Copyright,
The current copyright legislation in the UK is the Copyright, Design and Patents Act 1988. Copyright is a form of protection for the creator. A copyright doesn't last forever. After 70 years, the copyright is no longer valid and is free to use/copy for everyone.
The following quote is straight from Oxford Dictionary;
“The exclusive and assignable legal right, given to the originator for a fixed number of years, to print, publish, perform, film, or record literary, artistic, or musical material”
The difference between ethics and morals is as followed;
Ethics tends to be related to Business.
Morals refers to humans.
Ethics are here to protect the innocent.
“The branch of philosophy that deals with morality. Ethics is concerned with distinguishing between good and evil in the world, between right and wrong human actions, and between virtuous and non-virtuous characteristics of people.”
Copyright,
The positives for copyright are as followed, Copyrights protects the author.
The negatives for copyright are as followed, The copyright eventually become invalid. When you copyright a game, you don't copyright it as a single product you need to copyright every single part of the game. For example, animations, title, art etc... Another negative is that some parts of the world don't have any copyright laws e.g. Spain. So this prevents you from selling games within this country unless you want you game to be ripped off.
Ethics,
The positives for ethics are as followed, Ethics are set to help protect the innocent.
The negatives for ethics are as followed , Ethics can constrain designs for games as some designs for games like GTA are not very morally suitable.
Cases Studies,
One point in time were a copyright issue was involved is when Bethesda wanted to sue Mojang because of their game Scrolls. Bethesda have a game franchise called Elder Scrolls. When Mojang released a game named Scrolls, Bethesda had a problem with this name so they started a lawsuit against Mojang. As of right now, the lawsuit has been settled but makes you think more carefully about naming your game in the future.
Constraints,
Some constraints for game developers are as followed, race, gender, religion, sexuality.
These all can cause controversy among media and this could be a constraint for some game developers.
