Today’s recommended post comes from Wendy Seltzer, law professor and fellow at the Berkman Center. In it, Wendy spends some time analyzing the intellectual property aspects of games. With the release of the official Scrabble Facebook application, and numerous C&D’s sent to Scrabulous’ creators, why does Scrabulous remain online? Seltzer states: “Scrabulous remains online, probably because the threats’ legal merits are murky: there are few rights to “a game” as such.”
Seltzer goes on:
Three kinds of intellectual property might protect aspects of a game — patent, trademark, and copyright — but each has limits that leave plenty of room for imitators and emulators.
…
Moreover, the board design for Scrabble contains only de minimis separable expression. The arrangement of double-letter and triple-word scores is part of the method of play — like tennis’s “if you cross the fault line while serving, the serve is no good,” it merges with the unprotectable idea.
