Infringement of Hasbro, Inc.’s RISK® Trademarks and Copyrights

[Mario]

I found the following in the mail this morning. Seems I'll have to
change the name of the game.
Not so sure about the map and the rules.

What do you think?

Mario

------------

Re: Infringement of Hasbro, Inc.’s RISK® Trademarks and
Copyrights

Dear Mr. Ferrari:

We are counsel for Hasbro, Inc. (“Hasbro”), the owner of the
copyrights and trademarks for the famous RISK® strategy game. We
write concerning the “Turbo Risk” game that you are making available
online at http://www.marioferrari.org/freeware/turborisk/turborisk.html.

While Hasbro appreciates your enthusiasm for its RISK® game, it cannot
condone such blatant infringement of its intellectual property.

The RISK® game, including the map and the game rules, is the
copyrighted property of Hasbro. Moreover, “Risk” is not a generic
word for strategy games, it is a registered trademark for which Hasbro
owns the rights worldwide. To the extent that your “Turbo Risk” game
uses copyrighted elements of the RISK® game, including maps and game
rules, it constitutes copyright infringement in violation of 17 U.S.C.
§ 501. Your unauthorized use of the name “Turbo Risk” for a game
based on Hasbro’s RISK® game also violates the federal trademark laws,
including 15 U.S.C. §§ 1114(1) and 1125(a), by creating a likelihood
of confusion with respect to Hasbro’s authorization or sponsorship of
or association with your commercial activities. Your unauthorized use
of the RISK mark, including your generic use of the mark to refer to
strategy games in general, is also likely to dilute its distinctive
quality and hamper its ability to function as source-identifying mark
in violation of 15 U.S.C. § 1125(c) and numerous state anti-dilution
laws.

We therefore demand that you immediately cease and desist from any
further use of the “Turbo Risk” name and the RISK® game elements, and
remove these items from your website.

Please confirm to me in writing within ten (10) days your agreement to
the above. This letter does not purport to be a complete statement of
the facts or the law and is without prejudice to Hasbro’s legal and
equitable rights.

Sincerely yours,

[letter signed]

[N Scarbrough]

I read this in the wikipedia article:

In addition, there are many unofficial Risk clones, both for download and online play. Due to the history of the game's creation, there are no IP protections on the game, other than a US trademark on the word RISK when written in the distinctive red font

The problem is that there is no citation for this so it may or may not be accurate.

Notice in the letter that they say "Turbo Risk" when the name of your game is actually Turborisk. And every time they mention risk it is in all capitals.
And at the end it says "This letter does not purport to be a complete statement of

the facts or the law"

I think that they are threatening you in hopes that you will cave easily.

I don't think that we have to change any of our maps.� I'm not sure about the rules.

You could try just changing the name and see if they leave you alone after that.

I don't have the time right now to research their claims but it's definitely worth looking in to.
If they really are able to force you to remove this from your website then I would think that download.com and softpedia.com would have also been told to take it down, but it's still on those sites.

I can't think of a good alternate name right now but if I do, I'll let you know.

Nathan

On 10/13/2010 11:48 PM, Mario wrote:

I found the following in the mail this morning. Seems I'll have to
change the name of the game.
Not so sure about the map and the rules.

What do you think?

Mario

------------

Re:      Infringement of Hasbro, Inc.�s RISK� Trademarks and
Copyrights

Dear Mr. Ferrari:

We are counsel for Hasbro, Inc. (�Hasbro�), the owner of the
copyrights and trademarks for the famous RISK� strategy game.  We
write concerning the �Turbo Risk� game that you are making available
online at http://www.marioferrari.org/freeware/turborisk/turborisk.html.

While Hasbro appreciates your enthusiasm for its RISK� game, it cannot
condone such blatant infringement of its intellectual property.

