🎮 Are you a game developer worried about AI stealing your work? This episode is your complete legal defense guide.

In 2025, AI is scraping everything—your code, your art, your mechanics, your game's entire creative DNA. And most indie game developers don't know what they actually own, how to prove it's theirs, or what legal protections they can actually enforce. This changes today.

What You'll Learn in This Episode:

✅ What you actually own as a game developer (spoiler: game mechanics aren't protected by copyright, but your code, art, music, and narrative are)

✅ How to prove legal ownership when collaborators, employers, or third-party assets complicate your IP rights

✅ Why AI companies are scraping your work right now and what the legal gray zones mean for creators

✅ Step-by-step copyright registration process that gives you the power to sue, claim statutory damages up to $150,000, and recover attorney's fees

✅ Layered defense strategies including trademarks, trade secrets, and patents to build an impenetrable fortress around your creative work

✅ Actionable documentation habits that prove you created your game first—dev journals, build archives, commit histories, and timestamped evidence

How to protect your game from AI theft: This episode breaks down copyright law for game developers, explains what fair use means in AI training, and shows you exactly how to register your work with the U.S. Copyright Office for $45-$65. Whether you're an indie developer, solo creator, or working with a team, you'll learn how to secure clear ownership through work-for-hire agreements, avoid employer IP clauses that could claim your side projects, and audit third-party assets to ensure clean title.

Will AI replace game developers? Not if you build your fortress now. Learn how AI models are trained on publicly accessible data, why registration is your legal superpower, and how to layer copyright, trademark, and trade secret protections to defend against infringement.

Best practices for game developers in the AI era: Document everything. Register your code, art, and music before release. Use NDAs and assignment agreements with collaborators. Understand joint authorship risks. Redact proprietary algorithms when filing deposits. Make copyright registration part of your launch checklist.

What is copyright registration and why does it matter? Without registration, you can't sue for infringement in federal court. With it, you unlock statutory damages, attorney fee recovery, and a timestamped public record that proves your work is yours—backdated to your filing date even if processing takes months.

How to register a video game with the Copyright Office: Choose "Computer Program" for code protection or "Work of the Performing Arts" for creative elements. Upload 5-10 minutes of gameplay footage, submit source code samples (first and last 25 pages), pay $45-$65, and receive your certificate. This episode walks you through every field, every decision, and every pro tip.

Is your indie game actually yours? If you have collaborators, a day job, or use asset store resources, you might not fully own your game. Learn how to audit your IP, get written exemptions from employers, and ensure every asset has clean licensing terms.

This isn't about fearing AI—it's about understanding how to protect what you create in an era where your work is being analyzed, synthesized, and remixed without permission. Build your fortress before anyone crosses the line.

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