Launching a card game soon, should I copyright it?

[ChrisAkaJesus]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)?

I've read up on copyright a bit and from what I read, it is optional. As far as I know, the second I created the game, it was copyrighted, it's just not in the system. I'm not so worried about the name of the game being taken, but the game itself.

The game has no pieces or anything and consists of around 150 different cards. The artwork is 100% original by me and the cards themselves have just text on them, no images. I've already eliminated all big names and made the cards very generic (ie. "World of Warcraft" is now "Online Game").

I've already had a deck made for myself, but I'm having pre-orders come in and I want to know how to go about this the correct way. I want to protect my game from somebody with more money who can change the artwork and recreate my cards and sell them.

Any information would be great, thank you.

 

[FlyingRon]

You can certainly register the copyright if you want. Info is available on copyright.gov.

Nothing is going to keep people from taking your "idea" and reimplementing it. Copyright doesn't protect that.

 

[ChrisAkaJesus]

So do you think it's a waste of time to have it copyrighted? I don't plan for the game to become popular, but I do want to do all I can do to prevent people from ripping off my game. I realized that I can't stop people from copying it, which is why I've waited this long to actually look into it.

Should the name itself be trademarked or registered? At least that way something is protected. I'm new to this legal part of it all and have no clue what direction to go in. Is it legal to post "All Rights Reserved" or "Copyright" with my name next to it even if I don't have it registered or officially copyrighted?

 

[FlyingRon]

So do you think it's a waste of time to have it copyrighted? I don't plan for the game to become popular, but I do want to do all I can do to prevent people from ripping off my game. I realized that I can't stop people from copying it, which is why I've waited this long to actually look into it.

It's protected by copyright at creation. It's up to you on registration, until you have some commercial success with it, it's probably not cost advantageous to do so. You might lose some de facto proof of originality, but for most purposes, you can apply for registration any time up to the time you file your federal suit against the infringers.

Should the name itself be trademarked or registered? At least that way something is protected. I'm new to this legal part of it all and have no clue what direction to go in. Is it legal to post "All Rights Reserved" or "Copyright" with my name next to it even if I don't have it registered or officially copyrighted?

Trademarks get rights from use in commerce. Registering the mark gets you some additional rights (see uspto.gov). The price is steep if you're not actually making much commercial use.

You can put Copyright, © or All Rights Reserved or what you like on anything if you think that will scare off infringers. It's no longer a requirement.
You can put ™ on a trademark you wish to assert.
You SHOULD NOT place the registration mark ® or user Reg. or Registered with regard to the mark unless it IS registered.
You should not mention patent unless you have (or have applied for) a patent.

 

[ChrisAkaJesus]

Thank you very much, you've been very helpful. I think for now I won't register or trademark anything. If it becomes more successful, then I'll look more into it. I'm going to just keep a "© 2012 My Name" printed on them to hopefully scare off people who would like to copy the game.