iPad app?

[iPadMagic]

Hi,

I'm currently a college student majoring in computer science and engineering, and I've been working with the iPhone SDK for almost 6 months now. With the upcoming release of the iPad, I'm considering basically making a clone of MWS for the iPad.

This app would have obvious features such as a deck editor, and you would be able to connect to other users either via WiFi or an online server, similar to how MWS works.

I would obviously be careful in not referencing "Magic: the Gathering" or any other terms owned by WotC directly in the program, but would create a generic "trading card game player" with user submitted "downloadable content" (card text, images, etc.), again similar to how MWS does it in order to to avoid copyright violation.

With that said, my one concern going into this project is that I don't wanna spend several weeks working on this only to have it shut down by WotC soon after it is released. What steps can I take to ensure that I won't have any legal troubles with WotC as far as copyrights and whatnot go?

Thanks!

Edit: Also, does anyone know what's the easiest way for me to setup a game server for users to find each other to connect and play? It should be pretty simple, again along the lines of the mws connect dialog. Once the 2 users find each other and connect, I only need to be able send short messages between them (e.g. "tap 103").

[Jonix]

Apple won't let you distribute such an application. Here is why:

1) Even if you don't include Copyrighted images, some mechanics and keywords used in Magic are patented by Wizards (such as "tapping", for instance).
2) Apple would not approve an application that allows user-generated content. It generally does not, at least.

But still, you are welcome to try, guys at Apple has become more tolerate lately. Make sure you don't include anything copyrighted or patented, do not mention MtG or any other real TCG directly. And do not sell your application, it would be easier for you to avoid trouble in case you get a C&D. Also, to get your application approved, make sure every feature you include does something "from-the-box", meaning you need to have some content (not related to MtG, but it has to be more than placeholders) when you submit your app.

[DarkMantle]

You could also EMail Wizards to see what they think of the idea. To my knowledge they have no programs, or intent to make programs Like this. After all, they allow fan sites like this and magiccards.info to use images of their content. Just don't try to close in on the markets they have.

[frwololo]

You could also EMail Wizards to see what they think of the idea. To my knowledge they have no programs, or intent to make programs Like this. After all, they allow fan sites like this and magiccards.info to use images of their content. Just don't try to close in on the markets they have.

By default all companies do not even read such email. There's a legal reason behind that: if you send an email about an idea of a game on the iPad AND they happen to read/open it, this gives you legal leverage in case of patent war.
For this reason, WotC and most other companies do not open "unsollicited email", it's even in their ToS:

15. Unsolicited Idea Submission Policy

NEITHER WIZARDS NOR ANY OF ITS EMPLOYEES ACCEPTS OR CONSIDERS UNSOLICITED MATERIALS PROVIDED TO WIZARDS REGARDING THE SITES, THE SITE CONTENT, WIZARDS, OR THE PRODUCTS AND SERVICES OF WIZARDS, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION QUESTIONS, COMMENTS, SUGGESTIONS, IDEAS, PLANS, NOTES, DRAWINGS OR OTHER ARTWORK, DEMOS, PROTOTYPES, SAMPLES, ORIGINAL OR CREATIVE MATERIALS, OR SIMILAR INFORMATION (COLLECTIVELY, "SUBMISSIONS"). PLEASE DO NOT SEND ANY SUBMISSIONS TO WIZARDS OR ANYONE AT WIZARDS. IF YOU FAIL TO FOLLOW THIS DIRECTION AND SEND A SUBMISSION TO US, WIZARDS WILL NOT TREAT YOUR SUBMISSIONS AS CONFIDENTIAL OR PROPRIETARY AND MAY DISCLOSE YOUR SUBMISSIONS TO ANY OTHER PERSON OR ENTITY, WHETHER PUBLICLY OR PRIVATELY. WITH RESPECT TO ANY SUCH SUBMISSIONS YOU PROVIDE THAT WIZARDS ACCEPTS INADVERTENTLY OR OTHERWISE CONTRARY TO THE ABOVE POLICY, YOU HEREBY GRANT AN IRREVOCABLE, NONEXCLUSIVE, PERPETUAL, WORLDWIDE, ROYALTY-FREE AND FULLY SUBLICENSABLE LICENSE TO USE, PRACTICE, MAKE, HAVE MADE, REPRODUCE, MODIFY, ADAPT, PUBLISH, TRANSLATE, CREATE DERIVATIVE WORKS FROM, DISTRIBUTE, PERFORM, AND DISPLAY YOUR SUBMISSIONS AND THE INVENTIONS EMBODIED THEREIN FOR ANY COMMERCIAL OR OTHER PURPOSE, WITHOUT ACKNOWLEDGMENT OR COMPENSATION TO YOU.

http://www.wizards.com/Company/About.as ... termsofuse

In other words, if you send them an email with such an idea, you agree that the idea is not yours anymore, and that if you try to implement it they will sue you. So it's not a good idea to email them and try to play nice.

To the original poster: if you're not ready to run the legal risk, don't bother. As it's been said, both the Apple market and WotC would play against you in that kind of game. I'm not saying it's not worth it, but since it's your concern, I'm just warning you. WotC owns a patent in the US that pretty much "locks" the market of TCG for them. Since an iPad app would probably be for the US market, there's no way you can come up with a TCG game that does not infringe their copyright. The only legal way around that AFAIK is to prove that your are not specifically targeting the US market, which, with an iPhone/iPad app would be difficult.