The RISK� game, including the map and the game rules, is the
copyrighted property of Hasbro.  Moreover, �Risk� is not a generic
word for strategy games, it is a registered trademark for which Hasbro
owns the rights worldwide.  To the extent that your �Turbo Risk� game
uses copyrighted elements of the RISK� game, including maps and game
rules, it constitutes copyright infringement in violation of 17 U.S.C.
� 501.  Your unauthorized use of the name �Turbo Risk� for a game
based on Hasbro�s RISK� game also violates the federal trademark laws,
including 15 U.S.C. �� 1114(1) and 1125(a), by creating a likelihood
of confusion with respect to Hasbro�s authorization or sponsorship of
or association with your commercial activities.  Your unauthorized use
of the RISK mark, including your generic use of the mark to refer to
strategy games in general, is also likely to dilute its distinctive
quality and hamper its ability to function as source-identifying mark
in violation of 15 U.S.C. � 1125(c) and numerous state anti-dilution
laws.

We therefore demand that you immediately cease and desist from any
further use of the �Turbo Risk� name and the RISK� game elements, and
remove these items from your website.

Please confirm to me in writing within ten (10) days your agreement to
the above.  This letter does not purport to be a complete statement of
the facts or the law and is without prejudice to Hasbro�s legal and
equitable rights.

Sincerely yours,

[letter signed]

[remusrs]

I don't remember the game, but I had one as a kid that was much like
Monopoly. I am not sure that they own the concept. Take a look at
all the War Games out there (the kind that do not require die) - they
all operate basically under the same concept with only slight
differences.

But assuming the worst ....

Hmmm, ok, a similar map of another world which perhaps happens to look
like earth, or change the map drastically and make it a country, or
heck, they could be planets and such.

As far as rules go, possibly add options that are not in the current
game.

I don't know, perhaps battles are based on single pieces instead of
die where you can adjust the strength of the defense/offense. EG:
generate a random number between 1 and 100 and you choose the strength
of the defense. Choose 50, and you have even odds, choose 40, the
offense has a 60/40 chance of winning, choose 60, the offense would
need many more armies to attack.

I would guess the above would not affect the rest of the programming
to a great deal yet it now differs from the board game in at least
this respect. Perhaps add other rules that could be put in place or
ignored. When ignored, the game plays more like the traditional
board game.

Possible rules that perhaps could be added with minimal effect on the
current program: (all of which differ from the board game).

No country can have more than 500 armies. (this could be set by a rule
or ignored - giving the players options, also the number could be set
by the user).

You can not move more than 200 armies at a time. (ditto, ignore this
rule or change the number)

Add wild cards into the mix.

Option - if you wipe out an opponent you either get or do not get
their cards.

Option - if you wipe out an opponent you get an extra number of
warriers (the number varies from 0 to what, 5000 - lol)

Perhaps other people could come up with other rules that would be
optional but if enforced could have minimal affect on the current
programming.

I certainly wish you the best of luck on this. Oh, given the number
of other Risk type games out there, it would seem that they have not
been diligent in protecting their rights. If this so, then I believe
they may lose them. In any event, I think the above would provide
you with a truly different game.

[Vexer]

Apparently the owner of www.dominategame.com got the same letter a few
years back and he's still online so you should ask him how he handled
it.

[Mario]

My reply, dated 15 october:


Dear Mr. ********

The game I publish on my website is actually named "TurboRisk", and
not "Turbo Risk", so I'm not using the word Risk alone. I believe that
even in that case I would not be infringing any copyright or
trademark, being "risk" a quite common word of the English vocabulary.
Hasbro trademark is limited to the word RISK written in capital
letters with that specific font and color.

The rules of my freeware game are actually different from those of
Hasbro RISK® game on many points (number of players, initial armies,
ways the cards are used, absence of secret missions etc).

As for the maps, I didn't use any image taken from the Hasbro RISK®
game, so I can't see how I could infringe any copyright.

That being said, I understand Hasbro reasons, and I'm open to consider
a small change in the name of the game. Do you find reasonable that I
change the name to "Turborisk", with the letter "r" lowercased so the
word "risk" is less evident?

