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Board game rules fall under patents. It has an example of the garage process, patent, infringement, and win. https://www.insurancejournal.com/news/west/2012/1

by shagie 3y ago

Board game rules fall under patents. It has an example of the garage process, patent, infringement, and win. https://www.insurancejournal.com/news/west/2012/11/26/271633.htm https://www.insurancejournal.com/news/west/2012/11/26/271633... > A company headed by a Colorado professor who invented a strategy board game has won a $1.6 million patent infringement verdict. > ... > Innovention prevailed in a patent infringement against MGA, Wal-Mart Stores and Toys R Us. A federal court in New Orleans found that MGA’s Laser Battle game, sold through the two retailers, infringed on Innovention’s patent for Khet. https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/16991/khet-laser-game https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/16991/khet-laser-game https://patents.google.com/patent/US7264242 https://patents.google.com/patent/US7264242 --- Note the rarity of this happening that it makes the news compared to how often patents are thrown around in courts.

brlewis 3y ago
> Board game rules fall under patents Please supply evidence. All links in your comment relate to a patent to an invention where lasers are an essential part of the claims. I'm not convinced that rules alone would be patentable subject matter.
- shagie 3y ago
  https://www.upcounsel.com/board-game-patents https://www.upcounsel.com/board-game-patents https://patentpc.com/blog/example-of-how-a-board-game-is-patented https://patentpc.com/blog/example-of-how-a-board-game-is-pat... https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/493249/mythbusting-game-design-and-copyright-trademarks-a https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/493249/mythbusting-game-des... https://www.theiplawblog.com/2019/04/articles/intellectual-property-litigation/are-rules-for-playing-a-game-patentable/ https://www.theiplawblog.com/2019/04/articles/intellectual-p... http://www.gamecabinet.com/info/PatentSearch.html http://www.gamecabinet.com/info/PatentSearch.html https://boardgamegeek.com/filepage/93654/blue-and-gray-patent-info-pdf https://boardgamegeek.com/filepage/93654/blue-and-gray-paten... (Blue and Gray) - this particular one is well known because Sid Sackson went trawling through patents and found it and wrote about it. From https://archive.org/details/gamutofgames0000sack/page/9/mode/1up https://archive.org/details/gamutofgames0000sack/page/9/mode... > THE FILES OF PATENTS that have been granted are a fruitful hunting ground for forgotten games, although going through these files, as anyone who has ever been involved in a patent search well knows, is a time consuming job. Often the patented games are downright silly, such as a set of dominos made of rubber so that they can double as ink erasers (No. 729,489) or a sliding block puzzle with edible pieces so that a player who despairs of a solution can find consolation in gratifying his stomach (No. 1,274,294). Often the patents are repetitious: There are over a hundred variations of the well-known checkerboard and over a thousand different baseball games. > But often the patented games are a fascinating reflection of their time: races to the North Pole, war games to capture the Kaiser, automobile games, in the infancy of the automobile, and radio games for the crystal-set fanatic. https://patents.google.com/patent/US2026082A/en https://patents.google.com/patent/US2026082A/en (Monopoly) https://patents.google.com/patent/US5662332A/en https://patents.google.com/patent/US5662332A/en (Magic The Gathering) https://patents.google.com/patent/US6352262B1/en https://patents.google.com/patent/US6352262B1/en (Icehouse)
  - brlewis 3y ago
    > https://patents.google.com/patent/US5662332A/en https://patents.google.com/patent/US5662332A/en (Magic The Gathering) Thank you. I concede, this one is proof that an application that's essentially board game rules can be accepted. Whether rules not tied to a particular machine should be accepted is debatable. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Machine-or-transformation_test#Is_satisfying_the_test_a_necessary_condition_for_patent-eligibility,_a_sufficient_condition,_both_or_neither https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Machine-or-transformation_test...?
raverbashing 3y ago
But Board Games are not software and there are other aspects of a game that can be IP protected (trademarks, etc)
- shagie 3y ago
  The example was not given to argue about the types of patents granted, but rather that the patent system does have the occasional win by the little guy against large companies... ... and that this is so infrequent that it is news.

by shagie 3y ago

brlewis 3y ago

> Board game rules fall under patents Please supply evidence. All links in your comment relate to a patent to an invention where lasers are an essential part of the claims. I'm not convinced that rules alone would be patentable subject matter.

shagie 3y ago
https://www.upcounsel.com/board-game-patents https://www.upcounsel.com/board-game-patents https://patentpc.com/blog/example-of-how-a-board-game-is-patented https://patentpc.com/blog/example-of-how-a-board-game-is-pat... https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/493249/mythbusting-game-design-and-copyright-trademarks-a https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/493249/mythbusting-game-des... https://www.theiplawblog.com/2019/04/articles/intellectual-property-litigation/are-rules-for-playing-a-game-patentable/ https://www.theiplawblog.com/2019/04/articles/intellectual-p... http://www.gamecabinet.com/info/PatentSearch.html http://www.gamecabinet.com/info/PatentSearch.html https://boardgamegeek.com/filepage/93654/blue-and-gray-patent-info-pdf https://boardgamegeek.com/filepage/93654/blue-and-gray-paten... (Blue and Gray) - this particular one is well known because Sid Sackson went trawling through patents and found it and wrote about it. From https://archive.org/details/gamutofgames0000sack/page/9/mode/1up https://archive.org/details/gamutofgames0000sack/page/9/mode... > THE FILES OF PATENTS that have been granted are a fruitful hunting ground for forgotten games, although going through these files, as anyone who has ever been involved in a patent search well knows, is a time consuming job. Often the patented games are downright silly, such as a set of dominos made of rubber so that they can double as ink erasers (No. 729,489) or a sliding block puzzle with edible pieces so that a player who despairs of a solution can find consolation in gratifying his stomach (No. 1,274,294). Often the patents are repetitious: There are over a hundred variations of the well-known checkerboard and over a thousand different baseball games. > But often the patented games are a fascinating reflection of their time: races to the North Pole, war games to capture the Kaiser, automobile games, in the infancy of the automobile, and radio games for the crystal-set fanatic. https://patents.google.com/patent/US2026082A/en https://patents.google.com/patent/US2026082A/en (Monopoly) https://patents.google.com/patent/US5662332A/en https://patents.google.com/patent/US5662332A/en (Magic The Gathering) https://patents.google.com/patent/US6352262B1/en https://patents.google.com/patent/US6352262B1/en (Icehouse)
- brlewis 3y ago
  > https://patents.google.com/patent/US5662332A/en https://patents.google.com/patent/US5662332A/en (Magic The Gathering) Thank you. I concede, this one is proof that an application that's essentially board game rules can be accepted. Whether rules not tied to a particular machine should be accepted is debatable. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Machine-or-transformation_test#Is_satisfying_the_test_a_necessary_condition_for_patent-eligibility,_a_sufficient_condition,_both_or_neither https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Machine-or-transformation_test...?

raverbashing 3y ago

But Board Games are not software and there are other aspects of a game that can be IP protected (trademarks, etc)

shagie 3y ago
The example was not given to argue about the types of patents granted, but rather that the patent system does have the occasional win by the little guy against large companies... ... and that this is so infrequent that it is news.