Legal Question in Intellectual Property in California

You could protect your game under trademark, design patent, and copyright law. You can file each application yourself and only have to pay the cost of filing. However, to insure your rights are adequately protected, you should hire an attorney to file for you.

All the co authors must jointly apply for patent.

Trade mark can be applied for after commencing the sales.

You may copy right any instruction manual/ slogan for the game.

Apply through attorney for proper registration.

S.Seshadri Esq.

phones: 98403 20808 /28515229

email: [email protected]

[email protected]

Board games can be patented. You can apply for both utility and design. You would need to talk with a patent attorney or agent to determine the best way to protect your invention.

Additionally, you can apply for an intent to use trademark if you want to prepare for marketing, but you need to wait until you within a year of marketing as you would have to pay extensions of time if you don't start actually selling it. The way you gain the basic right in your trademark is to use it.

As was discussed by others, you can copyright the manuals as well as the board. In general you cannot copyright a slogan, but it might be protectable as a trademark.

I would be glad to discuss this with you in more detail. Feel free to call without obligation.

I agree with each of the attorneys that have previously answered. Additionally, there are other concerns you may want to think about before protecting the intellectual property like protecting your personal assets from creditors or any suits that come about regarding the game, making sure you have a strong agreement with the coinventor, etc.

As far as costs are concerned, it's hard to say without knowing more. Please contact me directly if you'd like to talk more about this.