I worked on a game recently where the player-base demands lots of likenesses, but they were impossible to license. The solution this developer came up with was to ship the game with a character creator so players could create the likenesses themselves, and a sharing server so they could give them to other players. n.b. The sharing server has to have a process in place to deal with DMCA take-down notices.

When you first start the game, the first thing it asks you is if you'd like to replace the default (non-real) characters with the most popular replacements from the sharing server, which always happen to be the real people they're supposed to be

YAY! :-) thats a really good idea, nice work-around :-).

Ok, btw that deserve its own thread but i will start it here?

If the team is lets say somewhere from eastern europe and it gets sued (for the reason mentioned above or anything else), lets say in the USA, how does that go?

1) Would i be given some lawyer and the state will pay for it? (thats common in some countries)?

2) What happens if i do not show up?

3) Even if i do not show up and i am found guilty, is there a way to enforce the law (since im from eastern europe country)? Whould would enforce it? interpol :-D?

Whould would enforce it? interpol :-D?

The case would appear in a court of the country where you're being sued (not your country).
Depending on the severity of the offense and the judgment against you: If you travel to a country where the law is enforceable, you could be stopped at the airport in that country (your name will set off an alarm in the computer, and immigration will hold you). Which means you could never go to (or through an airport of) that country.
Just guessing (I'm not a lawyer). You should talk to a lawyer.

Roman Polanski comes to mind - famous polish-born (AFAIK) movie director, that got convicted for child abuse in the US and fled to europe, where he was able to live freely in france and switzerland because both countries, while generally cooperating with the US legally, didn't act on the extradition demanded by the US for many years (mainly because of popular sympathy with Roman Polanksi in europe, and the incongruencies between the european and US legal systems... ).

3-4 years ago, for some reason, the whole thing changed overnight. Switzerland received yet another demand for extradition from the US (and Polanski now lived in switzerland), and while the swiss government did not act on it immidiatly, they decided to keep polanksi under arrest while they figured out what to do with this newest demand.

No idea why it suddenly became a hot topic. In the end, Polanksi was able to unofficially leave the country without being shipped to the US (and swiss officials most probably were happy they were not the ones who had to shove him in a plane), but switzerland is now the next country he most probably will never show his face in again. Because the next time, switzerland might feel compelled to act upon US demands.

So while it all sounds like a happy ending for Polanski, and he still has lots of support over here... the ice is getting thin under his feet, even in good old europe. And he is a very famous director, and has lots of vocal (and influential) support on his side.

So unless you have a big fan base of powerful people behind you, I wouldn't count on any country (besides maybe russia, currently) not shipping you to the US if you get convicted over there. You might just be prevented from flying stateside for some years or doing business there... but one day, somebody might remember you and sent another demand for extradition to your easter european country of choice. Maybe just in time for a pro-US or contra-Russian government trying to make up for years of neglected relationship with the US. Maybe they figure out that by playing to their rules for some time, they can be buddy-buddy with the US government.

Maybe you will shipped to the US as a gift for the newfound friendship, who knows?

Never feel too safe from international legal backlash. You might be safe today, you might be safe in 10 years. But that does not mean you are safe forever.

Just my 2 cents

Wow thanks for responses, all interesting, to the point and quite knowledgeable, its quite a change in comparison to other forums on the internet (even those dedicated to profesionals), im liking it here more and more :-).

BTW "....Of course, it's unlikely that Ricki's offense rises to the level of jail time, depending on the amount of the unpaid judgment levied against him for violating someone's right of publicity. Still, it's better to just not get sued in the first place..."

Well thats quite hard these days, didnt even Notch (author of Minecraft) had some problems with his new games "Scrolls" with Bethesda lawyers, because it supposedly violated their "Elder of SCROLLS" brand :-)?

I of course do not want to get sued, but its getting harder and harder in todays world, especially in America.

Well i gues i will have to just read all the articles you suggested and those articleswill suggest and then eventually hire some lawyer to answer my additional questions.