Board Games especially of the hobby kind are on quite a come back right now. Myself I own over 100 now and have a regular group of people who meet up twice a week to play. There is a lot of money to be made (take a look at the Zombicide kickstarters! we are talking millions).
But board game designers / publishers have always been a self regulating crowd. No one wants to be the person who stole an idea.
Keep in mind that really it's the theme that can be stolen. Mechanics are borrowed on a regular basis.