Conquer Club

gdeangel wrote:

saraith wrote:I did a bit of research... I am after all on the internet and I found this:
http://googlemapsmania.blogspot.com/2005/12/hasbro-puts-end-to-google-maps-risk.html Perhaps CC received a similar letter for Hasbro.

Further research Tells me that you can't copyright a game. Neither the name, nor the rules. Only the unique graphics and pieces.
Here's what the US Copyright office has to say about it - and they should know {url]http://www.copyright.gov/fls/fl108.html[/url]

The idea for a game is not protected by copyright. The same is true of the name or title given to the game and of the method or methods for playing it.

Copyright protects only the particular manner of an author's expression in literary, artistic, or musical form. Copyright protection does not extend to any idea, system, method, device, or trademark material involved in the development, merchandising, or playing of a game. Once a game has been made public, {b]nothing in the copyright law prevents others from developing another game based on similar principles[/b].

Some material prepared in connection with a game may be subject to copyright if it contains a sufficient amount of literary or pictorial expression. For example, the text matter describing the rules of the game, or the pictorial matter appearing on the game board or container, may be registrable.

So make your Risk game, your Camen Sandiego game, your Sim City game - you can even use the same name. All these attempted smack-downs by lawyers who should know better make me sick. No wonder Shakespeare said "first we kill all the lawyers."

Just my $0.02

You clearly are quoting out of context. Go see my post a few pages back.

The copyright office site you link to even mentions that there can be trademark issues. Also that the rules can be copyrighted. And it says nothing about patenting a process or protecting it as a trade mark ('ve actually never heard of a game patent that I can think of, but that doesn't mean there isn't one - actual physical dice are probably patentable, but I really really doubt anyone holds a current valid patent on them ).

When you look at the Google cease and desist letter, it's clear they screwed the pooch. Google is a deep pocket player, and they were calling the game "Risk". There was not choice but to shut them down. There is no reason cc should be concerned by that action and taking this drastic measures.

yeah but look what Hasbro (scrabble) did to scrabulous on facebook...also, this site is not under jurisdiction of American copyright laws, but Canada's.

and to agree with the poster above, trademarks are lost if you refuse to enforce them. So if Risk refused to enforce their trademark against CC, then they would lose their trademark.

xMBKx wrote:

DaGip wrote:

Roger Dodger wrote:i don't think i like the new Normal map. did ya'll get in trouble for using the original map or something??



Middle Earth is gone???? i love that map.

Dude, the only games I usually play are Classic and Middle Earth. Imagine my surprise when I got home from work and turned on the computer and saw the monstrosity that is Classic and Center Scape!

I wanted to piss all over the computer screen.

Finally you started psiing too??? LOL, nice to hear out of your mouth.

I SHIT ON THE NEW MAP

Yeah, I was only joking with you before. I was just taking advantage of the high energy that was in the air when I first got on to this thread.

I really hate these fucking maps, and want them to be changed immediately. But, I am glad I can still play until the changes are made, hopefully for the better.

Will I renew? I don't know yet...I have to see how things pan out.

I don't know. I like the new dice.

I for one will buy nothing that is made by hasbro ever again. (and I have 3 small children, so over the course of the next 15 years or so, that's a lot of scratch that they ain't getting from me.)

Aesop Jones wrote:I don't know. I like the new dice.

I think the new dice are fine as well. And the new wording isn't a problem.

Any word on when these temp maps will be replaced with a finished product?

middle earth WAS released as a board game option by hasbro so I can see the sense there re: copyrights, though it had really different card options etc so could easily be argued as non copyright, I for one would request Hasbro produced their copyright permission from the Tolkien estate before claiming a right to ownership on that particular map !!!!!!!!!!!!

Discworld was not removed....its still in the game list so whoever said it disappeared is mistaken. I doubt our friend mr Pratchett would have given hasbro the exclusive rights to his map as hes pretty cool about stuff like that.

IMO hasbro are playing a poor card here if they have inserted any infringements to CC, I have bought 2 variations of the board game since finding this site, 2 board games I would not have bought otherwise and I am sure CC has helped boost their board game sales and popularity much more than hasbro has over the last few years. Its an old game with no publicity and CC has only helped them not steal away their business. I wonder if CC gets a good lawyer could lack not counter sue them for increased sales revenue, and use that to fund CC more lol.

just moving my thread with no explanation?

I made it twice as i thought some weird forum nonsense was still occurring!

I support Conquer Club (but those two maps really need to be revamped)...

DaGip wrote:I support Conquer Club (but those two maps really need to be revamped)...

agreed

DaGip wrote:I support Conquer Club (but those two maps really need to be revamped)...

QFT

DaGip wrote:I support Conquer Club (but those two maps really need to be revamped)...

