As far as I know there had already been a legal case between SWC and LucasArts, but it got sorted out and SWC is now accepted as long as it generates no revenue
Lucas Arts will usually only attack people making money off anything that resembles anything in their databases. For instance if you make a painting of a ship that resembles an X-Wing but isnt an X-wing and they catch wind you are trying to sell the painting they will go after you but since we make no profit of this game they are not interested in us
I really want to make my own game, however I really don't want any trouble with LL or the law. Is there anyone on SWC who can put me in contact with a representative of LL so I can preemptively meet the issue without a court case?
I believe that SWC prefers to stay out of Lucas' sights as much as possible. We only exist because we are strictly non-for-profit, but that doesn't mean that Lucas can't crush us if he so chooses.
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This user is currently in the process of moving, and so is semi-inactive.
If you're interested in making your own game, there's two things you ought to know:
1) If they never hear about it, nothing will ever go down. Ergo, if it's only between yourself and your friends, you shouldn't run into any resistance from anywhere.
2) If the game was created by and for yourself and your friends and you (plural) aren't making any money off of it at all, no court in the world would award them money. Copyright laws only extend so far.