On Mon, Dec 24, 2001 at 03:52:00PM +0100, Erich Schubert wrote: > well, the game hasn't got the priority numbers on the cards, the board > game does have; all graphics look different, so they are probably > "native".
Such differences would become important if there were a dispute. They make the game distinct from the other. > > Some games are probably covered by patents (which are used to get a monopoly > > on an idea, like a design). > > Names tend to be copyrighted as well. > I once queried Ravensburger (a german board game company) if it is okay > to do a "Memory" Game on my homepage; they replied that i cannot use the > name "Memory", but the idea is not copyrighted. Ah, no. That's not copyright law, but trademark law. But it's very good you point it out because I obviously forgot it in my reply to you. Trademark law indeed does restrict you in the way you say. However, trademark law is not too broad. You can not use a specific brand (name, name in a certain font, a logo) in a specific context (consumer electronics, or food etc). trademark law is usually easy to avoid (just choose a different name or logo). > > Hoefully this game is written in a way to allow other boards and card sets > > (and new type of cards etc), and then it isn't a problem at all. Although > > a board editor is included, none of the example boards i played was > distributed with the board game; the graphics look similar but > different. (scanning wouldn't have looked good at that size i think ;) Hehe. Yeah, suonds good. > > it might take some games to find out what boards and cards make for a fair > > and funny game, I am sure there'd be plenty of boards and card sets > > coming up. > > upon starting the server you can change the propability of the different > cards appeareance, so the balance probably is different from the board > game as well. This all sounds very good. I will take a look at the game (want to play it :) one of the next days, and if I see a problem I will let you know of course. But I guess it is only conceptually similar, while the implementation is qutie different -> no copyright issue. Thanks, Marcus -- `Rhubarb is no Egyptian god.' Debian http://www.debian.org [EMAIL PROTECTED] Marcus Brinkmann GNU http://www.gnu.org [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.marcus-brinkmann.de
