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I play a lot of video games and some items/buildings/plants/vehicles (even entire villages/cities) look great. What if I had the money (and technology) to create the real deal? Would that be perfectly legal or do I need the permission from the copyright holder?

Internet searches haven't been fruitful. There are tons of examples where it's prohibited to create new art from old art or "base on a true story", but what about "reality based on fiction"?

LGT
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  • Have you looked into this with respect to say Cosplay and the selling of costumes and props related to that? – hszmv Dec 05 '17 at 16:38
  • No, I have not.. don't know what Cosplay is, but I'll look it up. Thanks. – LGT Dec 05 '17 at 22:13
  • Possible duplicate of If one invents a real life portal gun, can Valve sue them for copyright infringement? – D M Dec 06 '17 at 07:01
  • Actually, I'm retracting that; the question isn't quite the same. – D M Dec 06 '17 at 07:02
  • @LGT: So, Cosplay is short for costume play, and is when fans of a particular work dress up as characters from that work. Cosplayers typically want their costumes and props to be as acurate as possible and will often make more realistic and more accurate costumes than the typical Halloween costume seen in the store. For those who are not good at making them, there is a market to order and recieve costumes from people who can, but I don't know about the legality as to why the makers aren't breaking copyright laws (I am unaware of costume makers being sued for such violations). – hszmv Dec 06 '17 at 14:22
  • @LGT: Also, copyright is different in different countries but many are strongly influenced by the United States. There is Fair Use doctrine which allows for such things as parody and satire and weighs the specific case by the Nature of the Derivative work vs. the Harm to the copyrighted brand (usually in monetary terms, though brand identity (i.e. association with ideas the IP owner does not endorse) may factor. – hszmv Dec 06 '17 at 14:26
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    The three step progress of the word Waldo, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waldo_(short_story) is instructive... – DJohnM Oct 12 '18 at 03:16
  • Thank you, DJohnM . That helps a lot. :) – LGT Oct 20 '18 at 09:46

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