I hope this is the right forum...
I was reading over the wikipedia article on TCG games and ran into the WotC patent:
http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?patentnumber=5,662,332
Does that patent mean that WotC has a patent on ALL TCG games and that whoever wants to create his own TCG has to pay royalty fees to WotC?
Here's the Wikipedia quote:
* Games published in the form of trading cards.
* Games in which a player selects a collection of tradeable elements
and uses that set to compete with other players.
* Certain aspects of gameplay originally developed for Magic: The Gathering,
such as "tapping" a card to indicate it is temporarily depleted.
As a holder of the patent, Wizards of the Coast has requested that all trading card game publishers license the mechanics described in the patent, usually for a royalty fee based on total sales.[4]
In October 2003, Wizards of the Coast filed suit against Nintendo and related companies in U.S. District Court in Seattle shortly after its distribution agreement expired. The suit alleged, along with other claims, that the Pokémon Trading Card Game infringed on the company's patent.[5] In December of that year, the parties settled the case on undisclosed terms.
Aye, I was planning on making a TCG playable via internet but considering the effort involved, I wouldn't want to be stopped by something like a patent. I also very much doubt that I'd be able to afford a lawyer when I start the business.
Has anyone actually published a TCG and had to face WotC?