Practice area

Board game law

Q: What about my crowdfunding campaign?

Running a campaign makes you the publisher. You are making public promises about a product that does not exist yet, contracting with a manufacturer, and taking money from backers in advance. The legal exposure is mostly in what you promised and in the agreements sitting behind it, and both are much easier to fix before the campaign than after.

A board game lawyer for tabletop game designers and publishers. Protecting a board game is a different problem from protecting a video game, and most lawyers don't have any experience with tabletop issues.

Flat fees where we can, $350–$550/hour where we cannot

Your $150 consultation fee is credited toward any services you decide to purchase.

Tabletop is not just “video games with cardboard”

The legal shape of a board game is genuinely different. The product is physical, so manufacturing and fulfilment matter. The money often arrives through licensing and foreign editions rather than direct sales. The team is usually a designer plus contributors rather than a large game studio. And crowdfunding has turned a lot of designers into publishers, with the obligations that carries.

None of that is exotic, but it is specific, and it is not what most general practice lawyers spend their time on. At Legal Moves Law Firm, our practice is video game and board game companies, and not much else.

Let's get into some specifics about board game law.

What copyright actually protects in a board game

This is where almost every conversation starts, so here it is plainly.

Copyright does not extend to a procedure, process, system, or method of operation. A game's mechanics are a system. The rules, as rules, are just ideas (no matter how clever or creative they may be). Neither is owned by anyone, as such.

That is not the same as saying a reskin is automatically safe. Copy the rulebook wording, the card text, the art, or the specific way a set of components is selected and arranged, and you are copying expression. Even if you've modified the theme.

This expression is what copyright does protect. Your illustrations. The specific wording of your rulebook and your cards. Your characters, your setting, your art direction.

That has two consequences and you should be aware of both. Someone can build a game that plays very much like yours, genuinely writing their own rules text and commissioning their own art, and be in the clear. And you can admire a mechanic and use it, as long as you do not bring the expression into your game with it. The line is whether what was taken was the system itself, or the way it was expressed (how it was written and drawn).

So the money goes on the layer that is actually defensible, plus the name.

The name is the asset

Your title and your imprint can function as trademarks, and trademark is where you have real leverage in tabletop.

Priority in the US mostly follows who used the name in commerce first rather than who filed first, though an intent to use application can hold your place from the filing date if you follow through. Either way, it's important to clear the proposed name early. This helps to make sure it's safe to use, and is worth more than almost anything else you can do at that stage.

The deals

If you are pitching to a publisher, the terms that decide your outcome are the royalty definition, what is recoupable, the territory, the term (how long they have rights to your game design), and what reverts to you when the game goes out of print.

If you are the publisher, you need the same terms working the other direction, plus contributor agreements that actually move the rights in the art, the sculpts, and the graphic design.

And if the game is doing well, the next contracts are foreign language and localization licenses, branded accessories licenses, and more. That is where a lot of tabletop revenue comes from and where a lot of disputes can start.

Crowdfunding makes you a publisher

The moment you run a crowdfunding campaign, you are making public commitments about a product that does not exist. You are now a manufacturer's customer, and you are holding backer money against a future delivery.

Almost all of the risk there is in what you promised and in the agreements behind it. Both are far cheaper to get right before the campaign goes live.

What we handle

Trademark clearance and registration for your game title and publishing imprint, filed and prosecuted through to registration
Copyright registration covering the parts of a tabletop game that copyright actually reaches, which is the art, the rulebook text, the card text, and the world, not the mechanics
Publishing and licensing agreements, whether you are signing with a publisher or you are the publisher
Foreign language, localization, and accessories licenses, which is where a lot of tabletop money and a lot of tabletop disputes live
Illustrator, sculptor, graphic designer, and developer agreements that capture the rights, so everything in your box is actually yours to reprint
Crowdfunding and manufacturing questions, from campaign promises to what happens when a factory or a fulfilment partner fails
Enforcement when a near identical version of your game turns up, and a straight answer about whether it is actionable

Who our services are for

Designers pitching to publishers who want to understand the contract before signing it
Self publishers running a crowdfunding campaign, which means you are now the publisher, the manufacturer's customer, and the one making promises to backers
Established tabletop publishers who need licensing, localization, and contributor agreements handled by someone who knows the category
Anyone who has just found their game rethemed and on sale somewhere else

Most-requested board game services

Need just one thing? These are what designers and tabletop publishers come to us for most, each at a flat fee.

