The only problem I see with producing and selling piecepack pyramids is with
Looney Labs, as they seem to have a patent on the icehouse pyramids. Andy
Looney wrote about the patents in their site:
http://www.wunderland.com/WTS/Andy/Games/PatentsAndLawsuits.html and had
this to say about the piecepack pyramids:
Ron's questions stopped there, but I'll go ahead and answer the one he
didn't ask. The Piecepack community, which seems to consider us evil for
choosing to obtain patents, is now talking about making their own gaming
pyramids, which they're calling "Piecepack Pyramids." From what I can tell,
they would look and stack much like Icehouse pieces but would come in either
4 or 6 sizes (I'm not sure if they've made their minds up yet which) and
would have Piecepack symbols somehow printed on two faces of each pyramid.
Piecepack Pyramids are all supposed to be the same color.
Would such pyramids infringe on our patent? It's debatable. Would we sue
the Piecepack people if they produced such pyramids? Definitely not. I may
not like their idea, but I would never use a lawsuit to stop them from doing
it. That's just not our style.
As this was before the piecepack pyramids became available, we know he
didn't sue the non-comercial release, but what would happen if money was
involved? Hopefully it'd be such a small operation that he probably wouldn't
mind... Another question is, is the Icehouse patent really enforceable?
Cheers,
-Jorge
On 11/16/07, Tim Schutz <yahoo@...> wrote:
>
> Actually, I believe they are in six sizes (a-f) and are made to fit
inside each other like Icehouse/Treehouse pieces. They aren't solid.
Each set(or suit)has six pyramids in it...and each one is a different
size. They use the letters A-F instead of null,ace,2,3,4,5....A is the
smallest and they increase in size to F which is the largest. The best
way to see this is to print out and make a set (there's a pdf in the
files section). Ideally they would be hollow so the could stack, but
there aren't that many games that use them and none that I can think
of that use stacking (can't remember if I used stacking in Sorcerer's
Chamber, but that game is not very good and needs to be fixed, note to
self: someday fix Sorcerer's Chamber). So I don't think stacking is
crucial. As far as if anyone would buy a set if you made them I would
love to...but if you don't I can always go the same route as the
picture, and print out a set using a wood grain paper.
Tim Schutz
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