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<blockquote data-quote="resistor" data-source="post: 4034212" data-attributes="member: 9142">It's actually somewhat more complicated than that.Copyright protects one specific implementation of a game.&nbsp; If I were to photocopy and sell MtG cards, I'd be violating WotC's copyright.Patents protect a very specific idea.&nbsp; Even if I go out and make my own MtG cards that share nothing but functionality with the main game, I am violating WotC's patent.In fact, a patent is more general than that.&nbsp; Let's reference a more recent patent, say, WotC's MtG patent: <a href="http://www.pat2pdf.org/patents/pat5662332.pdf" target="_blank">http://www.pat2pdf.org/patents/pat5662332.pdf</a>Beginning at the bottom of column 19, you'll find the list of &quot;claims,&quot; which is the patent-ese term for &quot;things we claim we deserve patent privilege for.&quot;&nbsp; The six claims are:1) The idea of a card game with rules similar to MtG at a very superficial level2) The idea of a game played with tradeable/collectable cards3) The idea of a card game with deliberately pre-construction of decks4) The idea of &quot;tapping&quot; a card by turning it5) The idea of &quot;tapping a card by turning it 90 degrees6) The idea of &quot;untapping&quot; at the beginning of each turnAs you can see, the claims for which the patent was granted do more than just describe the implementation.---If a physical piece of work is an embodiment, then:Copyright prevents duplication of the embodiment.Patents prevent the reproduction of an invention underlying the embodiment.Trademarks prevent the unauthorized use of the name or branding of the embodiment.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="resistor, post: 4034212, member: 9142"] It's actually somewhat more complicated than that. Copyright protects one specific implementation of a game. If I were to photocopy and sell MtG cards, I'd be violating WotC's copyright. Patents protect a [I]very specific[/I] idea. Even if I go out and make my own MtG cards that share nothing but functionality with the main game, I am violating WotC's patent. In fact, a patent is more general than that. Let's reference a more recent patent, say, WotC's MtG patent: [URL]http://www.pat2pdf.org/patents/pat5662332.pdf[/URL] Beginning at the bottom of column 19, you'll find the list of "claims," which is the patent-ese term for "things we claim we deserve patent privilege for." The six claims are: 1) The idea of a card game with rules similar to MtG at a very superficial level 2) The idea of a game played with tradeable/collectable cards 3) The idea of a card game with deliberately pre-construction of decks 4) The idea of "tapping" a card by turning it 5) The idea of "tapping a card by turning it 90 degrees 6) The idea of "untapping" at the beginning of each turn As you can see, the claims for which the patent was granted do more than [I]just[/I] describe the implementation. --- If a physical piece of work is an embodiment, then: Copyright prevents duplication of the embodiment. Patents prevent the reproduction of an invention underlying the embodiment. Trademarks prevent the unauthorized use of the name or branding of the embodiment. [/QUOTE]

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