Re: copyright of a bidding system - FORUM D

Bob Richardson wrote

This is not a hypothetical situation. The German Bridge Federation (DBV) has
claimed that they own the copyright to "FORUM D" which is perhaps the most
widely used bidding system in Germany. They demanded that I remove any
reference to "Forum D" from BridgeMate, the computer program I've been
selling for several years. I removed all such references rather than risk a
legal problem.

On an issue like this the laws may vary from country to country.

Anyone attempting to copyright a bidding system or convention had better be
prepared to fight legal battles all over the world.

In England the Football Association used to run the major leagues in England, most importantly Divisions One, Two, Three and Four of the Football League. One of the things they did was to produce lists of fixtures.

One of the main problems of fixture lists is that some cities, notable Liverpool and Manchester, had two teams that should not play at home on the same day. When they do play each other you have a derby match.

So they worked out a system by which you divide the lists into two. The A list would all play at home one week, and the B list all away. Every so often they would play a derby match - and when they did, everyone would play a derby match. So in those days Liverpool v Everton was played on the same day as Manchester United v Manchester City, and [of course] Stoke v Port Vale.

There's a bit more to it, but anyway, it worked, so they attempted to patent the movement of teams within the list, and the linking of the list. Fortunately someone managed to persuade the patent authorities that this was not a new idea and they were not allowed to patent it.

Ever played a two-session one-section pairs? Quite common in England. In the first session you play a Mitchell movement. In the second session the N/S players now play a Howell, as do the E/W players. So you get a Mitchell followed by a Double Howell - and that's the movement that the Football Association was trying to patent. In fact they tried to patent the whole idea of a Howell movement and the whole idea of a Mitchell movement!

--
David Stevenson               Bridge   RTFLB   Cats  Railways    /\ /\
Liverpool, England, UK        Fax: +44 870 055 7697               @ @
<bridge2@xxxxxxxxxxx>         ICQ 20039682     bluejak on OKB   =( + )=
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