How to Receive a Patent on a Board Game
So you've come up with a unique idea for a board game? Congratulations! Before you put your game into production, it's critical that you protect your intellectual property. In addition to copyrighting and trademarking your new game, it is important that you obtain a patent from the United States Patent and Trademark Office to protect the unique aspects of your creation. Here's how to do it.
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Instructions
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How to Patent a Board Game
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Devise a new board game. Before obtaining a patent, you'll need either a production model of your game or a set of blueprints and a list of the rules.
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Ensure that your board game is eligible for a patent. According to United States patent law, there are three requirements for obtaining a patent. First, the game must not have been sold in the United States before. Second, the game must be useful for some educational or recreational purpose. Third, features of the game must not be obvious; they must be sufficiently different from other games. These patentable features may include both the physical structure of the game (the board or pieces) and the way in which the game is played.
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Contact a patent lawyer. The patent lawyer will file a patent application with the United States Patent and Trademark Office and will handle all necessary research and claims into prior patents. Unfortunately this is an expensive, time-consuming process and can cost you between $5,000 and $10,000 in legal fees.
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Alternately, fill out the patent application paperwork yourself. This can be a time-consuming process, and many revisions will be necessary. You'll need to provide the Patent Office with an official application, a review of related patented games, detailed descriptions and drawings of your game, and finely tuned legal language describing the elements of your game that are patentable. If you need help with the paperwork, several resources online can assist you (see Resources).
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Pay the patent filing and issuance fee to the United States Patent and Trademark Office. As of 2009, the basic filing fee is $850.
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