New board game - HUGE potential?

Question

I have a conceptual idea for a new board game. Can anyone advise me how to protect it? It is based on/around an existing company & therefore there are patent/trademark/general legal issues too. Ultimately I would want to go into 'partnership' with said company but cannot reveal it to them for fear of being ripped off - HELP!!!

Answer 1

blue hat basicly answered everything.

If you copyright it, they cannot steal the idea from you. Lets say you make a game based on managing a mcD restaurant.

You show it to McD, and they say no tq. But they engage avlon hill to make the game etc etc, and in 1 year, u see the McD management board game sold at stores.

You can sue.

Or wait a while, let them do all the hard work, then sue for a % :P

Answer 2

Your 'wants' are in direct conflict with asking 'how', and that's why no one wants to answer.  

If you have a really good board game concept, you cannot just sign three forms and protect it.  It is much harder than that.

The first thing I would like to point out is that your concept is separate from this existing company.  Perhaps there is only one company that has USE for this concept, but the concept, in all likelihood, could be protected separately from the concepts application.  For example, say the computer was simply patented by one man .  And i came up with the concept of a floppy disk.  Even though there is no use for it without a computer, i can still protect the concept of data storage on a flat metal disk.  Even if it is something that seems very intermingled with this company, like wires seem to be in a computer, you can separate your concept out of it.  

Now, i'm going to work on the assumption that you can realize the concept in a way separate from the company, (otherwise, you are probably doomed anyway).  It is still very difficult to make any money off of your concept.

One way, you could go out of pocket, go to a lawyer that works with intellectual property (you could probably call a law firm, and be pointed in the right direction), and protect the concept. It would probably cost in the tens of thousands, with no guarantee the concept will ever sell (except your own confidence).  You could then go to the company you think would want it, and sell the idea.  If they liked it, you would have to use a lawyer again to sign a royalty contract (a royalty is a % of sales of every item using an intellectual property, paid directly to the owner of the intellectual property).  

Unless you have money to toss around, the above is risky and unwise.  A second option, probably my favorite, would be look very hard for a small, independent company that would like to look at your idea.  You could visit in person, show it to them, and if the company is small, and this company likes it, ask to work at their company, work on development of the game, and receive a royalty.  

The third choice is similar.. except you make the board game on your own.  You could try circulating the game locally, then gradually increasing its circulation.  At first, make the sets by buying cardstock, etc, from an office supply store, and computer generating the image of the board on paper.  Then laminate it.  If that works, you can begin to buy small orders of the supplies directly from cardstock companies, ink companies.  Then, if the game is still showing good potential, you can patent the concept, then continue expanding, or reveal the concept to the company you are thinking of and ask if they would like to put it in full production.

The fourth option (i have to admit i dont know everything, so i suppose i should call these 'ideas' rather than options) would require no legal action at all.  Design the game in such a way that it is very very deep, detailed.  Support it with numerous expansions, add more and more.  A deep detailed game would create a smaller base of buyers, but you would have a "cult following", immense popularity with a small group.  If a larger company stole your idea, they'd have two problems.  One, their advantage in their ability to produce more games than you is diminished, because few people actually want one.  Two, some, if not most, of the players would recognize you as the creator, and voluntarily refrain from switching.

Realize this will not working nearly as well if your game is designed for a broad appeal like Monopoly.  They won't be loyal (broad appeal usually mean less involvement), and they will buy the new one because it is more colorful, cheaper, etc.

The third option, and maybe the second, may require you to take the risk of circulating the board game before you have copyrighted it. (by the way, i've used copyrighted and patented and protected interchangeably, i dont know which word applies when).  If you do this, remember that no one hires out people to go find board game concepts to steal.  A second thing to remember is that it takes a good while to polish something before you put it into production, which could give you time to copyright the concept. (after someone has noticed it and before they can produce it.)