Where’s Your IP?
Securing your intellectual property is an important yet ambiguous aspect of being a fledgling creator. It’s hard enough developing your skills and finding inspiration, the last thing on your mind is making sure that you’ve meticulously filed away the legal rights to your own, barely existing creative notions.
In June of 1972, Nolan Bushnell founded the company which would come to be a household name, Atari. By September, he would begin marketing the game Pong. After a shockingly positive test run of the game in a local bar named Andy Capps’s Tavern, Nolan was ready to take the country by storm and begin mass producing the game. But being a free spirit, he ignored some of the finer points of securing his intellectual property… namely all of them.
The first speed-bump came immediately, when Atari was taken to court by Magnavox. Magnavox had created a gaming system for the home named Odyssey, which played a game extremely similar to Pong. The matter was settled out of court, and involved Atari paying a hefty license sum to keep Pong on it’s path to greatness. Part of this interaction could just be chalked up to an industry leader kicking a small start-up, but the facts came down to Magnavox’s attention to the ownership and patents surrounding their product. Bushnell, a driven and talented creator/entrepreneur, was focused more on the creating. In the time following the launch of the game, he overlook filing patents for Pong. By the time the patents were validated, over two-thirds of the market was saturated with Pong imitators.
Was Nolan well off? Yes. Was Atari a successful company despite the missteps? Absolutely. But Nolan was in a lucky position, the market was non-existent. While competitors could pirate his innovations, Atari’s ideas were a step ahead of the curve. They would have the next big idea in the works by the time the market was oversaturated with the last. This approach was effective for the time, and you could even say that the knockoffs were good to the industry, as it increased the visibility. Also, arcade machines were sold in an era of more personal communication, will sales representatives approaching reputable brick-and-mortar locations to sell their machines with a handshake.
In this time, of an established games industry however, it’s not advisable to go in so haphazardly. As you put effort into divining inspiration and honing your skills, you should research what you can do to protect your work. In the digital age where ‘page views’ and total downloads are valued, it’s easy to watch your bottom line disappear. A consumer can just as easily get your product from a competitor that is only a click away. Marketing your work to become the most prevalent and connected, and challenging imitators will keep your inspired creations attached to you and allow your passion and creativity to continue unhindered.