Re: ICE: Re: Piecepack Pyramids

[Joshua Kronengold <mneme@...>]

Ron Hale-Evans writes:
>2. The Patent Office hands patents out like candy, not, as Andy would
>have it, "merit badges".  (If you doubt this, consider the infamous
>Amazon.com "one-click" patent.)  I sincerely doubt whether Andy's
>patent would hold up in court.

Quite.  More/as importantly, you can't really patent (well, you can,
but it won't stand up in court) a product, only an invention/object --
if someone is selling laser pointers, and you come up with the idea of
a Laser Pointer for your Cat (It's like a Laser Pointer, but attracts
fuzzy things), you can't stop them from mentioning that their product
can be used with cats -- you didn't come up with the Laser Pointer,
just a new use for it...and Andy didn't invent the Fishing Weight,
just Icehouse.  :)

>     "1. A method of playing a board game of skill and strategy
>     comprising the steps of: (a) providing a plurality of playing
>     pieces for each player, said playing pieces being visually
>     distinguishable from those of other players, and of such a shape
>     as to permit the stacking of one onto another such that multiple
>     pieces can be stacked up into towers, with all pieces within
>     remaining visible...
>     
>     "In addition, prior to this invention, all Icehouse sets featured
>     solid pyramidal game pieces, as depicted in FIG. 1 of
>     U.S. Pat. No. 4,936,585. This was always considered the optimal
>     form of the playing piece, since a weightier game piece is more
>     tactilely satisfying and less prone to jostled placement than a
>     lightweight, hollow piece would be."

Noe that this is all one item -- in order to conflict, a game would
have to be packaged with the actual -game- Icetowers, not just have
stackable hollow pyramids.  I don't remember whether patent 4,936,585 
had the specific pieces as an item, or just the game.

Basically, we don't produce icehouse sets (without the game rules) for
sale not because we'd be sued, but because it would be:

1. Difficult and expensive; note the trouble the Looneys have gone
   through to bring this to market, finally, after 10 years.

2. Uncool; they came up with the game; they did the work; they deserve
   the moolah.   

-- 
         Joshua Kronengold (mneme@...)           |\      _,,,--,,_  ,)
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