Hasbro Sends Sharron Angle Cease & Desist For Monopoly-Like Game Board On Website

from the cultural-commentary dept

Tue, Nov 2nd 2010 1:47pm — Mike Masnick

It does seem odd that Nevada Senate candidate Sharron Angle (who apparently has a half-decent chance of winning) keeps running into intellectual property issues. Angle, of course, was the candidate who promised to sue Harry Reid, whose job she's trying to take, for copyright infringement, because his campaign reposted an older version of her website to suggest she was changing her positions. As far as I can tell, no such lawsuit was ever actually filed. However, Angle got into some infringement hot water herself when Righthaven sued her for copying a LVRJ article on her website. Now we can add Hasbro to the list. Hasbro, the notoriously overprotective game maker, is threatening Angle because she put up a fake gameboard for a game which attacks Reid. Apparently, the boardgame looks too much like Monopoly for Hasbro's tastes. Apparently, Hasbro wants to make sure it keeps its monopoly on Monopoly... If Angle actually wins, it would be nice if she then used her new job to help fix problematic intellectual property laws that get in the way of free speech, but seeing as she seemed willing (at least in talking) to use the laws herself in the same manner, I doubt we'll see anything productive from her on this topic.

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Filed Under: harry reid, monopoly, sharron angle, trademark
Companies: hasbro

23 Comments

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Anonymous Coward, 2 Nov 2010 @ 1:53pm

kinda reminds me of the TRIPLEA game
its a axis and allies clone you could mod and peeps made tons of other genres out of it....

they tried to kill it off but source was out....
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Anonymous Coward, 2 Nov 2010 @ 1:56pm

Tea Party as a Branding Campaign
Reminds me of the issue earlier this month when the Tea Party recieved a federal trademark and then sued/arbitrated three cybersquatters to get .COM domain names back.

If it really is a "grass roots" movement, how and why do they have lawyers on the payroll? Only if it was a rebranding campaign would they be interested in protecting a trademark like tea party. Hah.

Here are the URDP cases-
http://www.udrpsearch.com/naf/1302969
http://www.udrpsearch.com/naf/1305291
http://www.udr psearch.com/naf/1326333
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Anonymous Coward, 2 Nov 2010 @ 2:20pm

Perhaps some lawyers have joined the tea-party, and they file suits because they support a cause?
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ofb2632 (profile), 2 Nov 2010 @ 2:25pm

do as i say not as i do
In typical republican fashion, she believes she can do as she wants, but nobody can do the same. It is the mindset of the 'elite' republicans that are coming from out of the floorboards. I'm sure she can quote some passage from the bible that gives her permission but nobody else. Or she will just blame the democrats for making this a controversy.
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Anonymous Coward, 2 Nov 2010 @ 2:26pm

While I'd love IP reform, getting rid of Harry Reid comes first.
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Anonymous Coward, 2 Nov 2010 @ 2:30pm

Re: do as i say not as i do
While I admire your zeal, it's not a Republican vs. Democrat issue. Democrats are well known for their IP maximalism as well. They are all jackasses that have one set of rules for you and another set for themselves.
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Anonymous Coward, 2 Nov 2010 @ 2:40pm

The monopoly holders of the monopoly game are suing for infringement of their monopoly rents. How ironic that the game has become reality.
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ofb2632 (profile), 2 Nov 2010 @ 2:44pm

Re: Re: do as i say not as i do
you are exactly right. Its the arrogance of any politician.
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interval (profile), 2 Nov 2010 @ 3:34pm

Re: do as i say not as i do
"...mindset of the 'elite' republicans..."

Did that kool-aid taste good at the time?
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interval (profile), 2 Nov 2010 @ 3:35pm

Re:
"...getting rid of Harry Reid comes first."

Closely followed by Nancy Pelosi.
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JEDIDIAH, 2 Nov 2010 @ 4:58pm

The irony isn't dripping, it's pouring...
More ironic still is the fact that this game was invented by Quakers and was intended to be anti-capitalist.
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Anonymous Coward, 2 Nov 2010 @ 5:07pm

Most of those politicians are career dudes, people keep electing the same people and expect things to change?

C'mon it ain't happening.

You want to see change here is what it is needed.

Get somebody tell him what he needs to vote for, get others to elect people with the same instructions and then you have change, now electing the same people that will do the same things over and over again is just not that good.

People today are voting for people, they should instead vote for issues and take the people out as fast as they got there, they should not create roots and connections inside, that is what in part creates the current political system problems.
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Anonymous Coward, 2 Nov 2010 @ 5:11pm

They have until midnight tonight to take it down. Considering that it was intended as a political message to influence voters, she won't need it much longer past midnight. It appears she went with it knowing she was in the wrong.
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Anonymous Coward, 2 Nov 2010 @ 5:13pm

Re: Re:
Only if you take Boehner with them
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Chargone (profile), 3 Nov 2010 @ 12:31am

Re: The irony isn't dripping, it's pouring...
so That's why parts of it are so horribly broken...

and it's basically been replaced by Settlers of Catan and Carcassonne in lots of places, apparently.
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abc gum, 3 Nov 2010 @ 4:47am

Hasbro better be cautious of those "Second Amendment remedies"
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btr1701 (profile), 3 Nov 2010 @ 6:12am

Re: Re: Re:
> Only if you take Boehner with them

Deal.
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Anonymous Coward, 3 Nov 2010 @ 6:37am

Yea! She lost.
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Anonymous Coward, 3 Nov 2010 @ 8:49am

Re: Re: Re:
Don't make fun of the orange-people!
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Jason, 3 Nov 2010 @ 9:37am

Re: Re: do as i say not as i do
Woh, check out the zeal on that one!!
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Anonymous Coward, 6 Nov 2010 @ 5:30pm

Hang on a sec...?
It's late and I may not be reading the articles close enough, so could someone point out to my clearly missing something brain please? What area of law are Hasbro using here? Monopoly was first sold in the 30's and possibly patented before that. How is there still any claim of rights to this? Or is it the current images (which most far as I can tell haven't changed much for almost as long)? And even then, isn't there a claim of fair use to be had here? Parody for example?

I must be missing something and it's going to bug me. Help?
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Brisbane Indoor Sports, 12 Jul 2011 @ 1:32am

The Benefits of Exercise
Yeah...You are absolutely right. Its the arrogance of any politician.
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Brisbane Indoor Sports, 12 Jul 2011 @ 2:03am

The Benefits of Exercise
Yeah...You are absolutely right. Its the arrogance of any politician.
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