Patenting of Board and Floor Games in Russia

Nowadays, board and floor games are a popular way to spend time together with friends, colleagues and family members. Every day, more and more new different games appear on the market, and therefore the creators have a question: "How to protect games from copying?".

First of all, it is worth noting that the copyright for the game arises automatically at the time of its creation and does not require mandatory registration. However, in the event of conflicts and further courts, it is quite difficult for the creators of the games to prove their rights.

At the same time, obtaining patents for board and floor games in Russia is one of the best ways to protect against their illegal copying and use.

How to patent a board and a floor game in Russia?

To answer this question, it is necessary to understand that any board or floor game consists of many elements:

• the name of the game;
• rules of the game;
• packaging and design of the game;
• playing field and game meeples (figures), tiles;
• and other accessories used for games.

Some of the above elements can be protected as trademarks and industrial designs, and some as inventions and utility models.

The name of the game and the main character of the game can be registered as a trademark, the packaging, design of the game, the playing field and game figures can be patented as industrial designs.

According to Clause 5 of Article 1350 and Clause 5 of Article 1351 of the Civil Code, the rules and methods of games, solutions consisting only in the presentation of information are not subject to patent protection and are not inventions and utility models. However, such solutions can be deposited as instructions for use, instilled in the game, recommendations.

However, despite the limitations, patenting of board and floor games as inventions and utility models is possible, since the elements of games (for example, the playing field, game pieces, various components used for games) are technical solutions related to devices.

The choice of the type of protection of the developed game or its parts as an invention or utility model depends on the technical essence of the developed technical solution.

At the same time, the technical solution must be new, unique and ensure the achievement of a non-obvious technical result.

Examples of patented board and floor games and their elements in Russia

Here are specific examples of patents for industrial designs, utility models and inventions.

Patent for industrial design No 147403 "Playing field for a board game".

Patent for industrial design No 147485 "Set of game elements for a board game".

Utility model patent No 213372 "Folding board for board games".

A folding board board comprising a playing field arranged in quarters, characterized by the fact that each quarter contains a side wall in which a storage box is integrated, one side wall being opposite to the side wall with a built-in storage box, and two side walls without built-in storage boxes, with the first and third quarters in the sidewall area, which are opposite to the side walls with built-in storage boxes are connected to each other by their edges relating to the surface of the playing field, and are made with the possibility of folding the playing field to each other, also the second and fourth quarters in the area of the side walls, which are opposite to the side walls with built-in storage boxes, are connected to each other by their edges relating to the surface of the playing field, and are made with the possibility of folding the playing field to each other, while the third and fourth quarters in the area of one of the side walls without built-in boxes are connected by their edges related to the surface located on the reverse side of the playing field, and are made with the possibility of folding the sides of these quarters opposite to each other with the possibility of folding all quarters of the board on top of each other.

The technical result achieved by the claimed utility model is to improve the ergonomic characteristics of the folding board for board games - to increase the convenience of its storage, transportation and use.

Patent for invention No 2534949 "Game system and method of application".

A gaming system (100) comprising: multiple electronic gaming machines (110, 535, 540), each configured for play and comprising at least: a display (120); an interface (215; 220) capable of receiving commands from the player to initiate a game of play; a storage device (125, 126) capable of storing a plurality of software instructions; a random number generator (130) capable of randomly generating game results; and a processor (115) to control the display, interface and random number generator, a controller (105; 400; 525) communicating with each of said electronic gaming machines (110, 535, 540), wherein said controller is configured to: select randomly unchanged bonus code symbols from a set of symbols; randomly selecting the number of game code symbols from the specified set of symbols, and the specified number of game code symbols is equal to the number of unchanged game bonus symbols; prior to each game game at each of the specified electronic gaming machines, randomly determining (320) the direction of travel to select each of the specified game code symbols; in response to a game at one of said electronic gaming machines, changing (330) at least one character of the game code in a specified direction (835) of a randomly selected movement; comparing the corresponding modified symbols (810) of the game code with the corresponding symbols (805) of the bonus code; fixing (570) symbols (810) of the game code that coincide with the specified symbols (805) of the bonus code; and in response to the match of each of the specified game code symbols with the corresponding symbol of the specified bonus code symbols, awarding a reward to players playing at one of the specified online electronic slot machines.

The technical result is an increase in the speed of modifying the user interface in a game game.

Making a decision to patent a new development in the form of one of the above and several objects of patenting at once depends on the type of game and its components.

Thus, it follows from the above examples, as well as from Article 1354 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, that the protection of intellectual property rights to an industrial design is granted on the basis of a patent to the extent determined by the totality of the essential features of the industrial design reflected in the images of the appearance of the product contained in the patent for the industrial design. Protection of intellectual property rights to an invention or utility model is granted on the basis of a patent to the extent determined by the claims of the invention or utility model contained in the patent, respectively.

At the same time, the claims of the utility model or invention must clearly express the essence of the utility model or invention as a technical solution, that is, contain a set of essential features, including a generic concept reflecting the purpose of the invention, sufficient to solve the technical problem specified by the applicant and obtain a technical result in the implementation of the invention.

Thus, any "idea" for the possibility of patenting in the form of an invention or utility model must be implemented in a specific technical solution in the scientific and technical field, which must be aimed at a positive technical result, while entertainment, entertainment and economic aspects are not related to the technical result.

For the most complete protection, the applicant (developer) must register the name of the game as a trademark, patent the design of the game (box, playing field, game cards) as industrial designs, and patent the elements of the game (playing field, set of cards) as a utility model or invention.

It is important to understand that according to paragraphs 1 and 3 of Article 1363 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, a patent for an invention is valid for 20 years, for a utility model - for 10 years. The validity period of a patent for an industrial design is 5 years. However, the right holder can repeatedly extend it for five years, but the total term of the patent cannot exceed 25 years.

According to Clause 1 of Article 1491 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, the exclusive right to a trademark is valid for ten years from the date of filing an application for state registration of a trademark with Rospatent, with the possibility of extension for 10 years an unlimited number of times at the request of the right holder in accordance with Clause 2 of Article 1491 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation.

At the same time, a registered trademark, patent for an industrial design, utility model or invention is valid only in the territory of the country where they were obtained.

Thus, patenting board and floor games is an urgent task for developers. Obtaining a patent allows patent holders to dispose of the exclusive right and protects against copying by third parties.

In conclusion of this article, it should be noted that applications for utility models and inventions for board and floor games are quite controversial, since approaches to their patenting are complicated by the provisions of Clause 5 of Article 1350 and Clause 5 of Article 1351 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation. These solutions are often recognized by FIPS experts as non-technical, and often have refusals to grant patents, in connection with which authors and game developers are recommended to seek help and advice from specialists in the field of intellectual property protection and patent attorneys who know all the subtleties and nuances of patenting such solutions.