"[G]ame mechanics and the rules are not entitled to protection, but courts have found expressive elements copyrightable, including game labels, design of game boards, playing cards and graphical works." Tetris Holding, LLC v. Xio Interactive, Inc. , 863 F.Supp.2d 394, 404 (D.N.J. 2012) (citations omitted); see also Durham Indus., Inc. v. Tomy Corp. , 630 F.2d 905, 913 (2d Cir.1980) ("[C]opyright protection extends only to the artistic aspects, but not the mechanical or utilitarian features, of a protected work."). Unlike a book or movie plot, the rules and procedures, including the winning conditions, that make up a cardgame system of play do not themselves produce the artistic or literary content that is the hallmark of protectable expression. See Boyden, 18 GEO. MASON L. REV. at 466. Instead, the game rules, procedures, and winning conditions create the environment for expression. Id. ; see also Nat'l Basketball Ass'n , 105 F.3d at 846 ("Unlike movies, plays, television programs, or operas, athletic events are competitive and have no underlying script.").
This general rule is consistent with the decision in Baker v. Selden , 101 U.S. 99, 25 L.Ed. 841 (1879), in which the Supreme Court ruled that a particular bookkeeping system was not copyrightable. The language and illustrations that the plaintiff had used to explain his system were copyrightable, but they did not protect the system itself from use by other parties. The Copyright Office has applied the rule that copyright does not protect a system's operation method to games. The December 2011 fact sheet for Copyright Registration of Games states:
Copyright does not protect the idea for a game, its name or title, or the method or methods for playing it. Nor does copyright protect any idea, system, method, device, or trademark material involved in developing, merchandising, or playing a game. Once a game has been made public, nothing in the copyright law prevents others from developing another game based on similar principles. Copyright protects only the particular manner of an author's expression in literary, artistic, or musical form. U.S. COPYRIGHT OFFICE , FL-108, COPYRIGHT REGISTRATION OF GAMES (2011).