Sincerely yours,

[Mario]

...and their last mail, dated 19 october

Dear Ms. Ferrari:

Thank you for your response. Your assertion that Hasbro's rights in
its RISK® trademark are limited to the exact word written in all
capitals in the same font and color has no legal basis. Trademark law
protects both trademark owners and consumers. It protects trademark
owners by preventing competitors like yourself from using a trademark
to which they have no rights and to which they are owed no good will.
Consumer goodwill is earned by a business over a period of time and
trademark law recognizes that it is unfair for a competitor to take
advantage of this goodwill without permission. Trademark law is also
concerned with protecting the source and quality expectations of
consumers. By preventing anyone other than the trademark owner from
using the mark as a source identifier, the law protects consumers from
deception. Not only can a trademark owner prevent someone from using
its exact mark, but marks that are “confusingly similar” to a
trademark can also be enjoined.

Under well-settled trademark law, the two main factors relevant to the
likelihood of confusion analysis are the similarity or dissimilarity
of the marks as to appearance, sound, connotation and commercial
impression, and the relatedness of the goods or services. See In re
E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Co., 476 F.2d 1357, 177 USPQ 563 (C.C.P.A.
1973); http://tess2.uspto.gov/tmdb/tmep/1200.htm#_T1207.

Where, as here, the goods are identical, “the degree of similarity
[between the marks] necessary to support a conclusion of likely
confusion declines.” Century 21 Real Estate Corp. v. Century Life of
America, 970 F.2d 874, 877, 23 USPQ2d 1698, 1701 (Fed. Cir. 1992),
cert. denied 506 U.S. 1034 (1992); Starbucks U.S. Brands, LLC v.
Ruben, 78 USPQ2d 1741, 1752 (TTAB 2006) (quoting this language from
Century 21 and finding LESSBUCKS COFFEE similar in appearance, sound,
and overall commercial impression to STARBUCKS and STARBUCKS COFFEE);
ECI Division of E-Systems, Inc. v. Environmental Communications Inc.,
207 USPQ 443 (TTAB 1980).

It is a general rule that likelihood of confusion is not avoided
between otherwise confusingly similar marks merely by adding or
deleting a word that is descriptive or suggestive of the named goods
or services. For example, see: In re El Torito Restaurants Inc., 9
USPQ2d 2002 (TTAB 1988) (MACHO COMBOS (with “COMBOS” disclaimed) held
likely to be confused with MACHO (stylized), both for food items as a
part of restaurant services); (SMART-SCAN (stylized) for optical line
recognition and digitizing processors held likely to be confused with
SMART for remote-data gathering and control systems); In re Pierre
Fabre S.A., 188 USPQ 691 (TTAB 1975) (PEDI-RELAX for foot cream held
likely to be confused with RELAX for antiperspirant).

Perhaps now you can understand why Hasbro believes that "TURBO
RISK" (either as "Turbo Risk," "TurboRisk" or "Turborisk") for the
exact same goods infringes Hasbro's RISK® trademark. The "Turbo"
portion of your mark does nothing to diminish the likelihood of
confusion because, as applied to a strategy game that is virtually
identical to Hasbro's game, it simply describes a a beefed up, faster,
better or "turbo" version of the RISK® game, and hence consumers will
incorrectly believe that it comes from Hasbro, or is authorized,
associated with or sponsored by Hasbro.

It should be a relatively simple matter to come up with an original
name for your game that does not include Hasbro's RISK® trademark. In
our view, the only reason not to change it is to try to associate your
game in consumers' minds with Hasbro's genuine RISK® game and the
goodwill associated with that game that Hasbro has built up over many,
many years.

Your assertion that you are not infringing Hasbro's copyright in the
RISK® maps because you "didn't use any image taken from the Hasbro
RISK® game" is also legally incorrect. If you re-drew the maps in a
way that copies the unique and creative elements of them -- in this
case the territories and the connections between them, then you have
"copied" or "reproduced" the work and are infringing Hasbro's
copyrights. The 1976 Copyright Act generally gives the owner of
copyright the exclusive right to reproduce the copyrighted work, to
prepare derivative works, to distribute copies or phonorecords of the
copyrighted work, to perform the copyrighted work publicly, or to
display the copyrighted work publicly. T he exclusive right to make
copies of a work would be meaningless if infringement was limited to
making only exact and complete reproductions of a work.

