I couldn’t get a real answer to this question. Can just the layouts be reused with everything else (i.e. overall design) being original?
Yes.*
You can patent a design pattern, within a specific context (provided the patent is approved)
NAMCO infamously patented ‘Loaing Screen Games’, with its documented example being Galaga.
Thankfully that patent expired in 2015. Hope this answers your question!
I once created a website using the UI design from the original 1999 Unreal Tournament. Fuck the police.
If your site did not call visitors a flak monkey at least once I will be sorely disappointed.
I remember very little about what the site actually contained, only that I called it “The Digital Rage” and probably never maintained it any further.
If the case were that it weren’t, Path of Exile just to throw one example out there would have been piledrivered into dust by Blizzard for wholesale copying the UI layout for Diablo 2. Or better, Binding of Isaac for making an incredibly superficially Zelda-looking screen layout and despite being hugely popular, conspicuously not drawing the ire of the single most litigious batch of motherfuckers in the entire video game industry.
So, no, I’m pretty sure nobody can sue you for making a UI that looks similar to another UI.
I mean they can. Anyone can basically sue for anything. The bigger question is: Are you ever really going to be a big enough target for anyone to care?
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Not a lawyer so I can’t give you a straight answer, but I’m pretty sure it’s not. So many AAA games just copy-paste UI layouts, just look at how many of them have the Destiny-style inventory menu and generic RPG skill tree. As long as it’s not too blatant or uses their original assets, you can get away with copying anything.
First of all, Everything that is designed by a human is copyright protected. You’re not allowed to copy a whole UI verbatim. It’s their intellectual property. However: The individual buttons, or offering options ‘New game’, ‘Load’, ‘Exit’ might not pass a threshold of originality. You need a certain level of creativity to pass for copyright protection. And you can do a similar design, just not rip it off. For example a medieval style is not something that is protected. You can do a medieval style if you come up with the design yourself. You cannot take their code or do screenshots and use them. So if I read your question meaning just do similar layout choices, then No. That’s not their intellectual property. Unless it’s super unique to that specific game. Just the exact layout is.
Creative height is the bar for when something becomes protected (facts or obvious patterns aren’t protected), and functional features of a design aren’t protected. In general layouts are mostly functional (with exceptions) but button designs may mostly be expressive.
You have or can obtain IP protection for practically anything, but it’s useless unless you are able to defend it successfully in court.
Apple’s Iphone GUI design patent was successfully defended against Samsung, but it took a lot of time and money. The dashed lines aren’t covered by the patent, but the rest is.
I know that Microsoft has patented the ribbon toolbar it uses on windows and its office suite. So it isn’t a first if a game company tried to do the same.
