Hi
If I create an app on an already existing idea - lets say monopoly game for example.
Also in my case the app doesn't exist but the game does.
I am wondering if i can get sued for stealing the idea and creating the app?
thnx
App idea
sheya on 01/06/2016 - 19:10
Comments
but for example there are so many apps for solitaire for example - how did so many people manage to create that?
solitaire card game is just a game made from playing cards not a registered licensed game of cards.
monopoly is owned by one company.You could say they have a monopoly on it…
OK.
what about an app that is a variation from monopoly.
Your question is kind of similar to what if I register a domain name of an existing business that hasn't registered it yet.
And similarly without black and white answers. If I register apple.com for my trademarked computer business, it is likely fine if apple records sues me, unless I later open a music business…
See here for some examples: http://paleofuture.gizmodo.com/5-domain-name-battles-of-the-…
You can easily get around this.
- Replace the title 'Monopoly' with 'getting screwed in life'
- Replace the 'monopoly guy' with a 'middle aged man going bald'
- Require a 43% tax to be paid each time 'GO' is passed.
- Remove the ability for utilities to be owned by people playing the board, instead, make players aware these are owned by overseas investors.
- Price of buying a property increases by 20% per round and takes approximately 50 years of playing '
getting screwed in lifemonopoly' to pay it off. - Introduce the concept of partners, where 2 players of differing genders can partner together to play.
- Also introduce the concept of a 50% asset claim for player partnerships, where if a partner decides they no longer like the partner they are playing with, they can claim 50% of their assets.
There ya go,
a real life simulatorMonopoly but not?You can't make an app that infringes on somebody else's intellectual property without risk of being sued.
So the card game solitaire, or the board game chess are traditional games where nobody owns the intellectual property rights.
If somebody make "Harry Potter Chess", for example, they need to get permission (and pay a license fee) to JK Rowling, but not to anybody for the chess part.
Monopoly, on the other hand, as a game is quite old, something like 90 years.
As such, some of it's intellectual property rights have likely expired. For example, the copyright in the text on the cards is probably fair game. But other rights are likely extant, for example I would be astonished if the name Monopoly wasn't trade marked.
This is a complex area, and one that can prove costly legally. It is very hard to get a definite answer to the question "does this infringe on somebody's intellectual property?" because the owners don't have to tell you if they think it does, and the only way to find out for sure is to go to court. That said, the reverse is also true, and if the infringement is only minor or a grey area it will be costly for the owner to pursue you.
See this article for some idea:
http://www.fastcompany.com/1810607/how-words-friends-beat-sc…If you want to build an online version of an existing board game, e.g. something off Board Game Geek that has never been turned into an app, you might contact the publishers and discover they are very happy to work with you for a revenue split or similar.
Thank you…
so Scrabble didn't sue words with friends - because they (Scrabble) didn't manage to create a game that was as good?
if you are making an app based on a licensed game, no you cant do that.
like making a driving game and using real car names and looks, or like your example an app based on monopoly.you will get a nice letter from the company to stop.