We therefor reiterate our request that you remove any maps that are
copies of Hasbro's RISK® maps, and change the name of your game to
something that does not include, and is not confusingly similar in
sight, sound or meanting to, Hasbro's RISK® trademark.

Sincerely yours,

[Mario]

I don't think their position is so strong as they say. However, I
don't want to start a legal fight, mainly because of the cost of legal
advice. They probably know this, and their strategy is to frighten me
in the hope that I don't want to pay for lawyers.

Now to our strategy:

- Name change: I'm actually open to this, I think that changing the
name won't affect the popularity of the game. I also have a little
idea for using this controversy to increase the visibility of
turborisk on google :-)

- Rules: there's no mention of these in their second e-mail, so I
suppose we're ok.

- Map: IIRC Nathan said once there's a small difference in the
topology of the map, between turborisk and the current boxed version
of the game. Is that true?
A part from this, I don't think they can copyright geography, anyone
can map the world in any way he likes. And I think that the name of
the territories are geographical/historical names as well, so we can
use them freely.

I look forward to hearing your opinions.

Mario

[N Scarbrough]

I also think a name change is appropriate but I can't think of a good
one right now.

I also agree with what Mario said about the maps. But if they push the
issue once more then we can always change the default map to the
satellite map -- it uses squares for territories -- hardly a creative
rip off of the original boundary lines. I think that their main concern
is that the map not have an obvios resemblance to RISK's map. I took
another look at dominategame.com and his map's boundary lines are more
plain and straight so that it doesn't so closely resemble RISK's map.
That may be what we have to do. Topology is mostly geographic so I
don't think they could force us to change that.

So I suggest that you change the name and then see what their response is.

[Vexer]

How about TurboRISC with RISC standing for Remarkably Intuitive
Strategic Conquest game or Remarkably Ingenious Strategy Conquest
game.
I don't think that Hasbro can argue that anyone is going to confuse it
with the official version considering it's such an obvious
misspelling. (Though they will try)

Sorry, that's the best I can come up with. All of the good names like
global conquest and strategic conquest are already taken.

[Mario]

On 25 Ott, 21:33, "Anthony Covey-Crump" <coveycr...@yahoo.com> wrote:
> Some links
>
> http://www.mewburn.com/Patents/More_Services_AND_Info/Board_Games_and...
> s.htm
>
> http://www.bgdf.com/node/538
>
> So it appears they can't copyright / trademark / patent the topography of
> the map.

Thanks Tony, these are really useful to understand the matter.

On 28 Ott, 11:50, Vexer <nathan.scarbro...@gmail.com> wrote:
> How about TurboRISC with RISC standing for Remarkably Intuitive
> Strategic Conquest game or Remarkably Ingenious Strategy Conquest
> game.

It's a good suggestion. I'd like to stay close to the current name,
because I think it's less confusing for the users.
A variation could be TurboRISQ. Acronym yet to find. Could the "Q"
stand for "quest"?

Mario

[Mattias]

note that the guys from hasbro gave the example from LESSBUCKS, which looked too much at STARBUCKS

so they will defenitely replay that a name TurboRIS? is not valid

 

i must say i like the name TurboRISC, but it might still cause trouble

2010/10/28 Mario <mario....@edis.it>

[Mario]

On 28 Ott, 17:31, Mattias <matja...@gmail.com> wrote:
> note that the guys from hasbro gave the example from LESSBUCKS, which looked
> too much at STARBUCKS
> so they will defenitely replay that a name TurboRIS? is not valid

You're probably right.
And I fear that even a phonetic change like TurboREESC wouldn't
satisfy them :-)

I'd like to keep the word "Turbo" (which I initially chose to
emphasize the fast interface and game pace) and possibly the first
'R', so the companion programs (TRComp, TRMap...) still mantain in
their name a connection to the main program. Same for the extensions
of the files (TRP, TRM...).

What about TurboRSC or TurboRK?

