Re: Merger Doctrine Question -- GAMES

On 11/19/1998, Charles B. Kramer <tilyou1[_at_]aol.com> wrote:
>
> Regarding the merger doctrine, please consider:
>
> 1. A particular set of game rules are purely functional, unadorned
> by description, and for that reason are not protected by copyright;
>
> 2. To play the game described by the rules a game board must have a
> certain arrangement of black and white squares, in appearance
> much like a cross word puzzle without the letters filled in, or
> like a traditional Scrabble board;
>
> 3. A company wishing to sell the game prints the rules and sells
> them with its printing of the board. In designing its version
> of the board it does not use the color scheme or trademark or
> ornament of any other company that sells the game; but in fact
> its board is extremely similar to the other because it must be
> to implement the rules.
>
> In this circumstance:
>
> - cannot idea and expression be said to be merged?
>
> - If game rules are not copyright protected (a view on which there is
> some but not, I think, a lot of room for debate) then must not the
> board design also be not protected?
>
> - Does anyone know how cases regarding crossword puzzles might affect
> this analysis?
>
> Consider the board strictly speaking is not "copied" from preexisting
> board; it is an independent implementation of unprotected rules.
>
> Consider also that the owners of Scrabble do a lot of barging
> around, claiming ownership of the design of their board (apart from
> any color scheme, ornamentation or trademark).

I'm not sure I accept the premise that game rules are not protected by copyright. At some level of abstraction, you may be correct -- "Players take turns placing letter-bearing tiles on a board to form words and score points based on the varying values of the letters used." Such a description is pretty useless when it comes to actually trying to play the game. When you get to the level of expression necessary to permit the game to be played (specific scoring rules, examples of play, and so forth) I think you wind up with a copyright-protected expression of the rules.

The Scrabble board design is almost surely protectable -- there is nothing in the "unprotectable" abstract rules description that dictates a particular shape for the board, or a specific number of squares, or the placement and appearance of the extra-point squares.

Daniel J. Schaeffer
<daniel_schaeffer[_at_]kirkland.com> Received on Fri Nov 20 1998 - 00:18:28 GMT