The printing and design is protected by copyright but the concept of a gridded gameboard upon which one places lettered tiles seems not.
IANALAIDW2B1BIATH Kevin On Fri, Aug 1, 2008 at 2:42 PM, Elizabeth Stark <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > The design of the board is copyrightable. > > On Fri, Aug 1, 2008 at 2:37 PM, Kevin Driscoll <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > wrote: >> >> Those dudes are b.a.n.a.n.a.s. for not taking $10millie if it were >> indeed offered but I am not sure about the infringement here. There's >> definitely trademark confusion (check out the board, dogs!) but game >> rules aren't copyright protected. I believe they fall under patent. >> >> I am consulting with some of my gamer colleagues in GAMBIT to find out. >> >> I used to play Literati all the time on Yahoo games. It was very >> similar to Scrabble... but perhaps not similar enough? Or maybe it was >> 2002 and Hasbro wasn't yet hip 2 da scene? >> >> Kevin >> >> >> >> >> >> On Fri, Aug 1, 2008 at 1:19 PM, Oliver Day <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: >> > What about the trademark issues though? I forget what the extent of >> > trademark allows but I was under the impression it is protected for as >> > long as the product is on the market. And as much as I love Scrabulous >> > I >> > can't help but notice that the colors, layout, etc of the board are a >> > nearly exact match. >> > >> > O >> > >> > On Fri, 1 Aug 2008, Nelson Pavlosky wrote: >> > >> >> Elizabeth Stark wrote: >> >>> >> >>> And Nelson, just to play devil's advocate here, isn't this just a >> >>> clear >> >> case >> >>> of infringement of the Hasbro's copyright (and the Scrabble trademark >> >>> for >> >>> that matter)? Should Hasbro not hold the copyright to scrabble? What >> >>> is the >> >>> scenario we'd like to see? Should board games not be copyrightable >> >>> matter? >> >>> Should naming a game with such a similar name not be trademark >> >> infringement? >> >> >> >> Well, ideally copyright would be shorter so that a game created in 1938 >> >> would be public domain by now. >> >> >> >> Failing that, I think we should put pressure on companies not to >> >> enforce >> >> their copyrights to the hilt. Just because you have the legal power to >> >> do something doesn't make it the right thing to do, either for your >> >> business or for the public good. Working with "pirates" in a civil >> >> manner instead of trying to sue them out of existence might have given >> >> us a healthy online music business back when Napster was created >> >> instead >> >> of like a decade later with iTunes, Amazon etc. A legitimized Napster >> >> I think would have been a seriously good thing. Similarly, working >> >> with >> >> Scrabulous might have been more productive than suing them. As the >> >> Economist article I linked to suggests, perhaps companies should >> >> consider more seriously whether the "piracy" is actually a bad thing >> >> before sending in the lawyers. >> >> >> >> We have carrots and sticks, folks. We can boycott companies that don't >> >> play nicely with others, and we can do things like CarrotMob >> >> <http://www.carrotmob.org/> to benefit businesses that are friendly to >> >> their fans and customers instead of suing them. Let's encourage people >> >> and companies to share more and to hoard less, because generally in the >> >> information economy, it's not a zero sum game, when you share >> >> frequently >> >> everybody wins. >> >> >> >> Peace, >> >> ~Nelson~ >> >> _______________________________________________ >> >> Discuss mailing list >> >> [email protected] >> >> http://freeculture.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/discuss >> >> >> > _______________________________________________ >> > Discuss mailing list >> > [email protected] >> > http://freeculture.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/discuss >> > >> >> >> >> -- >> )_)_)_)_)_)_ >> _______________________________________________ >> Discuss mailing list >> [email protected] >> http://freeculture.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/discuss > > > _______________________________________________ > Discuss mailing list > [email protected] > http://freeculture.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/discuss > > -- )_)_)_)_)_)_ _______________________________________________ Discuss mailing list [email protected] http://freeculture.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/discuss
