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Copyright, Trademark, Patent??? I don't get it!!!!

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Tue, 12/20/2005 - 08:09
sully1971
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Joined: 08/25/2008

I've been reading in here over and over and am getting more and more confused....

I have a prototype of a playtested game and am looking into self-publishing. This is my 1st game. I am sure my sales will be meager, but want to give it a shot, anyway. Of course my idea (like everyone else's!!) is the best idea ever....so how do I protect it? Do I need to if I am self publishing? What keeps another company or person from copying my idea and selling it on a larger scale because of their (much) better contacts and sales channels?

And what is the difference in copyright, trademark, and patent - which one applies to board games?

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Tue, 12/20/2005 - 08:50
#1
zaiga
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Joined: 12/31/1969
Copyright, Trademark, Patent??? I don't get it!!!!

Hello, welcome aboard!

Yes, it's all thoroughly confusing. Let me try to sum it up:

A patent protects an idea, an invention if you will. Getting a patent on an invention is a costly and slow process. It may be worth it if you really have a groundbreaking idea that might sell really well. In the boardgame industry patenting is used very little, because it is hard to come up with truly original mechanics. Wizards of the Coast has a patent on a specific form of a collectible game. If you are making a collectible game, it is worth checking out this patent. Otherwise, I wouldn't worry too much about patents.

Copyrighting is a lot simpler, and a lot cheaper. In fact it's free! Whenever you create something, anything reproducable, a game, a piece of music, a work of art, a text, it is automatically copyrighted. You don't have to do anything for it. However, the difficulty comes when you have to defend that copyright in court. How do you prove that you created something? Well, there are various ways. In the US you can register your copyright on www.copyright.gov . It costs a few bucks (I believe around $40, but check the site), but then your creation is fairly well protected. Note that it is uncertain how well the poor-mans-copyright method (mailing the creation to yourself ina closed, stamped envelope) holds up in court. A better way to register your copyright is with a notary. Putting the copyright symbol, your name and the year of creation on a creation does not copyright it, but it is a good idea to do it anyway, because it informs the viewer that the work is copyrighted and by whom and when.

Note that a copyright doesn't protect an idea, it just protects a specific form of that idea. So a text may be copyrighted, but you can't copyright a storyline. You can copyright the artwork of a game, the specific rules text, the card text, but not the mechanics of a game, nor the game as a whole.

Trademark protects a name. For example, Mickey Mouse is a trademark of the Disney company, Monopoly is a trademark of Hasbro. You can register a trademark, and it costs money.

So, what do you need to protect your game? Well, it's unlikely a patent is needed for your game, unless have you a specific mechanical or electronical gadget you want to protect.

Registering the copyright of the game is relatively cheap, so I would recommend doing that. Trademarking the name of the game might be too expensive for a self-published game, but since I don't know how expensive it really is I can't really tell.

In the end, you cannot really prevent someone else from "stealing" your idea. If another company copies your game, without violating the laws of copyright and trademarking, then there's no legal ground for suing that company. And even if there is, do you have the money to pay for a lawsuit?

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Tue, 12/20/2005 - 08:52
#2
Johan
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Joined: 10/05/2008
Re: Copyright, Trademark, Patent??? I don't get it!!!!

sully1971 wrote:
I've been reading in here over and over and am getting more and more confused....

I have a prototype of a playtested game and am looking into self-publishing. This is my 1st game. I am sure my sales will be meager, but want to give it a shot, anyway. Of course my idea (like everyone else's!!) is the best idea ever....so how do I protect it? Do I need to if I am self publishing? What keeps another company or person from copying my idea and selling it on a larger scale because of their (much) better contacts and sales channels?

And what is the difference in copyright, trademark, and patent - which one applies to board games?

First: Go ahead and publish the game if you want to.

It is not strange that you have problems with this. There are different laws in different countries. The laws are similar to each other.

Copyright gives you the legal right over your own work. It can be a book, a song, a game, a photo, a drawn picture or anything similar. You will automatically get copyright over the work, but you have to prove that it is yours. The best way to do that is to publish the work. Other people can not copy your work directly, but they can do something similar. A copyright is normally valid until 70 years after the person that did the work died (different in different countries). A copyright is valid in most countries.

In several countries it is possible to get a pattern protection. This is often used to get control over a certain way something is presented. This is used to prevent people to do something similar (as the way a trademark is written). This has also often been used by the car industry to protect original parts in the car to be copied.

Patent is to protect a new inversion. To get a patent, it has to be something new and you have to apply for a patent in each country you want the protection. If you don’t apply in a country, that idea is free to be used in that country. Patent will cost a lot of money and it will be valid for 15-20 years (depending on the country (previously it was 50 years in some countries). You have to pay a fee each year to have the patent. A patent does not have to be on a complete product.

