Announcement From Hero Games

**Susano** · Mar 7th, '05, 08:08 AM

Originally Posted by MitchellS

Parker Brothers has the trademark to Monopoly man and owns the IP to the game. They can't stop someone else from making a board game which uses diced, metal figures, and plastic buildings. They can stop someone from using Boardwalk and Park Place within the context of a board game. They can't stop someone from using Possum Run and Raccoon Ditch. They own the IP but they don't own the system. You can't copyright or TM [and again TM deal with images] a system.

But hasn't Parker Brothers successfully had derivative "games" pulled off of the shelf? I recall some sort of "gangsta"/"inner city" version that had hookers and crack deals.

Ah yes, found it: Ghettopoly

**bblackmoor** · Mar 7th, '05, 08:15 AM

Originally Posted by GamePhil

Or, to rephrase the question: Hypothetically, could a company that protected its PDF's, which include trademark, in the fashion we are discussing use that fact to demonstrate that they were protecting those trademarks?

No. Maintaining a trademark or service mark requires the owner to take action against anyone who infringes it. Locking a PDF has nothing to do with that, and copyright protection does not require the same sort of diligence on the part of the copyright owner in order to maintain its legally protected status. So IP law is irrelevant to the subject of locking a PDF, and vice versa.

(Happy Birthday and Ghettopoly are a whole other kettle of fish.)

**Hugh Neilson** · Mar 7th, '05, 09:07 AM

Originally Posted by bblackmoor

No. Maintaining a trademark or service mark requires the owner to take action against anyone who infringes it. Locking a PDF has nothing to do with that, and copyright protection does not require the same sort of diligence on the part of the copyright owner in order to maintain its legally protected status. So IP law is irrelevant to the subject of locking a PDF, and vice versa.

Similarly, the fact I fail to lock my door does not entitle someone to remove my possessions without it being "theft".

The guys who've gotten in near-disaster situations are the ones whose product name became a household word, and they allowed it to happen (hence "Kleenex brand facial tissue" and "Jello brand gelatin"). That's also why the makers of both Viagra (for the name) and Bounty (for the slogan and font) went after a T Shirt manufacturer for his "Viagra - The Dicker Picker Upper" shirt.

**Polaris** · Mar 7th, '05, 05:05 PM

Originally Posted by Hugh Neilson

[The writer of "Happy Birthday to You" still gets royalties. Ask Brian Wilson or Chuck Berry about Surfing USA...]]

I don't know how things are in Canada (I had thought IP laws between the two nations were brought largely in line as part of NAFTA), but I know at a certain point it goes into the public domain (like, the land of Oz from Frank Baum's Wizard of Oz is in the public domain). I am not sure how old the "Happy Birthday to You" is, but I would have thought it was public domain now... <?>

Polaris