Do you want me to show you a market without patent rights?

^{4 versions of the same game on the mechanics of four different manufacturers}

We have a market without patents . You can look at it and understand what will happen if all patents are revoked right tomorrow.

The fact is that domestic patent law does not protect the mechanics of board games, and we have a lot of similar pieces. Someone competes, someone disperses in segments, some beat each other at prices, or simply squeeze counterparts. And nothing, everyone is alive. The market develops and grows. No patents.
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Why there is no protection

The legal situation is this: according to standard laws, rules, graphic components, and so on are protected. This means that if you take the western game, redraw all the pictures and to some extent (say, 10-20%) change the rules, this will be enough to pass the authoring expert examination, and therefore publish the game in the Russian Federation in full accordance with by law.

What does this look like? Like the difference between Wolfenstein, Doom, Quake and Half-Life. These are 4 identical mechanics in different settings, different graphics and with a different plot. Now the idea to patent the genre of a 3D shooter or a real-time strategy is unlikely to come to anyone's head - although, I remember, the creators of Warcraft once quarreled strongly with the owners of Warhammer.

So, let's see what happens on such a “wild” market without patents on specific examples.

Activi and Elias

Two games to explain the words. In Activiti, you need to draw, speak with words and show gestures, in Elias - just explain with words. They live in different price niches (Elias is cheaper), so Activiti is the best game for a party in Moscow, and Elias - in regions where price requirements are more critical. All major manufacturers make the same niche. Hasbro has a game of "Taboo" - this is also an explanation of the words, but with its own twist. By the way, in Russia we also have an analogue that has been played since the times of the USSR - the Crocodile. And there is the domestic "Boom" (in the people - "Paper" or "Hat"). This is an example of more or less parallel development. Games help each other to occupy a niche and collectively expand it.

Jenga and variations

Jenga is a very old game about pulling out bars from a wooden tower. She is very exciting, cool and generally stably hit. The only problem is that many people release similar games. These are also towers with a different form of bar, other materials, and so on - they are legal in Europe. We also make direct clones, which also comply with the law, and it turns out much cheaper.


The classic version: competitors have long copied the box in style, and they just recently abruptly changed it to a bright-explosive

Here we come to the most important answer to the question of piracy: does downloading the “left” films and software help the publisher? Yes. The fact is that Genga is of a different quality, and the only thing that keeps buyers from buying the original one is the price. Last year, the manufacturer removed the version of the game from the sale up to 1000 rubles, only the expensive one remained, for about 1300. And this is a milestone for many buyers. You know what the salary in the regions.

During this time, all-all-all who sawed the bars were activated, and as a result, the tower appeared almost everywhere in the country, even in small shops, where the publisher would not reach in life. And then the company returned the goods to the market - all the same good old cool Jangu, but at the price at which to actually buy it. And made a premium version more expensive. Of course, when a lot more people know about the game, it is sold at times better. Beautiful, is not it?

The manufacturer has now expanded its line: for example, the rare "Genga Tetris" arrived the other day - no one can copy it for a long time.


Very accurate casting (we still do not do this yet) and “bent” parts.

Monopoly - Millionaire and variations

Monopoly clones abroad are regularly caught and closed, so no one has time to gain popularity. We even in the grocery could meet some representatives of this group of games. I must separately say that there is a more or less normal game "Manager" since the Soviet times - it is still adequate, but only as nostalgia. Monopoly is clearly a gift, so almost always, even with a number of similar games, a high-quality original publication is chosen.

Scrabble and Scrabble

Scrabble and Scrabble are two almost identical games that differ in edition. Foreign Skrabl expensive, high-quality and very cool, and our Erudite - small and sharpened for the road, plus the price - just under the regions. Scrabble at the same time went to the ceiling for the price and occupied the premium segment, and Scrabble still taxies where the budget for the purchase is limited. There are clones - Igraslov, Slovodel and so on.

More legal details

Grounds

10.4.3.2. Of the Administrative Regulation on Inventions - “Proposals that are not inventions according to clause 5 of Article 1350 of the Code: rules and methods of games, intellectual or economic activity;”
9.4.1. Administrative regulations for utility models - as utility models in accordance with clause 1 of Article 1351 of the Code and taking into account clauses 1 and 5 of Article 1350 of the Code, a technical solution protected as a utility model is not a sentence describing: the rules and methods of games, intellectual or economic activity;

The game mechanic itself in Russia is not protected by a patent. In this case, you can submit an application indicating the presence of a specific field, cards for it, chips, bones and other attributes, games that are different from the known ones, then you can get a patent for an invention or utility model. Examples: RU2265471C2, RU2204430C2, RU80349U1, and so on.

In this case, the mechanics of the game is protected by copyright. Protection is carried out only from a simple copy of this game, that is, a clone with other rules and plot has the right to life. In theory, it is possible to go to court, but we need very strong evidence.

Our lawyer gave this example:

If I invent a film like “The Lord of the Rings” based on his script, but the plot will unfold in space, instead of a ring there will be an amulet and so on, everyone will move on space ships, battles will be at stations or on planets, then the owner of the rights to “Lord Rings ”will be very difficult to prove copying.

If you protect as an invention or utility model, then previously unknown fields and paraphernalia (specially developed) should be used in the game, thus it will be possible to clone the game, but it will not be possible to sell the fields and paraphernalia. Example - you can protect the gurgling spiral timer in “Answer in 5 seconds” - and then the new game will have to use, for example, a different timer.


Here you can see a timer on the side, where the balls go down in a spiral. At the coup, he gurgles funny. The timer can be protected as a model or invention, but this is only a piece of the game.

Market development

The most interesting games are those that use similar mechanics, but at the same time develop it. For example, if we talk about computer strategies, DUNE II did not use the “rubber” frame to highlight the detachment, and in Warcraft it already appeared. The next step is a one-click command (not two: what to do and where to do it) and so on. Thus, development branches and interesting new products within the framework of one mechanics gradually appear. Again, I have not heard about the patenting of the “rubber frame” for the RTS, but there are analogies in patent law.

Have you long wanted to know what will happen if patents are revoked?

So, we do not have them on the market, and everyone can do the same thing. See how it works: someone confidently divides a niche (Uno-Svintus), someone is fighting for the audience and forcing others to lower the price (the price for “Jungle Speed” has fallen by half after the appearance of “Medved”), someone does not survive (in the Uno-Svintus chain there was also a Solo game - it left the market), someone uses technological developments to create wonderful new pieces.

And another point: the price of the game is determined by the cost of production, and with a large series it is much lower, so those who are already on the market have one more protection - big editions and federal advertising. This means that entering with a copy means risking big losses, playing the first time in a minus.

Is it good or bad?

In general, as it turned out, rather, it is good - it moves forward, gives a gain to those who have a better implementation, and not to those who had time before. But the former still remove the cream, and if they are ready to play in the real market (as in the case of Djenga), they get the maximum profits.