Article by Alex Tutty of Sheridans Solicitors. Tutty presents issues with protecting IP, copyright and patents. Tutty claims that quote Mark Pincus CEO of Zynga "I don't fucking want innovation. You're not smarter than the competitor. Just copy what they do and do it it until you get their numbers" is a shocking common approach by some companies. How can a product be copied before it steps over legal lines? Using farmville as an example titled 'Farm Ranger' he discusses how he could protect the micro payments system that would monetise it. Software patents are only granted if they are deemed to have a technical effect, the process the computer takes to achieve the effect. Games have no obvious technical effect so it is not useful for 'Farm Ranger'. A product like Kinect can achieve patents, so anyone developing for Kinect has to apply for a license. He explains that there are many forms of protection available, but the context of games, there are times where these forms are inadequate, and often the originators of the popularly copied idea achieve the greatest success, meaning copycats may not necessarily make money.
The original article can be read here
http://www.bydesigngames.com/2010/11/08/gi-article-protection-racket/
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