Matthew Hunter wrote: > On Wed, Dec 11, 2002 at 09:07:15AM -0500, Jim Katz > <jimkatz at ix.netcom.com> wrote: >> Hi Gametech, >> My buddy Lance is going to be awfully disappointed when he learns >> that the 5000 plus dollars he laid out to patent a new game he >> invented is just money down the drain because patents aren't issued >> for games???? I think NOT! > > He's going to be awfully disappointed when his expensive patent > lawyer gets back to him. > > You can patent *techniques* used in a computer game (although > even that is a stretch -- software patents are problematic), but > you can't patent the game itself. Copyright law would apply to > the rest of the game. Yes, and even then the copyright only protects the images and unique text usage within. If I wanted to create lets say my own version of the game Risk and I was to use none of the origninal 'art' work or text I could. For all intensive purposes it would play exactly the same and it'd be legal. There isn't much point to doing that I admit. If anyone has played any of the Rail building games you understand what I'm talking about, many companies use almost identical rulings and systems to play and just have some variable that are different (the map, and sometimes the cargo) The rules and ideas behind the game are often indistinguishable from one another.