![]() ![]() As he died in 1993, that means Scrabble could be under copyright protection until 2063. When does it reach the level of games like Chess, Backgammon or Checkers, entering the public domain so that anyone can use and reuse it, all the while calling it by the name with which history has bestowed it (versus having to, on trademark grounds, call it by a new name so as not to annoy former trademark owners)? The answer, at least from a legal standpoint, is "not for a very long time." Assuming that Alfred Butts is treated as the creator according to the " Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act" of 1998 (a man who, as member of the singing duo Sonny & Cher, had a vested interest in such extensions), copyright won't expire until 70 years after the death of Mr. The point to that history is that Scrabble has been around for a VERY long time. ![]() According to wikipedia, Scrabble was created in 1938 by unfortunately named Alfred Mosher Butts, though it only acquired the name "Scrabble" when a lawyer named James Brunot bought the rights to the game and released it under a new title. I never played Scrabulous, but it occurred to me while reading news of the takedown notice that the notion that Hasbro and Mattel "own" the rules of the Scrabble game seems very odd. ![]()
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