I would like to register my own character for my game and copyright it so that nobody else uses it. What should I do if I want to claim my rights for "Eric the Wolf" for example, where should I go (I am from Europe), and how much would it cost?

Why don't you just register it first if it's your game?

oops, I wasn't clear in my first post :).
I am sorry, I actually meant that I am a noob in the field of registering intellectual property. What's the process?

Typically, you contact the trade mark office of your country, and register whatever trade mark it is you want. The fee varies by country -- and the trade mark is typically only for the country of registration.

However, GameDev.net is not a place where you can get legal advice, as we are not licensed legal professionals, so go to your local library and ask for a book on trade mark applications in your country. (Wow! A Library! And it's free!)

In Germany there are frequently informative events about how to license intellectual property, organized by the staff of university libraries. Perhaps such may happen also in Bulgaria?!

Thanks guys, I must check as it might vary from country to country. However, if something licensed in my home country is licensed only there, how do companies manage to save their intellectual propery worldwide? Do they register it in every country?
To haegerr: I actually study at a German University (IU Bremen), but never heard of such a thing yet :).

Quote: Original post by proveren
However, if something licensed in my home country is licensed only there, how do companies manage to save their intellectual propery worldwide? Do they register it in every country?

In fact they do. The forms you have to fill out will provide the possibility to mark in which countries you want to license. As I remember right, you could license locally, in a couple of individual countries, or world-wide. However, each country you mark will increase the purchase-money, of course.


Well, it is too far to drive from Bremen to Dortmund just for visiting such an event :-( But perhaps the library of IU Bremen may help you determining where you could visit such events.

Good luck