<
https://www.techdirt.com/2024/06/18/publisher-of-carcassonne-sends-cd-notices-over-use-of-the-word-meeple/>
"If you’re in any way interested in tabletop board games, you will likely be
familiar with the term “meeple.” If you’re not, the term refers to the small
game piece that represents the player or the player’s people, to be moved
around the board or gameset during play. It has become a ubiquitous term in
tabletop gaming, such that it came as quite a shock to a company seeking to
release a crowdsourced game that the term is actually trademarked, at least in
some countries and markets. They discovered this fact when they received a
cease and desist notice from the publishers of legendary board game
Carcassonne.
The company formerly known as Cogito Ergo Meeple received a cease and desist
letter from “a company” at the end of May. In an update posted on its
Gamefound page, the company revealed that it would be rebranding as Cotswold
Games and its worker placement game, Meeple Inc., as Tabletop Inc.
“We were a little surprised as the term is used so frequently in the hobby.
We thought Meeples belonged to all board gamers, it appears they don’t. We
of course have zero interest in using anyone else’s IP so we think the best
option is to do as they ask.”
Several details here are important. The publisher, Hans Im Gluck, asserts it
has trademarks on the term and shape of “meeples” for the German and European
markets. The Gamefound page appears to indicate that Cotwold Games is based in
the UK, but it is also offering to ship the game to all kinds of other markets.
Markets where Hans Im Gluck currently does
not have a trademark on the term.
It’s also the case that there are all kinds of other board games out there that
use the term freely and have for some time."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
