Law.com Quotes Eric Perrott About Counterfeits in the Tabletop Game Industry

The tabletop games industry is rapidly growing in popularity with both consumers and counterfeiters. Game developers should keep a close eye on their intellectual property as the industry is an easy target for counterfeiters.

Law.com and Eric Perrott discuss the counterfeiting problem within the tabletop gaming industry with a real world example.

Eric Perrott, a trademark and copyright attorney with Gerben Perrott in Washington D.C., said, “Tabletop games and card games in particular are easy targets for bad actors because the marketing materials, and even the products themselves, can be easily replicated.”

Perrott, recalled a story about a client who had self-published a card game using her own art and was successfully selling the game on Amazon.

“And then the floodgates opened with the counterfeiters,” he said. It was easy to spot the fakes because the creator had slipped a misspelling into the product, creating a “tell,” said Perrott.

“As with many independent and new game publishers, the creator hadn’t yet registered a trademark. The counterfeit versions of her game allowed us to petition for an expedited trademark, enabling her to obtain rights in about half the time it would normally take. With the trademark secured, the creator has been able to fend off counterfeits from Amazon,” Perrott said.

Source: Morgante, Michelle. https://www.law.com. “Counterfeiters Ride Surge in Tabletop Games’ Popularity, Challenging IP Owners to Keep Up”. 31 December 2024.