denbeste@cc5.bbn.com.BBN.COM (Steven Den Beste) (07/07/87)
About 5 years ago the copyright on Monopoly ran out. Monopoly is now in
the public domain, and anyone who wants to can sell it.
(Actually, maybe it was a patent. Regardless, it is now in the public
domain.)
Parker Brothers would love to have you think that it isn't so, but they
don't have a legal leg to stand on.
--
Steven C. Den Beste
Bolt Beranek & Newman, Cambridge MA
denbeste@bbn.com (ARPA or CSNET)kent@xanth.UUCP (Kent Paul Dolan) (07/10/87)
In article <3@cc5.bbn.com.BBN.COM> denbeste@cc5.bbn.com.BBN.COM (Steven Den Beste) writes:
About 5 years ago the copyright on Monopoly ran out. Monopoly is now in
the public domain, and anyone who wants to can sell it.
(Actually, maybe it was a patent. Regardless, it is now in the public
domain.)
Parker Brothers would love to have you think that it isn't so, but they
don't have a legal leg to stand on.
--
Steven C. Den Beste
Bolt Beranek & Newman, Cambridge MA
denbeste@bbn.com (ARPA or CSNET)
I remember it differently. I think Parker Brothers unsuccessfully sued the
maker of "Anti-Monopoly" for _trademark_ infringement of the trademark
"Monopoly", and the court made the (widely booed) decision that Parker Brothers
had lost its "Monopoly" trademark due to not protecting it (I say "maybe".) and
that the names "Monopoly" and "Parker Brothers" were no longer linked in the
public mind (it was this part that drew the negative press, and I agree with
the critics).
This follows along the lines of saying "xeroxing" instead of "photo-copying";
as long as Xerox doesn't protest, they are allowing their trademark "Xerox" to
enter the public domain. In their case, it's probably worth it, to have their
corporate name so closely linked in teh public mind with photocopiers.
This in no way invalidates Parker Brothers _copyright_ on the design of the
board game Monopoly, and it is this right that they have apparently
successfully enforced in this case. Note that, unlike trademarks, copyrights
are very difficult to lose by neglect (roughly every 50 years you must renew
a copyright, or at least reassert your claim to it, but the fact that a text is
widely pirated in no way invalidates the original copyright, unlike the
trademark case), so the copyright is a lot easier to enforce.
Now that I've put in my $0.02, would someone with a legal education and
experience in the trademark/copyright area like to step in and make the
definitive statement? ;-)
Kent, the man from xanth.keithd@cadovax.UUCP (Keith Doyle) (07/11/87)
In article <3@cc5.bbn.com.BBN.COM> denbeste@cc5.bbn.com.BBN.COM (Steven Den Beste) writes: > >About 5 years ago the copyright on Monopoly ran out. Monopoly is now in >the public domain, and anyone who wants to can sell it. In addition, Mille Bornes seems to be a later evolution of their game, "Touring" which was originally copyrighted in 1937. Since 52 years is, I believe, the limit on copyright, "Touring" should become public domain in 2 years. Touring differs from Mille Bornes in that there are no safetys, the text is not in French, and the mileage cards appear in much smaller denominations. I have a version of Touring that is considerably newer than 1937 (though I've seen old ones) and it has a total trip of 590 miles (don't ask me) and denominations of 25, 35, 50, and 75 mile cards. In addition, I think the version I have differs from the older one I saw in a few ways. The equivalent of 'accident' seems to be 'missed the curve' with 'wrecker' as the correct repair card, when I think accident or something more similar was the name of the card in the older version I saw. I would think that ONLY the original 1937 version of Touring will become public domain in 2 years. Keith Doyle # {ucbvax,ihnp4,decvax}!trwrb!cadovax!keithd # cadovax!keithd@ucla-locus.arpa Contel Business Systems 213-323-8170