Game Design Patents- Protecting the Internal Mechanisms of Video Games?
Ola Davidsson · 2004
The aim of this thesis is to investigate the importance of patents as a means to protect the design of video games. It also includes a survey of relevant patents in the on-line database of the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). The background theory explains the basics of Intellectual Property law, and attempts to highlight the differences in protection provided by trademarks, copyright, trade secrets and patents. Furthermore, the video game industry of 2003 is analyzed; a review of the different types of companies involved in game production is presented and their internal relationships and dependencies are reviewed. This section also describes the cycle of innovation in games and introduces two important concepts; Game Design Patents and Game Design Patterns. The former defines a specific category of patents aimed at protecting the mechanics and design of video games, while the latter is a methodology describing different interaction elements in games. The findings from these sections are applied to research, which includes interviews with a game designer, a patent attorney and a summary of opinions posted on discussion forums on the Internet, to form a coherent picture of the current status of patents in the video game industry.