Blood Bowl GT 2008 - early info

[Wightlord]

i think its just a rip off that u have to pay 55 pounds for the bloodbowl

thats why i have decide not to be there yes year i will be somewhere else playing bloodbowl

i mean you cant put the price up every year to suit them come on boodbowl is our sport not theres

It's a tax on illiteracy. The rest of us are paying a tenner....

[Leipziger]

ROFL

[Marlow]

I'm not saying they'd want to stop tournaments but asking what control they do have? For instance if you buy a book or a DVD the publishers still have rights over it - ie no resale or no public showings etc (even for free). Now these rules are hardly ever enforced but they could be in rare cases.

I do not know what there legal position is either, but if Valen wants to run a Board Games Convention down the road they can not stop him, and if the people that attend decide to spend six hours playing Blood Bowl and one hour playing Settlers of Catan (or whatever) that is up to them!

I have never been to any GW Tournament but I belive the price does include food? Not sure if you get anything else other than six games of Blood Bowl though? Anyone who has been care to elaborate?

[shaniepoo]

I have never been to any GW Tournament but I belive the price does include food? Not sure if you get anything else other than six games of Blood Bowl though? Anyone who has been care to elaborate?

It includes food and what has be to the most exciting part of the cost... a crapy coin that hasnt changed for the last few Blood Bowl tornies (i dont think it has). Oh, and when i say a coin i dont mean one like the NAF coin from the world cup...i mean a crapy coin that looks like an oversized penny.

[Wightlord]

I do not know what there legal position is either, but if Valen wants to run a Board Games Convention down the road they can not stop him, and if the people that attend decide to spend six hours playing Blood Bowl and one hour playing Settlers of Catan (or whatever) that is up to them!

Good point, as long as Valen calls it something other than a BB tourney he would be bullet proof.

[DoubleSkulls]

I'm not saying they'd want to stop tournaments but asking what control they do have? For instance if you buy a book or a DVD the publishers still have rights over it - ie no resale or no public showings etc (even for free). Now these rules are hardly ever enforced but they could be in rare cases.

So if you wanted to run (and charge a fee for)a rival tourney in the same town as the GT on the same date just down the road, to me that could be one of those cases that rattles a company into enforcing it's product protection rights. And I was wondering what those rights are.

I'd be surprised (to say the least) if GW's IP extended to controlling when & where people can play their game. The public showings can hardly count for a game played by 2 people.

TBH I think GW won't notice even if Gav did run another tournament in Nottingham.

I'd disagree that the BB GT is worth the money. I went in '07 and its dropped a long way since its early days. 55GBP is better spent getting yourself to other tournaments with better organisation, better rules and better atmosphere (and there are plenty of those).

Those market forces, I think, will see the BB GT shrink every year until GW give up. Which won't be good for the status of BB within GW

[Axtklinge]

Well, for what is worth, if I was in the UK I would definitely attend to the "white hart" for Valen's tournment.


Cheers
Axt

[Wightlord]

I'd be surprised (to say the least) if GW's IP extended to controlling when & where people can play their game. The public showings can hardly count for a game played by 2 people.
(

Not so much being able to control when/where people play the game as when/where people can chargeother people to play the game.

[DoubleSkulls]

I'd be surprised (to say the least) if GW's IP extended to controlling when & where people can play their game. The public showings can hardly count for a game played by 2 people.
(

Not so much being able to control when/where people play the game as when/where people can chargeother people to play the game.

I think that is nonsense and they'd get laughed at if they tried it. Tournaments charge for attendance (so for the venue etc). Everyone attending already owns a copy of BB so have the right to play it where & when they wanted.

I think the parallel would be trying to stop a 2nd hand bookshop reselling a book by the original author.

[Richy]

Well, if people are actually interested....

Practicalities aside (i.e. whether it would be worth GW's while in terms of money, PR etc), there is action that GW could take against third parties offering gaming services under the trade mark BLOOD BOWL in the UK. This would include people charging for tournaments advertised using the mark BLOOD BOWL - 'gaming conventions' etc are another matter. However, there's no guarantee that GW would be successful.

GW have the mark BLOOD BOWL registered in the UK for games, books/magazines, computer games etc, but not for organising events (i.e. tournaments), unlike their coverage for the mark GAMES WORKSHOP which is a lot broader. This doesn't mean they couldn't take any action, just that they'd have to successfully argue that board games and gaming services are similar (fairly easy).

That said, there are various defences which hapless tournie organisers could try to rely on if they fell foul of GW's IP department - in particular that they are using GW's mark descriptively and (in many cases) that GW have acquiesced to their use in the past - i.e. GW were aware that they've previously organised tournies using the mark, but they didn't take any action then. These (and other defences) could work, but they might not - it would all depend on the particular circumstances.

Anyone still reading?

[DoubleSkulls]

Since GW have provided prize support to tournaments in the past that's pretty convincing evidence they haven't tried to prevent it in the past isn't it?

[Wightlord]

Cheers for the info Richy.

[Richy]

Since GW have provided prize support to tournaments in the past that's pretty convincing evidence they haven't tried to prevent it in the past isn't it?

The acquiescence and delay type defences would apply only to particular individuals (those who've previously run tournaments), not to the community as a whole, although you could try and argue it.

[Hangus]

Well, if people are actually interested....

Practicalities aside (i.e. whether it would be worth GW's while in terms of money, PR etc), there is action that GW could take against third parties offering gaming services under the trade mark BLOOD BOWL in the UK. This would include people charging for tournaments advertised using the mark BLOOD BOWL - 'gaming conventions' etc are another matter. However, there's no guarantee that GW would be successful.

GW have the mark BLOOD BOWL registered in the UK for games, books/magazines, computer games etc, but not for organising events (i.e. tournaments), unlike their coverage for the mark GAMES WORKSHOP which is a lot broader. This doesn't mean they couldn't take any action, just that they'd have to successfully argue that board games and gaming services are similar (fairly easy).

That said, there are various defences which hapless tournie organisers could try to rely on if they fell foul of GW's IP department - in particular that they are using GW's mark descriptively and (in many cases) that GW have acquiesced to their use in the past - i.e. GW were aware that they've previously organised tournies using the mark, but they didn't take any action then. These (and other defences) could work, but they might not - it would all depend on the particular circumstances.

Anyone still reading?

Nerd

[SPIN1]

Nerd

No...he copied that off the back of a cornflake packet....surely?