All illustrations (and the specific wording of the rules) are protected by copyright, but if you avoid these things, it SHOULD be legal to create your own Catan-like game. But, as the story goes, this won`t stop you from being threatened with a lawsuit 🙁 since ideas or concepts can`t be protected, colonist.io`s use of the Settlers of Catan idea doesn`t violate anything from the original game. Although colonist.io uses the same types of resources, the design of each resource is different. Then there is the claim of the brand. Obviously, “Settlers of Catan” is covered by a trademark, so if you offer a product with the same name, it`s a violation. But the Android app was called “Island Settlers,” which isn`t hurtful. Catan`s lawyers claimed that because the developer mentions Catan, it makes it a trademark infringement, but that`s ridiculous. If you accurately describe that a game is “like” Catan, there is no trademark infringement. In fact, you explicitly show that there is no risk of confusion because you admit that the games do not come from the same source. As Weinberg notes, when you sell spare parts for a Toyota Camry, it`s perfectly legal to mention that they work for a Camry, and so it`s perfectly legal to say you`ve created a game like Catan or that matches Catan, and not to break the brand. Colonist.io is a brilliant and challenging online board game that positions itself as an alternative to the very popular board game Settlers of Catan. You take on the role of a settler and have to build a civilization and expand your territory.

The art and graphic design are very simple and minimalist. While it`s easy to see which tile is what, the style could use a redesign to make it more pleasing to the eye. This goes hand in hand with the fact that the game is not officially licensed – they would probably run into legal problems if the board were too similar to the original. In addition, the symbols and materials on colonist.io are slightly different from those of the settlers of Catan. The fact that their icons and game settings are slightly different helps consumers know that the sites have nothing to do with each other and therefore can help protect colonist.io from trademark infringement. This, in conjunction with the disclaimer on the Colonists website, as well as the name difference, helps protect against trademark infringement. However, the ultimate question for trademark infringement is how likely it is for consumers to be confused and associate products with each other. Although different warnings and designs help reduce the risk of confusion, it is always possible that there is trademark infringement in this case. As Weinberg points out, this is the worst type of legal bullying: Yes, we have bounties and game testers who warn against completing certain tasks and looking for errors with settlers` coins. Join our Discord community to participate. Colonist has been online since 2017.

Colonist is 100% legal under U.S. laws and regulations. Essentially, Hasbro has used legal litigation to crush competition. Kind. I`m just curious about how legal it is if it doesn`t do much to hide the fact that it`s a different version of Catan. They say`s an alternative to Catan, but that it has exactly the same rules, so how is it not just a direct copyright infringement? PS. It`s legal to make a character named Sally Potter. When asked if he fears getting into trouble with the creators of The Settlers of Catan, Yilmaz points out that you can`t really protect the idea behind a board game. All the code and graphics created by Yilmaz are original, although his game immediately seems familiar to anyone who has played catan`s board game version. So I asked myself: what kind of intellectual property law can protect board games? And if there are intellectual property rights that protect board games, like the settlers of Catan, does the colonist.io website violate some of the intellectual property rights of the settlers of Catan? For example, perhaps the creator of The Settlers of Catan, Klaus Teuber, has some protection in the design of the game or in the concept of the game itself. It`s cute, but without the resources of a large Hasbro company (or at least the size of Klaus-Tueuber) behind you, I don`t think you`ll be able to intimidate anyone into falling in love with your abuse of the legal system.

If I were you, I would first create my own digital version, because that`s the best way to compete. Finally, we need to look at copyright and determine whether colonist.io possibly infringe the design elements of Settlers of Catan. Although they use the same resources – ore, wheat, sheep, brick and wood – they have different designs for each resource and for the game board. However, they use similar colors. For example, the wheat is yellow in both versions of the game, and the brick is reddish-brown. But the color similarity may not be enough to create a similar design. Since wheat usually has a yellow color, catan settlers cannot have copyright in something so common. Since the designs are different, there is probably no copyright infringement. However, a full copyright analysis could lead to a different conclusion and would be beyond the scope of this article. Although colonist.io have taken steps to protect themselves from prosecution for trademark or copyright infringement, these investigations are very specific to the facts and it is possible for a judge to find an infringement based on the similar colors of the resources used, the similar shape of the game board, etc. The email exchange between Catan and Neil is the worst kind of ignorant legal bullying (say it was ignorance).

It`s full of patently false or misleading statements under U.S. law, punctuated by threats to sue the developer if he doesn`t show up. This is a shameful example of a company trying to control what the law does not allow it to control by relying on fear and the inability to afford to go to court. Luckily for people like me who like to use colonist.io, it has been found that the site does not violate any intellectual property rights of catan settlers so far! I can continue to build debt-free settlements and cities. Until their actions degenerate into fraud – duplicating the product and/or demanding recognition of its creation, with the clear intention of devouring the creator`s profits – trying to bring them to justice is just a verbal punch of tires and a legal breaking of windows. The artistic elements of the game and the specific wording of the printed rules are always protected by copyright, and of course, the name (and also, I believe, some iconic images) are also protected by trademarks. But if you don`t reuse their illustrations, rewrite the rules in your own words (but say the same thing) and avoid branded materials, it should be perfectly legal to make your game won Monopoly-style. (But that doesn`t mean Hasbro won`t sue you for it, of course.) Settlers of Catan was first produced in 1995, so even though Teuber filed a patent, the 20-year expiration date is over by that time. Thus, colonist.io does not violate patent law through its derivative game, even if the settlers of Catan had something patented. It is possible that Teuber has added more patentable additions to the original game since 1995, and in that case, the patent could still exist and be infringed.

I found a useful article that breaks down the issue of legality colonist.io: blogs.luc.edu/ipbytes/2021/04/05/stealing-settlers-how-ip-factors-into-online-games/ In future updates we will add more divisions, seasonal leagues, parentheses and more. Colonist has spread entirely through word of mouth without marketing, but Yilmaz says he owes a lot to Reddit`s Catan community, which Colonist discovered early on. Not only did r/Catan help spread the word, but they also gave regular feedback and showed how Yilmaz was working on new updates and features. Next on the list, the team introduces leaderboards and leaderboards, as well as its own version of the popular Catan expansion, Cities & Knights. Even after the pandemic, Colonist is not going anywhere. www.americanbar.org/groups/intellectual_property_law/publications/landslide/2014-15/march-april/not-playing-around-board-games-intellectual-property-law/ techdirt.com/articles/20100225/0114278298.shtml “It was good enough for the four of us to play,” Yilmaz says, referring to himself and his immediate family. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_board_game_Monopoly#History When I launched this website for the public, I didn`t expect so many abusive, disrespectful, whiny and dishonest people. If I had known at the time, I probably would never have started it. Some of you may know that I love programming, creating new things and improving others. Unfortunately, for some time now, I rarely get the change to do it. I`m constantly busy with “social stuff,” which isn`t fun at all.