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Message: <blockquote data-quote="helium3" data-source="post: 3987809" data-attributes="member: 31301">Okay. I have a hunch about where the above came from but I have to break it to you that you're research has led you to the wrong conclusions. There is a magic "Rule of Three" when it comes to whether or not an invention can be patented, but it has nothing to do with some statutory requirement that there must be three distinct innovations.Rather, an invention simply needs to be (a) novel, (b) non-obvious and (c) useful. That's it. If you don't believe me, the best I can do is link to the wikipedia <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patentability" target="_blank">article</a> on the subject. So, as long as an innovation satisfies all three requirements listed above, you can get a patent for it. In the US, at least. Believe me, back in my fuel cell days our start-up's IP attorney was CONSTANTLY harping on those three.Suing someone that's infringing your patent is ALWAYS worth it. If you don't sue (or at least notify the infringer that you may sue) you pretty much lose the rights to the patent from that point on. I'm not familiar with "The Spoils", but I'm guessing it either doesn't infringe on WotC's IP or some sort of an agreement was worked out that you just aren't privy to.Actually, like I said in my earlier post, the WotC patent on the matter very narrowly defines what their invention covers and any other company's invention that does not use everything covered doesn't conflict. So, tapping is fine as long as you don't also have a deck that's custom built by the players from trading cards. I don't recall seeing anything in the independent claim about a mana pool, though.It's a matter of prior art, as the IP attorneys like to say. You have to show that your innovation is non-obvious when looking at the prior art. What Dancy's saying is that if you look at how much "prior art" exists in the form of systems, it's hard to imagine that there's much left there to be "innovated" on. Again, no magical rule of three need apply.Absolutely. That being said, if you can introduce some patentable element into your product you can help to protect it from competitors or at the very least, force your competitors to divert some of their income stream to you in the form of royalties.By the way, did you know that Hasbro just bought Cranium, Inc.?Also, is it just me or do most of the posters at ENWorld rarely bother to read anyone else's posts before posting?</blockquote>

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