Legal Question in Intellectual Property in Indiana

Re: Licenses

Obtaining a patent can be expensive (think $5,000-$20,000) and the procedure is lengthy (2+ years) so you almost certainly will not want to get a patent first before you are sure that you are cleared to do so. Go back to the license...does it speak to this issue? If you have trouble understanding the language of the license, you may need to have an attorney help you review it. Also, keep in mind that to receive a patent your game must be new, non-obvious and useful. In other words, don't dump alot of time and expense into getting a patent before you've checked to make sure that a patent could even be received. You can do so by having an invention clearance search performed on your behalf.

Here's a helpful article that discusses the benefit of patents in the game industry.

http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/1425/patent_strategy_in_the_game_.php

Good luck with your game.