Your team is using game assets. How do you ensure they respect third-party intellectual property rights?

If you aré using 3rd party assets you aré either paying for them or you give crédit to the original creator. Any other way Is wrong. Intelectual property rights Is a very importante issue, more so today with all the AI tools out there "borrowing" 3rd party work to be trained

If the team members are freelancers, I would place an statement in their contract about assuring that the licenses and resources the team members use are legal, and that they are the only responsible of any legal consequences generated by the use of these resources, and they free you of any consequence of the illegal use of assets. Additionally, I would add a second statement where the team must provide the evidence of the purchase of these assets so they can be used inside the game. If the team members are your employees, the safest ways to rest assured regarding licenses is to purchase them directly. Even in the case of the freelancers, if the assets ARE PART of the game, I recommend that you purchase them, after all, is your game.

IP education is a must for all the game development team, as the consequences of violating law are devastating. I believe in all the cases, every team member must educated and must be the be legal responsible of the licenses that they use. Even if they are your legal employees and no freelancers, you have to provide them of everything they need to work. But if they put non authorized software inside the PC without your knowledge or consent is not your fault. The education must extend to concepts like extended generated art, AI generated art, copyrighting and fair use, etc. Is a great idea that an IP specialized lawyer gives them the training, and after the training, the team members get a certification as a proof of the event.

Is vital to audit everything that is used into your game, so you can be sure there will not be legal surprises in the future. Anything that you find has not a license and is used inside the game, you have 2 choices: 1. Purchase it, so you can continue using the resource. 2. Replace it for something that fits legal requirements. Sometimes if a doubt arises about a third party registered mechanic, the best is to talk with your IP specialized lawyer and allow him to handle the situation. Seek an alternative in case they say that the mechanic can't be used after his research. Have always in mind there are so many good ways to do the same in a game, that the rule MUST be to strict auditing and keep house clean of legal complains.