Tournaments and Patents

[DrDel]

Dudes,

I just returned from a conference and I was an organizer of a 3rd annual international competiton. I will not say what the competition was about, however I can tell you that it is in a very specialized field. The competition is taking off with increasing popularity and coporate sponsorship since its first year. There will be imitators in the future.

No one else on the planet is doing this sort of thing ... yet.

Is one able to patent the concept of a specific kind of competition/tournament?

If this is not possible (which I do not think it is) are their any strategies one could use to keep it as exclusive as possible/keep the copycats away for as long as possible?

(Trade marking the name of the competition is not what I am talking about, I am talking about the concept behind the competition itself to protect us from having copycats of a similar competition 2 years down the road).

[Lunch of Kong]

It may as well be a feces-eating competition. There's nothing you can do to stop people from organizing to eat their own feces after they've seen you do it. Or, to put it this way: the fact that the NFL is not the only US football league is evidence enough that there is no way to stifle competition between, uh, competitions.

The way to prevent copycats is to have such a well-organized and fun tournament that people wouldn't want to compete anywhere else.

[Nathan]

I Am Not A Lawyer, but why couldn't you? Wizards of the Coast patented the "tapping" mechanic in Magic, for chrissake. It looks like it's not real cheap, but if that's not a problem, apply for a patent on it. They'll either grant it or they won't.

And because your orignal vagueness just inspires guessing.... was it a Speed Vasectomy competition?

[DrDel]

And because your orignal vagueness just inspires guessing.... was it a Speed Vasectomy competition?

hehe... no.

[JAGuarinc]

And because your orignal vagueness just inspires guessing.... was it a Speed Vasectomy competition?

hehe... no.

Slow Vasectomy competition?

[John Merva]

And because your orignal vagueness just inspires guessing.... was it a Speed Vasectomy competition?

hehe... no.

Slow Vasectomy competition?

Most vasectomies competition?

[Timemaster Tim]

The USPTO seems to give out patents like candy on halloween. And they allow business process patents giving Amazon their famous "one click" checkout patent.

[Brian Koontz]

Shouldn't anything involved with making money be patentable? If the competition is "pay to play", where a business model is involved, why shouldn't it be patentable? If someone else imitates the model and draws competitors away from your competition, your business is injured.

[Equis]

Yes, you can actually patent business models.

But it's going to have to be a very tight write-up, detailing everything.

So if your competition is a business, model, you can patent it.

[dannimal]

Nathan, WotC may have patented "tapping", but every CCG uses the concept anyway. the Vs. system calls it "activating" (if it's not a character) and "exhausting" if it's a character attacking. Both involve just rotating the card to indicate it has a different status.

Pokemon:TCG has 3 different status rotations: Asleep, Confused, Paralyzed.

[Jakub]

It may as well be a feces-eating competition.
Funny you should mention that.

http://spacemoose.almostdead.net/strips/coprophage2.gif

[Troy S Goodfellow]

When the patent office began using patent applications as a major revenue stream, it became much easier to both apply for and receive a patent. Someone patented a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, IIRC, and a some of those stupid perpetual motion machine things ("free energy" is the new buzzword) have been able to get patents on designs even though they don't really work.

Getting a patent and enforcing it are two different things. I doubt you can enforce a patent on a type of competition - otherwise I'd patent pissing contests and clean up in royalties from the P&R forum. You might be able to enforce certain formats, but even there it's tough. Mark Burnett, for instance, claimed a trademark on the idea of a "tribal council" that "voted people off" and couldn't get it enforced.

Troy

[DrDel]

Mark Burnett, for instance, claimed a trademark on the idea of a "tribal council" that "voted people off" and couldn't get it enforced.

Troy

Trademarking "Tribal Council" is one thing.. but that trademark holds no protection for the concept of tribal council.. a patent may, but not a trademark