Copyright registration does not protect the concept of a game. It does protect its literary and pictorial expression, however, namely the appearance of the game, the board, cards, etc and the content of any instructions or published material packaged with the game against someone creating substantially similar materials. This assumes the registration refers to these materials.
However, the name of the game or any slogans used on the game box to identify the game and distinguish it from other games in the marketplace, e.g., “EQUIVOCATE,” would be the subject of trademark protection for a party game. Trademark rights are based on first use in the U.S. but registration is prima facie evidence of the validity of that registered mark, the registrant’s ownership of that mark, and of her exclusive right to use that mark in the U.S.
Game concepts can be protected by a patent. For example, see U.S. Patent #5,112,048 for a “Garage Roof Party Game.”
Before anyone shows an invention or product concept, which your game design is, to a potential manufacturer/designer, that manufacturer/designer should sign a confidentiality/non-disclosure agreement providing that if that manufacturer/designer steals that invention or product that it/he will have broken that contract. therefore
giving the right to sue for breach of that agreement to the creator.
