[casual_games] Gameplay patents

[Milt Michael]

Absolutely...I've really enjoyed reading all the banter from both sides -
this has been a great discussion!

We've been debated two separate issues as I see it: 1) whether it's worth a
developer's time and money or not, and 2) whether it is healthy for the
industry or not.

Me thinks it depends on your place within the industry and what your
resources are as to whether it's an advantage or not. I probably represent
less than 1% of the members of this list. You might refer to me as a
"basement inventor". Believe me, most of my friends who have played my game
and advised me have exibited more fear of me losing my game than I feel.
There's a lot of fear and misunderstanding out there about patents,
trademarks, and copyright.

I have a team member who is experienced in patents, but we're a long way
from having a development team or a distribution channel, so I'm going ahead
with one but not two as I we had previously planned. 

I'm not going to patent gameplay as I think that is covered mostly by
copyright laws anyways, so it's not worth it. This patent will be for a
"device with game play".

So, are patents healthy for the industry? You guys would be better able to
answer that one. What if PopCap had patented the 3-link thing? Things would
definitely be different!

Maybe there would be an abundance of hungry programmers, distributors, and
investors :)






-----Original Message-----
From: casual_games-bounces at igda.org [mailto:casual_games-bounces at igda.org]
On Behalf Of Hal Barwood
Sent: Tuesday, February 13, 2007 10:06 AM
To: IGDA Casual Games SIG Mailing List
Subject: Re: [casual_games] Gameplay patents

Have you noticed?  Patents are a game.

Jason Van Anden wrote:

> It sounds to me like you suggesting that if someone has gone to the  

> trouble and expense of legally protecting their intellectual  

> property,  you would decide to violate this right based solely on  

> whether you had more resources than your competitor.  It seems to me  

> that this is morally and ethically perverse, and ought to be  

> discouraged more so than patents themselves.  Does anyone (else) out  

> there feel that (reasonable) patents are a good thing - or is  

> "patents == bad" the general consensus of the casual games community?

> 

> 

> On Feb 11, 2007, at 7:11 AM, Jonas Beckeman wrote:

> 

>> The substantial amount of time and money to get the patent approved is

>> *nothing* compared to what it will take to defend it.

>> The patent itself doesn't really give any protection, only when  

>> tried in

>> court will you know if it's solid. It probably isn't (although your  

>> lawyer

>> will work very, very hard to write a specification that is  

>> impossible to

>> interpret), and then you'll only be left with a huge pile of lawyer  

>> bills.

>>

>> But it's true some investors like software patents, however ridiculous

>> they may be - it looks good on paper and adds a whiff of the "serious"

>> research-intense industries.

>>

>> If I feel like infringing on your patent, I will assess your financial

>> status and if I think I have more resources than you, I'll simply  

>> ignore

>> it. With more money, I'll wear you out in court, if it comes to that.

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