Copyright situation with Cyberpunk in the title?

[Elindos Phar & Family]

Hello,

Per the statement:

CD Projekt's ownership of the Cyberpunk trademark does not give it any exclusivity to set a game in a certain environment, or in a certain genre, such as the cyberpunk genre. But what if a developer is working on a game that includes the word cyberpunk in its title?

CD Projekt said it would only block this if it could confuse customers.

"If someone names their game John Smith: Adventures in a Cyberpunk Dystopian Society, or 20 Short Video Games set in Cyberpunk Worlds, none of them should be treated as an infringement on our rights," CD Projekt said.


Cyberpunk Detective is far from being a subtitle as Cyberpunk is the main part of the title (just like Cyberpunk XXX such as Cyberpunk 2077). It's bit like naming it "Dungeons and Dragons Detective" or "Witcher Detective", even if of course cyberpunk is a 'genre', allowing larger authorizations.

Still I would think it needs a reply/statement/authorization from CDP or a renaming of sorts, or it would not sound proper or respectful as an indie/publisher to go there.

I hope the game is great! I am trying to help against a big mess, and also to help other new indies not get confused when picking names; since the mobile era IPs have been often invaded. Maybe also you will tell us what your steps have been and if everything is OK!

[Old Gin]

Considering how ♥♥♥♥ 2077 turned out to be, I feel like they're only gonna sue if this game outperforms 2077 by miles.

[Drimacus]

Dont worry, cdpr will likely cease to exist in matter of weeks since sony and microsoft are employing their lawyers and lawsuitting these polish guys.

[Elindos Phar & Family]

The computer game (Cyberpunk 2077) is only an element of the global Cyberpunk IP. There will be other cyberpunk related products.

Here you are mentiong a refund policy regarding Cyberpunk 2077 at release.

This refund policy, if I read that well, is the following: CDPR wants to set it to be "more generous" than "some distributor" or "some investor" would have preferred, regarding costs and consequences. CDPR wants to refund more people, so CDPR are sued for willing to refund more people than what XXX investor and XXX distributor would like. This looks immensely minor and even if the press loves to use it as headline and class action, it will stop making headlines in a few months I suppose, and only mean "some money".

[Drimacus]

regarding refunds, i have to say, mine was bought at release date, installed, didnt even launch, refund and it was instant, so yeah ok, they did something right.

[[BLK] Telu]

Cyberpunk 2077 don't own Cyberpunk copyright. It's already a copy of Cyberpunk 2020.
They have the right to use Cyberpunk detective name.

[Zvitatzki]

doesnt matter in the end anyway its us who buy it or dont

none us forced to buy so none shall come here qq about copyrights its childish acting

not understand all the drama about Cyberpunk 2077 i playing it its very good and see no other problems than a few visual glitches

[CLessive]

It has nothing to do with Cyberpunk 2077, "Cyberpunk" is the name of the genre. They are not the owners of the general Cyberpunk genre, so I don't think they can do anything about that.

[Keviin Sorbo]

yeah cyberpunk is a genre, but pretty sneaky rats all the other cyberpunk titles that popped up as a coincidence when 2077 was closer to launch lol

[Zvitatzki]

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[CLessive]

Originally posted by Harry Dresden:

yeah cyberpunk is a genre, but pretty sneaky rats all the other cyberpunk titles that popped up as a coincidence when 2077 was closer to launch lol

Yea that's right :D lol

[robcram]

Detectapunk...

seriously though, Cyberpunk is a genre and I doubt CDPR can enforce the usage in other games unless the game was called Cyberpunk 2099.

[Guyver]

Originally posted by Old Gin:

Considering how ♥♥♥♥ 2077 turned out to be, I feel like they're only gonna sue if this game outperforms 2077 by miles.

lol Bruh, what you smoking?

[Prydzen ᛋᛟ]

not sure a copyright to a genre that is almost a century old will hold in court.

[FiniteThrills]

Cyberpunk is a word that refers to a certain genre. It'd be like trying to say someone couldn't name their game Heavy Metal detective because there was once a movie named heavy metal. Regardless, you cannot Copyright a word.

[Defective Dopamine Pez Dispenser]

As others have said, it's referring to the genre, not the IP.

If the no fewer than 16 adventure, shooter, dating sim, visual novel, VR swordfighting, and other games that start with the name "Cyberpunk" directly - including at least one that barely disguises emulating its logo - are still up, I think Cyberpunk Detective will be just fine.