Mario

[Chiel ten Brinke]

what would be the reason for hasbro to make trouble for turborisk? If we know, we can anticipate and make moves to satisfy hasbro OR we can figure out to what extend we are chained by the law and try to avoid that by looking for the little gates in law, without satisfying hasbro.

Chiel

[Vexer]

TurboRSC would be more likely to satisfy them than TurboRISC.
the SC would stand for strategy conquest or strategic conquest
here's some ideas for the R

revolution
reproduced
revitalized
reduced
replica
remake

[Mario]

On 28 Ott, 17:57, Chiel ten Brinke <ctenbri...@gmail.com> wrote:
> what would be the reason for hasbro to make trouble for turborisk? If we
> know, we can anticipate and make moves to satisfy hasbro OR we can figure
> out to what extend we are chained by the law and try to avoid that by
> looking for the little gates in law, without satisfying hasbro.

I think that Hasbro is simply trying to avoid that some potential
customers of their game find turborisk or other freeware/shareware
versions of it, thus loosing sales.

I'll offer a name change to TurboRSC, an no map change. Let's see what
happens.

Mario

[Mario]

Last episodes of this soap opera... :-)

My email dated 29 October:

--------

Dear *****

I will change the name of the game to TurboRSC, I believe that it is
different enough to avoid any possible confusion and any unwanted
connection with Hasbro's RISK Trademark. The word RISK will no more be
part of the name, nor part of any acronym that explains the name.

As for the maps, I will not change them. The following links explain
very well why the topography of a game map cannot be copyrighted /
trademarked / patented:

http://www.mewburn.com/Patents/More_Services_AND_Info/Board_Games_and_Puzzles.htm
http://www.bgdf.com/node/538

Sincerely,
Mario Ferrari

-----------

And their reply, dated yesterday 15 November:

Dear Mr. Ferrari:

Thank you for changing the name to TurboRSC . We continue to assert
copyright rights on the aspects of the game maps that we have
previously identified as being creative, original and fictional, i.e.
the non-geographically correct territorial delineations and the
connections between the continents. There is nothing in the links
that you provide below that asserts these elements are not protected
by copyright. We have never claimed patent or trademark protection
for the maps, as those legal doctrines are not applicable.

Sincerely,

[Emil]

The map that TurboRisk uses isn't the same as Hasbro Risk either, as
far as I can tell. Mongolia borders 6 other territories, while instead
Hasbro has China bordering 6 (and Mongolia only 5).

[Mario]

Thanks Emil

This is a very useful information! Now that you point this to my
attention, I recall that Nathan months ago told me that ther was a
difference in the maps.

I copied the map and its connection from WinRisk, and took for granted
that it was the same of Hasbro Risk.
Thanks!

Mario

[Assimilator1]

Any updates on this?

I'll bet that slight differences in the map won't be enough to satisfy
them, you maybe looking at having to rename many of the territories
(except the ones with real country names) & changing many borders :(,
maybe to borders that follow more of the real ones??

Btw I'm new here & to TR, awesome game! :D

> > Hasbro has China bordering 6 (and Mongolia only 5).- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -

[Chiel ten Brinke]

Yes, I would like a different map! Maybe we could even design several maps...

[Mario]

Thanks Assimilator1 and Chiel ten Brinke for your contributions.

I still have to reply to Hasbro's last message, because I've been very
busy in this period, and because I'm still not sure of what I want to
offer them.
Some thoughts:

1. Renaming the territories. This is not only doable, but it's
actually a breeze. Just a few seconds to type the new names inside the
program code. Any idea on what territories should be renamed, and with
which name?

2. New map. TR already allows to create custom maps, I think that a
new map with the borders in different positions will make them happy.
Probably the Nathan's satellite map is already ok, the others should
be modified.

3. New topology (connections between the territories). This again is
very easy to do inside TR, but a new topology would invalidate most of
the map knowledge incorporated into the AI of the TRPs. I wouldn't do
that.

What do you think?