Trademark can be registered or unregistered. It is a name of a product, a way to do things or a company. Famous trademarks are Coca Cola and Monopoly. Normally it’s a name associated to a product. A good trademark is worth billions (more then any patent ever could be worth).

// Johan

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Tue, 12/20/2005 - 12:35
#3
Zzzzz
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Joined: 06/20/2008
Copyright, Trademark, Patent??? I don't get it!!!!

Johan and zaiga always seem to amaze me at how much they know!!!!

Anyways, just a little more info about TM and R trademarks (for US) since if nothing else it might be good to verify your game name is not already trademarked, just to help you avoid legal junk. As always it would suck to put out a game with a name that is already used, or gets used by one of the big game companies...

When may I use TM and when may I use R-in-a-circle (®)?
Unlike patent applications, which in many cases must be filed in advance of a particular date, there is no specific date by which a trademark application must be filed. Instead, the time constraint is in a different direction. In the United States an ordinary so-called "use" trademark application can only be filed after the goods or services have been in interstate commerce.

When must I file a trademark application?
Unlike patent applications, which in many cases must be filed in advance of a particular date, there is no specific date by which a trademark application must be filed. Instead, the time constraint is in a different direction. In the United States an ordinary so-called "use" trademark application can only be filed after the goods or services have been in interstate commerce.

And you can find more info like this at (even has links to US and European trademark seach sites) http://www.patents.com/trademar.htm

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Tue, 12/20/2005 - 14:47
#4
seo
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Joined: 07/21/2008
Copyright, Trademark, Patent??? I don't get it!!!!

Zzzzz:
You seem to have copied the same paragraph twice. It's th eanswer to when to file for TM, and we're missing the distinction between TM and ®.

Seo

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Tue, 12/20/2005 - 14:49
#5
johant
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Joined: 12/31/1969
Copyright, Trademark, Patent??? I don't get it!!!!

I would be very surprised if the publisher wouldnt assist/deal with most of these issues!

If you are doing everything yourselves, its a different matter

If any of you have had dealings with a publisher how did they approach these issues?

I havent read any comments on how they think/act, i find that strange!

Is it just because we are amateurs?

Im for sure ;D

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Tue, 12/20/2005 - 17:32
#6
Zzzzz
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Copyright, Trademark, Patent??? I don't get it!!!!

seo wrote:
Zzzzz:
You seem to have copied the same paragraph twice. It's th eanswer to when to file for TM, and we're missing the distinction between TM and ®.

Seo

Oops.. not sure how that happened.... anyways the link I put in the post contains the info, but here is a cut and paste that I screwed up previously:

Under U.S. trademark law, the R-in-a-circle symbol (®) may only be used in connection with a mark if that mark is a federally registered trademark. By "federally registered" we mean that the trademark owner has not only filed a trademark registration application with the US Patent & Trademark Office, but has been granted a registration. In contrast, the TM and SM symbols may be used freely without respect to whether or not there is a federal trademark registration. If you are offering goods or services, you may freely use the TM or SM symbol to denote trademarks or service marks that you use to indicate the origin of your goods or services.

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Wed, 12/21/2005 - 05:57
#7
sully1971
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Joined: 08/25/2008
So....

So I guess the thing to do is go ahead and publish it, and list the copyright and year of publication so I can sue the pants off the giant game companies when they steal it. I think I will go the route of the www.copyright.gov since I am in the US. At least then I'll have some protection. The patent sounds unnecessary and the trademark sounds like something I would do if my game becomes the next monopoly (but hopefully people will actually ENJOY my game).

I know in actuality no one will want to steal my game because there just isn't that great a market out there for these nerdy board games all of us geeks love, BUT every once in awhile someone comes up with a settlers or puerto rico, etc. and it would be a darned shame if an underdog amatuer like myself did this and then didn't get any credit (or cash!).

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Wed, 12/21/2005 - 10:40
#8
Zzzzz
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Joined: 06/20/2008
Re: So....

sully1971 wrote:
....I think I will go the route of the www.copyright.gov since I am in the US. At least then I'll have some protection.

Check the site you mentioned again, you should be protected in other countries (though not all) based on the info stated at that site. There is a list of countries that the US works with to honor copyrights *worldwide*.

sully1971 wrote:

The patent sounds unnecessary and the trademark sounds like something I would do if my game becomes the next monopoly (but hopefully people will actually ENJOY my game).

The main concern would be the name of your game. If you use one that is already trademarked or one that gets trademarked, you will most likely be sent a Seize and Desist letter forcing you to stop using the name. Which means if you put *a lot* of money into production/publishing costs you will lose it all since it would be illegal for you to sell your game with that trademarked name.

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