Most Requested

Trademark Registration

Your game title and your imprint are where you have real leverage in tabletop. We handle the clearance search, the USPTO filing, and the back-and-forth.

From $1,200

Start your trademark →

Tabletop Game Publishing Agreement

Signing your game with a publisher, or bringing on a designer's game to publish? We handle the deal terms, royalties, and rights so you know exactly who owns what and who gets paid.

$1,000

Talk through your deal →

Copyright Registration

Register the layer copyright actually reaches: your illustrations, your rulebook wording, your card text, and your world.

$350

Independent Contractor Agreement

Hiring an illustrator, sculptor, or graphic designer? Paying the invoice does not move the copyright. The agreement does, so the art in your box is yours to reprint.

$600

Get your agreement →

License Agreement

Foreign language editions, localization, and accessory deals are where a lot of tabletop revenue lives. The agreement decides who owns what and who gets paid.

Flat fee scoped to your deal

Talk through your license →

Revenue Share Agreement

Co-designing a game, or splitting the upside with a collaborator or artist? Put the split, the IP ownership, and what happens if someone walks away in writing before the game goes to print.

Flat fee scoped to your deal

Set up your rev-share →

Getting ready for a first print run or a Kickstarter? The publisher packages bundle entity formation, trademark protection, and the contracts you need, for less than buying them one at a time.

See board game packages →

How we price it

Flat fees wherever the work allows, which is most of the early work.

Flat fees first

Most of what a designer or a small publisher needs is quotable up front. You get the number before anything starts, so you can keep costs in line.

Hourly when scope is unknown

$350–$550 per hour where the work genuinely cannot be scoped in advance, with an estimate first.

Indie pricing

Indie designers and new publishers get 30% off flat fees or a reduced hourly rate of $275. Government filing fees are set by the USPTO and the Copyright Office, and our discounts never apply to them.

A consultation is $150, credited against the work if you hire us. Indie designers pay $75.

See indie pricing →

Common questions

Can I copyright my board game?

Parts of it. Copyright protects your art, your rulebook wording, your card text, your characters and world. It does not protect the game mechanics, the rules as ideas, or the system of play. That distinction is statutory and it is the single most misunderstood point in tabletop, which is why two games can play almost identically and neither infringes the other.

Then how do I stop someone copying my game?

By protecting the layer that is actually protectable and by being first on the name. Trademark your title and imprint. Register the copyright in the art and text. Put real agreements in place with the people who make your components. A competitor who builds their own art and their own words around a similar system is usually in the clear. Don’t waste money chasing infringement that doesn’t exist.

Do I need a lawyer if I am signing with a publisher?

It is one of the cheaper decisions you will make. Royalty definitions, what counts as net, advances and whether they are recoupable, territory, term, and what rights come back to you if the game goes out of print are the terms that decide your outcome. A contract can look perfectly reasonable and still contain one clause that makes the royalty meaningless.

What about my crowdfunding campaign?

Running a campaign makes you the publisher. You are making public promises about a product that does not exist yet, contracting with a manufacturer, and taking money from backers in advance. The legal exposure is mostly in what you promised and in the agreements sitting behind it, and both are much easier to fix before the campaign than after.

Who owns the art in my game?

Usually the artist, and usually until there is a signed agreement saying otherwise. Paying an invoice does not transfer copyright on its own. Work made for hire might be narrower than people think and does not apply just because you wrote the phrase down, though an employee creating work inside their job is a different case. What actually moves copyright is an assignment in writing signed by the artist. Without one you can reach a reprint, an expansion, or a licensing deal and find you do not have the rights to do it.

Do you work with designers outside the United States?

Yes, often. Much of the work is US trademark and copyright protection and US facing agreements for designers and publishers based elsewhere. If your domicile is outside the United States, USPTO rules require representation by a US licensed attorney, for applications, registrations, and Board proceedings alike. It is a common reason to get in touch.

Ready to get started?

Schedule a consultation and we'll map out exactly what your game needs and what it costs, with no obligation.