[Chiel ten Brinke]

Though some AI's will not be compatible with maps with a new topology, I still think it would be nice to have them as extra feature. We could make a Europe-map. Or, as Mattias suggested to me, a Middle Earth map (Lord of the Rings). Of course it is just add-on: not instead of the world map. I think it would boost the quality of the game. (taking over ha$bro :) )

[Lossy]

The names may not need to be changed, if they are historical names for
the area. Perhaps instead of changing the connection you could change
the overall size of different countries. It may then present a vastly
different appearance, unless it is closely inspected of course.

On Dec 30, 1:37 pm, Chiel ten Brinke <ctenbri...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Though some AI's will not be compatible with maps with a new topology, I
> still think it would be nice to have them as extra feature. We could make a
> Europe-map. Or, as Mattias suggested to me, a Middle Earth map (Lord of the
> Rings). Of course it is just add-on: not instead of the world map. I think
> it would boost the quality of the game. (taking over ha$bro :) )
>

[Assimilator1]

Re point1, some of these will be easy, others not so!;),
Britian > Britian & Ireland (that'll no doubt please the Irish at the
same time, who btw I bet aren't happy at being bannered under
Britian!), Western Europe > France & Spain, Southern Europe > SE
Europe, Northern Europe > NE Europe, West Australia > NW Australia,
East Australia > SE Australia, Mongolia > Mongolia & Korea

Hasbro can't complain about Japan, Greenland, Iceland, Scandinavia,
Middle East etc actual countries in other words.

Point 2
Yea alter some borders, Mongolia is actually much smaller in RL (&
land locked but we'll ignore that as it would screw up the game,lol) &
China larger, so you could extend China at its NE 1/4 & just leave a
small strip of land from the Korean penisula to Mongolia to keep the
topolgy intact. Look at this map to see what I mean,
http://www.worldpress.org/maps/asia.cfm

(no need to alter Australia's borders as that follows real & current
borders)

Point 3
I agree you shouldn't change which territories are linked, but you
could change where they are linked to within the territories, e.g.
Iceland to Ireland instead of Scotland, Scandinavia to England instead
of Scotland (sorry to the Scots, no offense!;)), Iceland to
Scandinavia to the same point where it goes to Britian, none of these
changes will alter game play or (I believe) screw up bots :).

Anyway, it's very late & I,ve got to sleep now! ;) I'll finish off
another day if some one else doesn't.

[Assimilator1]

What can't edit?? Obviously Middle East isn't a country, I meant to
add '& recognised regions' after countries at end of Point 1.

On Jan 7, 3:09 am, Assimilator1 <mar...@ntlworld.com> wrote:
> Re point1, some of these will be easy, others not so!;),
> Britian > Britian & Ireland (that'll no doubt please the Irish at the
> same time, who btw I bet aren't happy at being bannered under
> Britian!), Western Europe > France & Spain, Southern Europe > SE
> Europe, Northern Europe > NE Europe, West Australia > NW Australia,
> East Australia > SE Australia, Mongolia > Mongolia & Korea
>
> Hasbro can't complain about Japan, Greenland, Iceland, Scandinavia,
> Middle East etc actual countries in other words.
>
> Point 2
> Yea alter some borders, Mongolia is actually much smaller in RL (&
> land locked but we'll ignore that as it would screw up the game,lol) &
> China larger, so you could extend China at its NE 1/4 & just leave a
> small strip of land from the Korean penisula to Mongolia to keep the

> topolgy intact. Look at this map to see what I mean,http://www.worldpress.org/maps/asia.cfm

> > What do you think?- Hide quoted text -

[Assimilator1]

More on borders, regarding S.America, Brazil pretty much follows the
real border AFAI can tell, except that it includes Uruguay, the
borders could be changed there to shift it into Argentina.
Paraguay is currently within Peru, that could be shifted into Brazil.
And finally Ecuador is currently in Peru, that could be shifted into
Venez.

Between those 3 changes the borders of SA will look quite different
without affecting gameplay.

To make differences greater in TR you could also change Peru's name to
Peru & Bolivia & change Venezuela to Colombia (too bigger names to
include both I think).

That's SA & most of Europe sorted :).