.\u00a0Don’t be abusive and request from your users only what is essential. In Europe \u2013 and hence in Spain \u2013 legislation has been adopted in relation to this subject. Find out what you can and cannot do.<\/p>\n

Include information on the access permissions requested and the possibility of revoking or granting them again after having installed the app. Include information on privacy policies as well. It has to be available even if nobody actually reads it.<\/p>\n