3MA On Game Mechanics and Intellectual Property

[frags]

My fav strategy gaming podcast 3MA took on game mechanic copyrights:

http://flashofsteel.com/index.php/2011/04/28/three-moves-ahead-episode-114-patents-progress-and-rogue-puffins/

This debate was sparked by this board game geek interview:

http://boardgamegeek.com/blogpost/1839/interview-ios-board-games-talks-with-johannes-paiv

And this no high scores write up:

http://nohighscores.com/node/565

A highly contentious issue in my opinion. The video game industry itself has thrived by a lot of game mechanic copy cats. If id could copyright FPS, or Nintendo copyrighting platformer game mechanics, the industry wouldn't be what it is right now.

Clearly this is something that is very prevalent with board games. For instance, Hasbro has been very aggressive against copy cats of their IP. Are board games different that game mechanics of board games can be protected by copyright?

I'm not sure what to think about this.

[Nachimir]

It's not pleasant when someone seems to have copied your work or brand. As a creative, or part of a small company, you usually have to ask whether it's worth the effort, hassle and sleepless nights of suing someone. Often it's not; it's true that game mechanics don't fall under copyright.

I notice Johannes slipped in an early "We approached them, but they weren't interested" type statement, which could actually mean all kinds of things from "publishers are cautious/stupid" to "I am now attempting to cover my ass in public". It seems like FFG figured these guys would be easy to sue, but don't have much of a legal case. Christian Petersen has probably received a royally huge bollocking from the rest of the company (Ah, he's CEO) his lawyer for saying as much as he has on BGG.

Both ends of the situation are horrible positions to be in, and typically people outside the situation root for the little guys as long as they don't appear to be scumbags. My instincts tell me to side with Puffin Software, which makes me a bit uneasy.