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Typically, when a fair amount of creativity goes into creating something - be it writing a song or a book, or designing a building or computer software - that form of creative expression is protected under copyright law, Boyden says. Boyden adds that both games' grid design is also likely too simple, and not particularly unique, to be protected under a copyright.

Similarly, the existence of 'Lingo' did not preclude Wardle from legally creating a similar game that involves guessing five-letter words, even if both games use a grid of letters.

However, Hasbro has not been able to go after most knock-offs, such as Zynga's popular Words with Friends, with copyright claims even though they have very similar styles of gameplay to Scrabble, Boyden says.Įven though the games' style of play mimics Scrabble's, Boyden says, Hasbro 'doesn't have a valid copyright that they can use to protect against the idea of having any crossword-type board game, in which you place letters for points.' One, called Scrabulous, agreed to change its name following a 2008 lawsuit from Hasbro that accused the online game of violating Scrabble's trademark. But Hasbro, Monopoly's publisher, can not copyright the broader idea of a board game where players roll a dice and move around a board with '10 squares on a side, and when you land on properties you have to pay some amount of money.'Īs another example, Boyden refers to Hasbro's Scrabble, which has a long history with online knock-offs. The design of a game can be copyrighted, such as Monopoly's colored properties and iconic game tokens, like the thimble and top hat, Boyden says. In 2011, Boyden wrote that 'games exist at the boundary of intellectual property law' in such a way as to, essentially, make them 'not copyrightable' in a scholarly article published in the George Mason Law Review titled ' Games and Other Uncopyrightable Systems.'

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