Can I Get Trademark Protection For A Board Game?

Trademark Protection for Board Games

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Trade Dress Protection
Trade Dress for Board Games
Examples of Board Game Trade Dress

Most savvy entrepreneurs know to apply for trademarks on their product names, company names, logos and slogans. Of those, inventors who make board games often go straight to patent filings and forget about the trademark analysis, as explored in my article here: This article considers a sub-category of trademark law that allows for some interesting board game protection: it’s sometimes known as Trade Dress protection.

Trade Dress Protection

Trade Dress protection serves to protect products that, on their face, remind consumers of the entity that provides those products. Take, for instance, a Coca-Cola bottle.

Even if the trademarks Coca-Cola name didn’t appear on the bottle, the appearance of the bottle itself instantly reminds consumers of the brand the bottle belongs to. -OR- How about this car…

You don’t need an emblem or a name tag to recognize this design as the legendary Lamborghini.

Trademark law is meant to protect a company’s branding. Of times, the product design goes hand-in-hand with the company’s brand. In those instances, where the product design can be shown to remind consumers of the origin of the product itself – Trade Dress protection can be granted.

Trade Dress for Board Games

So, what does it mean for your board game? It means that, even if you can’t get a patent on your board game, getting a trademark on the board design can still be an option. And, unlike patents that expire within certain periods of time (20 years of utility patents and 14 years for design patents), a trademark lasts for as long as the company uses the mark (which, in this case, is the design itself).

Examples of Board Game Trade Dress

Hasbro’s Monopoly is a good example of a board game that has been granted Trade Dress protection.

Like the Monopoly example, in some cases you can file trade dress on particular “Hexagons” of your board:

If you are interested in more detail related to your situation it is best to speak with an attorney. Schedule a consultation with one of our experienced Intellectual Property Attorneys regarding your specific Trademark needs.

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Yuri L. Eliezer

Intellectual Property Attorney and Managing Partner at Founders Legal

Yuri heads the Intellectual Property practice group at Founders Legal in Atlanta, Georgia.A practice he co-founded at the Atlanta Tech Village – the nation’s fourth largest incubator.He specializes in preparing, developing, and executing strategies for securing patents nationally and internationally. He focuses his work on developing IP portfolio of high value, and helps clients to licensing and acquisition deals to monetize on their IP rights.He has secured patents, negotiated and executed domestic and international IP deals in the Software, Internet/Telecom, Computer, Electrical, and Medical Device fields. His team also prosecutes patents in the Mechanical, Aerospace, Biotech, and Pharmaceutical industries.

His degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering has helped him serve technology companies of all sizes including Microsoft, Cisco, Cox, AT&T, General Electric, Georgia Institute of Technology, and Coca Cola.

Eliezer’s technological knowledge, entrepreneurial expertise, and nuanced perspective on technological innovation, has attracted national media coverage, of the likes of NPR, CNN, and The International Business Times. Eliezer also applies his wide-ranging experiences as an Advisor to the Atlanta Tech Village, where he provides guidance to a community of 120 startup companies.

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