Unfortunately, that part matters not a whit in American law, where people have to protect their intellectual property or lose it. Hence why, say, Disney get bad-ass over all sorts of things involving their characters.
You lose trademarks, not copyright though. Surely Disney get bad-ass about things cos they're a dickish multimedia empire who know the power of getting rich by re-telling other people's stories.
From my armchair-laywer seat, it seems roughly the same thing. If Hasbro let a free knock-off of Scrabble exist without challenge, that means when someone charges for a knock-off the judge will say "Why didn't you go after these guys before that, huh? I deem you to have surrendered your rights! It's all in the public domain now, losers!"
That Disney are dickish is a given; they just happened to be the first example that came to mind (and then I fucked up by forgetting to actually state the example).
Anyway. In short, American companies have to protect their shit. Roughly speaking. If you want 100% authority you'd have to ask someone else on account of IANAL.
From what I understand, Hoggy's right. Trademarks have to be protected or you risk losing them, other forms of 'intellectual property' do not.
Also of note is that the actual rules of the game are not protected in any way. The only copyright claim Hasbro might have is over the design of the board and tiles, which can be changed easily enough. It's mostly the trademarks that are the issue here I think.
Anyway, I only play Scrabulous through their website now, which I find more convenient than Facebook..
Unfortunately, that part matters not a whit in American law, where people have to protect their intellectual property or lose it. Hence why, say, Disney get bad-ass over all sorts of things involving their characters.
Reply
Reply
Reply
That Disney are dickish is a given; they just happened to be the first example that came to mind (and then I fucked up by forgetting to actually state the example).
Anyway. In short, American companies have to protect their shit. Roughly speaking. If you want 100% authority you'd have to ask someone else on account of IANAL.
Reply
Also of note is that the actual rules of the game are not protected in any way. The only copyright claim Hasbro might have is over the design of the board and tiles, which can be changed easily enough. It's mostly the trademarks that are the issue here I think.
Anyway, I only play Scrabulous through their website now, which I find more convenient than Facebook..
Reply
Leave a comment