I don't think anyone would argue that! But at least Twill even said those are placeholders and the Foundry will be redoing them.

saraith wrote:I for one will buy nothing that is made by hasbro ever again. (and I have 3 small children, so over the course of the next 15 years or so, that's a lot of scratch that they ain't getting from me.)

good shout, I have no kids but since i am a big kid i too will not buy any more hasbro products on the back of this

Three suggestions:

First, make a STICKY post at the beginning of this thread explaining what is going on. The first post has NOTHING to do with Crazy Maps and Dice. It is COMPLETELY unapparent on page one what is happening on page 38 (and counting)

Two, extend the timeout for players in the middle of turns, since so many things appear to be broken, especially the scripts. This occurred before during outages (and indeed there was a recent outage)

Three, have a link that discusses what has happened and why instead of burying it 30 pages deep in commingled threads (see first point above).

Also, I'm not even ON the Classic map and a chained move was declared illegal in this game:

3091573

I had to fort something I didn't want to, and will likely lose much position because of it. This is a bug, but I don't know if it is related to the changes or not.

Have I already said that I hated the new map, besides I piss & shit on it??? Well it's almost 2 am in the Netherlands and I am going to sleep....

Still pissed.......

Instead of a1 etc. which take ages to find can you give them some made up names.

Give it time... It'll all work out, don't worry.

xMBKx wrote:Have I already said that I hated the new map, besides I piss & shit on it??? Well it's almost 2 am in the Netherlands and I am going to sleep....

Still pissed.......

I'll hold the torch for you...

Cronus wrote:
yeah but look what Hasbro (scrabble) did to scrabulous on facebook...also, this site is not under jurisdiction of American copyright laws, but Canada's.

and to agree with the poster above, trademarks are lost if you refuse to enforce them. So if Risk refused to enforce their trademark against CC, then they would lose their trademark.

Wrong, wrong, wrong.

What does the word "scrabulous" import? Is it a real word? or a pretty obvious derivative of "scrabble". Stupid "money fell from the sky" companies like Google and Facebook are not ones to cite for doing things right. Maybe there is a little more tenuous (if any) connection between "Classic", "Conquer Club", and "RISK"? Anyone else think so??

And it's not clear that any actual Hasbro trademark was being infringed any more than my colleagues apple pie company had a legitimate claim that they owned the exclusive right to apple pie. Is the world map a Hasbro trademark? Is there going to be confusion when the site says in big bold letters: This is Not RISK. We are not HASBRO? (As opposed to Google just thinking they have lots of investors dumb enough to hand them free money, and go out saying "Hey everybody, we've got GOOGLE Risk. It's much better than regular old boring RISK. The latter is a slam dunk case. CC is not so. Questionable cases like that are a game of chicken basically.

If I understand it, for some maps with copyright material, people actually did go out and get the permission to use (maybe they did so for Discworld?)

I don't know, guys, but I see some copyright problems with the new Classic and Center Scape maps now!

LOOK!

I think that those who play and support this site could have been given alittle more forwarning on the drastic changes to one of this sites favorite maps.

Words do not describe the ugliness of it and how its layout effects ones game play. Crap happens in life such as this Hasbro stuff. But in knowing this was in the works and then foisting this crap apon us with no warning is just poor judgement.

I haven't seen the dice, since I'm not in any games right now, but I agree that the map looks like something thrown together in a hurry by someone who's primary concern wasn't graphics: BECAUSE THAT'S WHAT IT WAS. I'm sure, now that the copyright issue is averted, there is now time to make something that looks better, and avoids litigation. I can't believe people seem to think that twill needed to make an exquisite work of art... that's not his job, is is quite obviously an interim thing made to hold the fort during a crisis, and probably not by the community manager.

However, twill, you could have predicted this backlash, and included0 more explanation, very visibly on the forums. Your job is to manage the community, and you seem to have slipped up here, when you could have prevented a lot of this riot.

Bones2484 wrote:

DaGip wrote:I support Conquer Club (but those two maps really need to be revamped)...

I don't think anyone would argue that! But at least Twill even said those are placeholders and the Foundry will be redoing them.

If that is the case, then everybody has to try to get involved with the Classic map! I don't know about Center Scape? Why can't it be Middle Earth still?

Will everything I post here get moved?

I'm not trying to cause problems. And I won't mention what I was posting before. Clearly it's not wanted in this thread. But certainly nothing offensive could be found in THIS post.

And DaGip, I'm reasonably certain that "Middle Earth" is a trademarked name. If not by the Tolkien estate, then by New Line Studios.

pimpdave wrote:Will everything I post here get moved?

I'm not trying to cause problems. And I won't mention what I was posting before. Clearly it's not wanted in this thread. But certainly nothing offensive could be found in THIS post.

And DaGip, I'm reasonably certain that "Middle Earth" is a trademarked name. If not by the Tolkien estate, then by Touchstone, or whoever produced the LOTR movies.

This sucks! I want Middle Earth back!

CaptainMoo wrote:
IMO hasbro are playing a poor card here.

You mean the poor spoil