Legal Question in Intellectual Property in Indiana

Re: Version of a existing work

Disclaimer: I am not licensed to practice in Indiana.

Copyright protects original works of authorship. Thus, if the board game is already in existence, your client's version would have to be truly original (we're not talking the multi-city games of Monopoly that are now on the market; those are derivative works to which the original copyright holder has exclusive rights).

Patent protects invention. If the board game is already on the market, your client would have to have made a patentable improvement on the existing board game to obtain patent protection for his improvement.

Trademark could work if his board game does not infringe on the IP of others.

Trademark and trade dress are the only forms of IP that the IP owner loses by simply "sitting" on. If a copyright or patent owner chooses not to commercialize his IP, that is perfectly fine; the IP rights remain intact. Trademark rights are use-it-or-lose-it.

THE INFORMATION PRESENTED HERE IS GENERAL IN NATURE AND IS NOT INTENDED, NOR SHOULD IT BE CONSTRUED, AS LEGAL ADVICE. THIS POSTING DOES NOT CREATE ANY ATTORNEY-CLIENT RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN US. FOR SPECIFIC ADVICE ABOUT YOUR PARTICULAR SITUATION, CONSULT YOUR ATTORNEY.