united-states copyright
Would a program for playing a game very closely based on a TV game show be legal?
<p>Suppose I write a program for playing a game very similar to the US TV game show where contestants &quot;answer&quot; with questions, and publish it as FOSS. Could a TV studio company with the same name as a consumer electronics manufacturer sue me for copyright infringement if I didn't include any graphics or sound effects from the show?</p>

<p>Game mechanics are generally not subject to copyright.</p>
<p>What is protected, though are:</p>
<ul>
<li>Names and logos, as registered or unregistered trademarks.</li>
<li>The individual questions, art assets, title song, moderator monologues etc. by copyright law.</li>
<li>The overall visual design could be subject to design patents.</li>
<li>The text of the game manual is protected by copyright law, but not its meaning. Which means you can express the game rules in a different way.</li>
</ul>
<p>Although there were a couple landmark cases in the world of video games where courts ruled that although a game did not literally copy any of the game assets, their reimagining of the game as a whole was so close to the original that it was still copyright infringement. See:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K.C._Munchkin!" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Pac-Man vs. K.C. Munchkin</a></li>
<li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tetris_Holding,_LLC_v._Xio_Interactive,_Inc." rel="nofollow noreferrer">Tetris vs. Mino</a></li>
<li><a href="https://patentarcade.com/2020/03/bears-versus-yetis-the-triple-town-copyright-infringement-case.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Triple Town vs. Yeti Town</a></li>
</ul>
<p>But these cases were all within the same medium. What does that mean for transfering a game from one medium (TV show) to another (video games)? Well, if Sony Pictures Television does decide to take legal actions against you, would you have the money to pay the legal fees to find out?</p>
