Thought Repository » Set Wants to be Free

Set Wants to be Free

Thursday, August 2, 2007 @ 4:02 am

In 2003 I created an online and multiplayer version of the card game Set, so that I could practice and play with people at a distance. It was one of my more successful projects and although I didn't actively advertise it many people seemed to find and enjoy it. Last September I was threatened by Set Enterprises to cease and desist infringing their trademark and copyrights. Of course I knew I had been intentionally doing this I didn't feel like I had much of a leg to stand on and took the page down. Almost a year later, I'm still receiving emails from people who enjoyed my game, who want it back, who want my program to run their own servers.

I wasn't looking to gain or profit from this. I was only providing a service where there was a demand that Set Enterprises seemed to have no desire to fill. That's a lot like I used to feel about downloading pirated mp3's, I'd procure them legally if only the copyright owners were willing to fill my demand for individual songs delivered digitally, otherwise I would fill it myself anyway I could. I don't think you should be able to stop people from provided something that is widely desired unless you're willing to propose an alternative.

The question I have is, what can I do now? I'm afraid of putting the game back up or distributing the server for someone else to serve, but I want people to be able to play it. The Set Enterprises website is unbearably crappy and hasn't changed at all. I offered to give them my version for free to let them provide it under whatever terms they liked (for pay if they needed, though it should be profitable with ad support alone, I thin) and I didn't even get a reply. A simple search or the Wikipedia page will give you a list of many other sites about or containing Set. Many have playable versions as Flash or Java applets (although not many have true multiplayer capability). How is it that they can continue to operate? If anyone has a suggestion for me, I'd really like to know what people think.

[ Keywords: Games | Website Projects | The Law ]

Comments

Crossposted from LiveJournal:

Well, I'd ask Jacob's about the law, but if you really want to share it, have you thought about putting the program on Bit Torrent? After all, they would first have to notify you (again, but I'll bet they can't link the 2 even if the software's the exact same) that you are infringing on their copyright, and with Bit Torrent it's very hard to notify someone.

camiolo — 8/02/2007 11:36 am

Crossposted from LiveJournal:

*shrug* There's not much you can do, legally speaking. I assume that Set Enterprises has a valid claim to the trademark and copyrights. They can choose to go after whomever they want. So they can shut you down, but not other websites. Or maybe they have sent C&D letters to these other sites, but they are ignoring it.

It is a common failure of IP law in this case, where there is a demand for a product, but the rights-holder doesn't allow the product to be made available.

One way to get around it would be to call it something other than "SET" and to use other pictures. You can't copyright facts, like rules of a game.

You could make a website with a Set-knockoff game that used different images but played by the same rules. Of course, then there's the problem of how to get people to visit that website if you can't call it "Set" and most people know the game as "Set."

matthewljacobs — 8/03/2007 12:08 pm

Crossposted from LiveJournal:

Yeah. I knew that last bit from the start, but I didn't want to learn to play it with other pictures and it is true that no one would find it. Can I give it a different name but explain it as a game that is played like Set? How different do other pictures need to be, do you think? If they still have to have basically the same traits I could change the colors and maybe go square, triangle, circle, or something like that. The shading could be different too, but still a lot is going to feel very the same.

sparkyb — 8/03/2007 03:03 pm

Crossposted from LiveJournal:

"how different do other pictures need to be"

Well, that's getting into shades of grey in the law. The legal standard is whether the two images are "substantially similar" -- but what the hell does that mean?

"Can I give it a different name but explain it as a game that is played like Set?"

Also, you are allowed to use the "SET" trademark for comparative purposes. Such as, "If you like SET, you will like SparkysGame" or "SparkysGame is similar to SET" as long as it's clear that you are *not* purporting to be Set Enterprises. The trademark laws are all about protecting against "consumer confusion" - as long as it's clear that nobody would be confused into thinking that your website is made by the same makers of SET, then you're good.

matthewljacobs — 8/03/2007 03:22 pm