What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)?: Michigan
How would I go about trademarking (or adequately protecting if a trademark is not applicable) the title and concept of a board/card game so that I’m confident no one else will be able to steal the idea when I disclose parts of the concept to potential partners or crowd funding sources?
Would that need a patent?
And simply, does it need to cost money to do whichever method(s) to protect it?
Thank you in advance.
Your game could be protected under copyright, trademark and/or patent laws, depending on the particulars of your game.
Copyright would be automatic for any original and creative elements of your game. Copyright law does not protect ideas until they are fixed in tangible form. Trademark law would protect the name/identifier of the game product and the game business once the identifier/name is used in commerce. And a patent could potentially protect a game process, machine, manufacture, composition of matter or improvement on an existing idea (utility patent), and new and original designs for the game (new shape, for example) could potentially be protected with a design patent.
Both the copyrights in the original and creative elements, and the trademark, can be registered for additional benefits should there be infringement. See
http://www.copyright.gov for information on copyright laws and
http://www.uspto.gov for information on both trademark law and patent law.
A non-disclosure agreement could protect you from having others disclose your game concept and elements.
You would have to spend money. How much money is up to you and what you want to or need to do with your game.
I suggest you spend at least a little bit of money and sit down with an IP attorney in your area to go over what exactly you and your game require, and what you and your game could benefit from, in the way of legal protections.
Good luck.
