Playtesting and copy protection

I don't suggest the "poor man's copyright," since it costs quite a lot in court to prove that it's valid, something you might not even be able to do, and even if you do, it won't allow for non-actual losses (like damage to your name) nor reimbursement of legal fees, which a real copyright will. And since a "rich man's copyright" costs a mere $30 and is awesome legal protection, I can't imagine why you wouldn't file for it. http://www.copyright.gov (in the US, that is)

On NDAs, I've playtested a couple of dozen boardgames now from very famous and popular designers, most of which went on to be published. And I've never signed a single NDA.

But it's up to you, obviously. Me, I'm about to send some stuff out for blind playtesting and won't be sending any NDAs. But then they'll all go to people that I at least know of, not complete strangers (even though I "know" them from the BGDF). But that's just my take.

If nothing else, spend the $30 on a "rich man's" copyright, and you'll be well protected from someone publishing your exact game.

-- Matthew

assemble enough of the game description to establish "proof of concept".
seal these into a sturdy envelope, and mail them to yourself. DO NOT OPEN THEM! the postmark will serve as proof of the latest date the materials could have been created.

I doubt this is really going to stand up to legal scrutiny.

Let me tell you why. Send an empty manilla envelope to yourself. Seal it with the clasp if you want, but don't lick the gummy glue seal part. Wait till you get it back. Wait 1 week. Put papers backdated to the date of the post mark inside the envelope. Now this time seal it up with the glue licked appropriately on the flap, plus the clasp. Then add a strip of clear packing tape to the top flap (which you just closed), plus the bottom flap.

Looks convincing, but you put in the contents of the envelope after you mailed it. Mail yourself an empty envelope once a year, and you have on dated for any year you feel like.

Sound like a verifiable form of date stamping to you?

Doesn't sound like one to me.

I think as evidence, people who you distributed your game to provide better evidence (as witnesses) than the poor man's copyright does. At list with witnesses there has to be a conspiracy to cover up the truth for a lie to stand, but with a poor man's copyright all you have to do is have a single clever liar who is party to a case, and there are lots of individual clever liars in legal cases.

Besides with copyright, the issue is NOT who came up with a book first if a book is independently developed by two parties. Two parties could, through absolutely astronomical chance write identical books 1000s of miles apart and each would have distinct copyrights over distinct books with identical contents.

You have to prove the date of the copyright AND that the other party probably had access to your work to claim infringement. If you prove that you wrote a book 3 years before I did, but if you never distributed it (say you had it locked in a vault), then it's not going to be enough to nail me for copyright infringement.

If one of your playtesters steals your book verbatim, and you haven't yet filed a copyright, the best evidence you are going to get is the sworn testimony of your other playtesters that you distributed an identical book to them, and proof on your end (emails, mail receipts, etc.) that you mailed the book out to the infringing party.

FYI -- NDAs are better than filing a copy with the copyright office during the period before distribution. Why? I'm not positive, but I think that after you file a copy at the copyright office then all or part of it may be subject to a public records search (even if only in person) and that may limit your ability to enforce certain parts of a non-disclosure agreement later.

Besides, NDAs may be able to protect certain processes and ideas (by individual agreement) whereas a copyright only protects the expression of your idea. The provisional patent is the best way to protect your actual ideas.

As far as I know, your application is confidential; your accepted registration is surely a matter of public record at the Library of Congress and can be searched by qualified visitors. Apparently the Library doesn't screen parasitic scum from bonafide researchers and if *applications* are available to them, watch out, it's exposed.

You could probably enhance a mailback by sealing the envelope in the presence of a Notary who can attest to the contents. That would likely hold up in litigation, but really, registration at the Copyright Officeis a NO-BRAINER. They're built for it.

The patent pending method is a new concept to me. Most games are sculptural or 2D embodiments, subject to copyright, not patent. I don't know if you'll get even half a year before it's rejected, but I'm reminded there is the possibilty of a design patent issue for "decorative articles of manufacture." Still, it's a reach, and gets expensive.

The other protector is Trademark, which also emenates from the PTO, but it's really only useful for the distinctive title/graphic of a published game on sale. In fact, they want to see some initial business activity as part of the application, and it costs a lot more to apply-- around 500.00. Through my IP attorney, I did it while I was still selling handmade prototypes of a game, still refining, but copies of the receipts went in with it to show the game was truly "placed in commerce." I tacked a TM (Trademark pending) ID onto the box title for a year and a half and then got my circle R (Registered). Trademarks can be renewed.