StarGateWars Forums

I am not a lawyer or anything , but is it legal to make any money from the game without MGMs permission? Just wondered if there were any people out there with inside info on the legal system.

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That should explain a little bit.

But MGM are not responsible for this game.

I do believe that we are now nothing to do with MGM, which is why admin had to rename the game, and the images (copyrighted supposedly) for each race.

It's now just a very large coincidence to do with gates, and the same races.

generaloneill wrote:I am not a lawyer or anything , but is it legal to make any money from the game without MGMs permission? Just wondered if there were any people out there with inside info on the legal system.

the word Stargate is not copyrighted, stargate SG1 is as is Stargate atlantis.
But Tollan, ancient, asgard, tauri, goauld etc... is not copy righted

so as long as admin doesn't use pictures from the series/movies, there is no permission to be asked...

I was reading a story about an MGM lawyer who was taking domain owners to court based on them owning domain names he wanted, such as wargames.com (due to the sequel coming up), pretty shrewd business.

Point is, who is liable if the site gets done for profiteering, the owner of the domain, or the individual selling resources (and therefore profiteering). Point being money made by the site owner goes to server and time spent making upgrades.

generaloneill wrote:I was reading a story about an MGM lawyer who was taking domain owners to court based on them owning domain names he wanted, such as wargames.com (due to the sequel coming up), pretty shrewd business.

Point is, who is liable if the site gets done for profiteering, the owner of the domain, or the individual selling resources (and therefore profiteering). Point being money made by the site owner goes to server and time spent making upgrades.

THERE is a difference: wargames WAS and IS a movie of MGM... long before the internet existed and is copyrighted...

biohazard79 wrote:

generaloneill wrote:I was reading a story about an MGM lawyer who was taking domain owners to court based on them owning domain names he wanted, such as wargames.com (due to the sequel coming up), pretty shrewd business.

Point is, who is liable if the site gets done for profiteering, the owner of the domain, or the individual selling resources (and therefore profiteering). Point being money made by the site owner goes to server and time spent making upgrades.

THERE is a difference: wargames WAS and IS a movie of MGM... long before the internet existed and is copyrighted...

I'm no lawyer, but if wargames owned the domain and were actually using it (not just holding on to it to sell it to MGM for a profit) they had a right to the name. MGM shouldn't even be able to claim trademark infringement if Wargames' product is substantially different from MGM's.

I am 99% sure if MGM really wanted to sue SGW for breach of copyright they could, each of the names is not copyrighted, true, but the site itself clearly does allude to and has alluded to in the past, the series SG. Fortunately for us, either they haven't noticed (Unlikely) or they don't care about the tiny (comparatively) amount of cash they'd make by sueing forum and it isn't worth the legal trouble.

However, if you people are selling alot of stuff, remember, you need to disclose it to the tax man!

Here in the USA, you can make up to $600 per calendar year from hobbies without paying income taxes on the profits. As such, if you exceed $600 in a year from the sale of SGW goods, you would no longer be able to claim the profit as a hobby and would instead have to file as business profit.

Naturally, the likelihood of being caught is low but the IRS does randomly audit approximately 1% of US taxpayers each year and deposits to your bank account with no record keeping would certainly not escape their attention.

GenOneil, This game has already once gone through the dark days of MGM threatening to shut us down. There really is a difference between Goa'uld and Snakeheads. Admin isnt the one making money from player to player transfers and he does have the disclaimer on the site. And I really hope you weren't trying to use the selling resources arguement to harm any faction of the ingame universe, because if you followed that road you're gonna end up ruining the game for ALL of us.

RobinInDaHood wrote:Here in the USA, you can make up to $600 per calendar year from hobbies without paying income taxes on the profits. As such, if you exceed $600 in a year from the sale of SGW goods, you would no longer be able to claim the profit as a hobby and would instead have to file as business profit.

Naturally, the likelihood of being caught is low but the IRS does randomly audit approximately 1% of US taxpayers each year and deposits to your bank account with no record keeping would certainly not escape their attention.

Only 600 $? I think here it's allowed to be up to 3000 $

And after that you have to file it as a business profit and pay taxes.

But I'm quite sure alot of US players have sold resources for alot more then 600$, are you saying they could get away with it? Without paying taxes of it I mean.

Kjarkur wrote:

RobinInDaHood wrote:Here in the USA, you can make up to $600 per calendar year from hobbies without paying income taxes on the profits. As such, if you exceed $600 in a year from the sale of SGW goods, you would no longer be able to claim the profit as a hobby and would instead have to file as business profit.

Naturally, the likelihood of being caught is low but the IRS does randomly audit approximately 1% of US taxpayers each year and deposits to your bank account with no record keeping would certainly not escape their attention.

Only 600 $? I think here it's allowed to be up to 3000 $

And after that you have to file it as a business profit and pay taxes.

But I'm quite sure alot of US players have sold resources for alot more then 600$, are you saying they could get away with it? Without paying taxes of it I mean.

Its all through paypal so its no something they can easily check
It could have been a sale of something second hand on ebay.
Or a friend sending you some cash

DUDEY wrote:

Kjarkur wrote:

RobinInDaHood wrote:Here in the USA, you can make up to $600 per calendar year from hobbies without paying income taxes on the profits. As such, if you exceed $600 in a year from the sale of SGW goods, you would no longer be able to claim the profit as a hobby and would instead have to file as business profit.

Naturally, the likelihood of being caught is low but the IRS does randomly audit approximately 1% of US taxpayers each year and deposits to your bank account with no record keeping would certainly not escape their attention.

Only 600 $? I think here it's allowed to be up to 3000 $

And after that you have to file it as a business profit and pay taxes.

But I'm quite sure alot of US players have sold resources for alot more then 600$, are you saying they could get away with it? Without paying taxes of it I mean.

Its all through paypal so its no something they can easily check
It could have been a sale of something second hand on ebay.
Or a friend sending you some cash

That is the whole point of the audit.

DUDEY wrote:Its all through paypal so its no something they can easily check
It could have been a sale of something second hand on ebay.
Or a friend sending you some cash

You've obviously never been through an IRS audit. I have and I can assure you that it is the most arduous, grueling process I've ever had to endure. I had them questioning $10.00 deposits to my checking account where I had cashed checks for my children's birthday from their grandparents. With a court ordered search order (equivalent), they have full and unrestricted access to delve into every facet of your financial affairs and can examine records as far back as 10 years.

I can't stand the IRS but they are experts at what they do and they will leave no rock unturned. It would be foolish to think they don't know about people's Paypal accounts. As a matter of fact, selling goods on Ebay and other sites like that have come under strong scrutiny by the IRS over the last couple of years because of abuse.

As I said, the likelihood of the IRS auditing you and discovering the sale of SGW goods is remote. However, if you happen to be one of the unlucky ones, the fines and interest penalties they levy will quickly erase any profit you made earlier, and then some. When it comes to justifying transactions you've made, they really do put you under a microscope and the burden of proving that you shouldn't pay taxes is on your shoulders.

But I'm quite sure alot of US players have sold resources for alot more then 600$, are you saying they could get away with it? Without paying taxes of it I mean.

Of course you can avoid paying taxes on it. You simply don't claim it as income on your taxes when you file. The risk is that you will be audited at which point you're going to have a really hard time ahead of you.

MGM wrote:"Stargate," "Stargate SG-1," "Stargate Atlantis," "Stargate Infinity," characters, and images from the film and television series are copyrighted by MGM Television Entertainment, Stargate Productions, and NBC / Universal.

Luckily, MGM aren't quite as zealous as Lucasfilm. But stargate is indeed copyrighted.