Chess varation and copyright laws

Hello everyone,

So some friends and I have recently become very involved in chess, and while we are all still beginners we are enjoying the game quite a lot. In our down time we make up chess variations and see how well they work by playing them out and editing the rules. Out of the countless terrible variations we have made there is one variation I am quite proud of, and I have been hesitant to show it around because I would like credit for it.

I have two questions for the Chess.com community. 1) Does anyone have any really good, recommended sites for looking at variations that other players have made (I have checked quite a few and am fairly certain that the variation in question is an original concept but with an over abundance of variations I'd like to do more research on that matter) and 2) If the variation in question turns out to be an original concept how do you go about copyrighting a chess variation?

Thanks in advance for your help.

I'd like to make a generalisation about Americans and copyright here, but I'm restraining myself. If you think your variation is worth its salt, win games with it at a big competition. You don't copyright variations, you make it well known by winning big games with it, and if that happens it'll probably get named after you.

Shakje I believe you've misinterpreted his use of the word variation. He is not using it in the opening variation sense of the word but more like a variation on the rules of chess like CrazyHouse and the other common ones.

Well, you can't copyright an idea and chess variations probably fall under such a category. You could, however, copyright a publication that contained the variation.

On edit:  I didn't realize you meant an entirely new game. I believe there are lots of resources to get started in creating your new game (i.e. all of the business related issues, like copyright). Just give google a try, I've looked into for strategic war games myself.

Oh I'm sorry I'm probably not using the correct terminology. I didn't mean variations in terms of classical chess. I meant a variation OF chess, like Fisher Chess or Alice Chess. So I suppose the correct terminology would be a chess variant?

Thanks for holding back on your urge to make a generalization. I know it takes restraint.

You might want to give this article a read: http://www.amherstlodge.com/games/reference/gameinvented.htm

Neat... the whole "copyright ideas" thing requires expensive lawyers... people say you can't copyright an idea, but you kinda can, sort-of, maybe...it's all in the lawyer...

Copyrighting game rules is an interesting part of copyright law. There are games, like your "variation" (the word you want is Variant) which aren't a separate product, just a set of rules. There was an important copyright case regarding whether people had the right to publishing the rules of the game Diplomacy, which Avalon Hill owns. I can't remember who won, or what the settlement was...  as I said, you really need to talk to a lawyer about this. 

By the way, about owning chess variations, and owning game scores... etc. Emmanuel Lasker was always trying to find ways for chessplayers, particularly himself, to get paid for their intellectual/artistic efforts. So at one point Lasker made a big stink about owning exclusive right to the publication of the game scores of one of his world championship matches (can't recall which one) ... He argued convincingly that he owned his moves as intellectual property (I believe he also made it a condition of granting a world championship match that the challenger surrendered publication rights to Lasker)  ... so, the games were played and newspapers round the world completely ignored Lasker's protestations and published the game scores just as they always had, and that, as they say, was the end of that.

You can't copyright a board game. The theory is that you could patent it, but patents are easy to get and hard to defend. While other games have been patented, none of those patents have been tested in court to my knowledge.

Mhtraylor thank you for the link and your comments, the article is very helpful.

Ichabod801, I understand what you're saying. Patenting is probably the best way to go then.

I'm not very interested in getting paid for the variant; I would just like the credit, so a huge legal battle over intellectual property really isn't my concern. I'd love for the variant to be shared and played wherever by whoever; I'd just like a piece of paper saying I invented it first.

How hard would it be to patent it? Would I still have to go to a fancy lawyer, or are there other ways?

Thanks to everyone else who has replied as well.

You would have to go with a fancy lawyer. My advice is to lighten up, check out www.chessvariants.com, and if it's not there, submit it as your own work. That'll probably be good enough.

Also consider the fact that you aren't the person who invented it first. Someone else may have had the same idea independently.

Thanks ichabod801, that's actually one of my favorite sites for variants (though I haven't logged onto it in at least 6 months :-/). I think I might post it on there after all, I'll have to think a little about it first.

That answers all my questions. Thanks to everyone for being helpful and good luck in your games.