Journal tomhudson's Journal: Taking a break ... Risk Game Screwup 5
Update: Does Hasbro, through Milton-Breadley, Parker Bros, etc., have enough market share (+/- 80%) to be considered a monopolist in the board game market? Something to think about.
Okay folks, I like a round of Risk every once in a while, as I'm sure some of you do.
However, Hasbro has screwed up. http://games.slashdot.org/
RISK on Google Maps Shut Down
Talk about being stupid. This was great free publicity. If they had any brains, they would have taken it to the next level, and developed their own online version. Instead, they post what has to be one of the dumbest lawyers letters around.
Before we get into it, keep in mind a few facts - you can't copyright the rules or name of a game http://www.copyright.gov/fls/fl108.html
The idea for a game is not protected by copyright. The same is true of the name or title given to the game and of the method or methods for playing it. Copyright protects only the particular manner of an author's expression in literary, artistic, or musical form. Copyright protection does not extend to any idea, system, method, device, or trademark material involved in the development, merchandising, or playing of a game. Once a game has been made public, nothing in the copyright law prevents others from developing another game based on similar principles. .
So anyone is free to create a Risk-style game, same rules, same name. They just can't run afoul of Hasbro's trademark by calling it "Hasbro Risk", or copy the artwork or the written text. Heck, you can even copy their merchanidisng material.
Which makes one wonder how stupid they had to be to write this:
December 1, 2005
By FedEx and Email . tehdiplomat AT ashotoforangejuice DOT com
Chris Hazen
Hoboken, NJ 07030
Re: Infringement of Hasbro, Inc..s RISK Copyrights and Trademark
Dear Mr. Hazen:
We are counsel for Hasbro, Inc. (.Hasbro.), the owner of the copyrights and trademarks for the famous RISK game. We write concerning the online.Risk. game (the .Game.) that you have made available for use in conjunction with Google maps at your website www.ashotoforangejuice.com/gmrisk.html. Your Game appears to copy elements of Hasbro.s RISK game and rules as well as its trademark. The RISK game, including the rules, is the copyrighted property of Hasbro. The rules are not the copyright property of Hasbro. They are not copyrightable, period. Nice lie.
Hasbro also owns the trademark rights to the RISK name.
They own the right to the trademark "Hasbro" and to "Hasbro RISK". The trademark for "RISK" by itself is unenforceable. You can't enforce a trademark on a generic pre-existing word (as Microsoft found out the hard way when they tried to enforce Windows as a trademark, then had to pay off Lindows to walk away). Only terms that are "coined" can be properly trademarked on their own merit.
Your unauthorized use of the RISK game constitutes copyright infringement in violation of 17 U.S.C. 501.
He doesn't need authorization to create his own version of the Risk game. Title 17 is copyright law, and we've already seen what the copyright office has to say about games being exempt from most of the rules.
Your unauthorized use of the RISK name also violates the federal trademark laws, including 15 U.S.C. 1114(1) and 1125(a), by creating a likelihood of confusion with respect to Hasbro.s authorization or sponsorship of or association with your commercial activities.
Nowhere did he claim he was offering "Hasbro Risk", and to offer your own verison of Risk is legal.
Even if confusion were not likely, your unauthorized use of these elements is likely to dilute the distinctive quality of the RISK game and trademark and hamper their ability to function as source-identifying marks in violation of 15 U.S.C. 1125(c) and numerous state anti-dilution laws.
In other words, "we probably don't have a leg to stand on, so we're throwing this in too." Unfortunately for Hasbro, by trying to claim a total right to ALL Risk games, rather than just "Hasbro Risk", they have already diluted their trademark. Law of perverse consequences and all that. After all, if your specific game cannot be sufficiently identified by the term "Hasbro Risk", then you are admitting that even your full trademark name doesn't have much value as an identifier - it would be perverse to argue that a shorter, less descriptive term is an improvement. This gives a pretty good argument for the case that "Risk" by itself is now generic for all board games that implement a Hasbro Rsk-style game play. Seems to me that this letter would be excellent evidence that they have stipulated to this being the case.
We therefore demand that you immediately cease and desist from any further use of the RISK game and mark by removing the Game and all references to it from your website.
I'd have left them up. But then again, I can be such a
/bitch/prick/whatever/. Please confirm to me in writing as soon as possible, and in any event within ten (10) days of receipt of this letter your agreement to the above.
Only a fool would stipulate to all the above. It leaves you open to a lawsuit where they don't even have to prove their case - you've already stipulated to their version of the "facts" if you send them written confirmation.
This letter does not purport to be a complete statement of the facts or the law and is without prejudice to Hasbro.s legal and equitable rights.
In other words, "we probably don't have a legal leg to stand on, so I'm covering my ass here."
Sincerely yours,
Carin G. ReynoldsI doubt its very sincere.
So, my question is simply this: Is there a demand for an online Risk game server? I mean a real one, not one that is based on google maps.
I have 2 servers, in 2 countries, that I could stick one on (the copyright laws regarding games are similar in Canada and the US, so I could stick the thing up in both countries).
I figure 2 months development in my spare time.
Is it worth it? Because, while I have 4 sets of the board game, and the computer version, this really really really gets my goat!
BTW, I've already written the guy who got the takedown notice, asking him for the email address of this Carin G. Reyolds lawyer-critter. I want to know, specifically, what game elements, rules, names, etc., they intend to try to claim. Because from where I sit, they can't claim much. Some artwork, their version of the actual text of the rules, and that's about it.
At this point, because of the statements made in their letter, I would think that even the land boundaries, which I had previously considered off-limits in any Risk-alike, are probably not protected. They're certainly not subject to copyright, and their whole "we need to claim all usage of the name Risk" stance in connection with board games tends to weaken their claim that Risk is not nowadays a generic product, and Hasbro Risk is just one variant.
I'd love to play a game of risk (Score:2)
If you think you could do a networked version that I could run on Linux, I'd love to play :)
However from what I know (IANAL) you'd be better off not calling it Risk, as it allows them to claim you are intentionally misleading people.
Also you might want to check how much you can expect to be able to copy the rules, my understanding was that rules were more protectable than you seem to think ... and the board game market seems to bear this out (the larger companies buying anything that catches on and is
Re:I'd love to play a game of risk (Score:2)
Well, as the govt says, you can't copyright the rules, etc. My guess - the big boys don't copy each other, because whoever pulls the trigger, it'll escalate pretty quickly, and it would also ruin the value of their own IP holdings as they get hit with retaliatory strikes.
In other words, you won't see company A produce a copy of something from company B, because then the gloves are off.
Besides, most of it is owned by 2 companies - Mattel and Hasbro.
I'd call it Risk specifically because Risk, by itself,
Re:I'd love to play a game of risk (Score:1)
Re:I'd love to play a game of risk (Score:2)
Available versions (Score:2)
This is an old one I played a _long_ time ago X11/Unix native [morphy.iki.fi] also an older version available from ibiblio/Sunsite [ibiblio.org]. Then there's a newer Java [sourceforge.net] based version with Cute graphics. Both have risk in the name, so I'm guessing that is pretty safe (as is copying the rules, but not the text thereof -- although, I imagine the maps.google version was higher profile than either of these).