by mattius77 » Sun, 15Oct11 19:05
You absolutely positively need the copyright owner's consent if you are copying and distributing copyrighted material in your use of them. (This applies to photographs of models and music sampling alike) Not obtaining permission is copyright infringement, which, if done knowingly and for profit can carry a $250,000 fine and five years in jail...... per offense. In this case it would mean each time the game was downloaded, those sanctions could (in theory) apply, so four downloads would be $1,000,000 in fines and up to 20 years in prison, plus court costs/attorneys fees.
Exceptions include 'fair use', and at this point some tool will usually shout 'parody!' without really understanding that the legal definition of parody and the comedy definition of parody are not the same.
This is just U.S. law, too. The infringer would be subject to the applicable laws in other jurisdictions where the copyrights were violated. (i.e. where the game was downloaded)