WOTC had this game called Magic: the Gathering. They made a ton of money on it. Several tons. They noticed that other card games were coming out which were similar: collect cards, build decks, play at war with bits of cardstock. So they copyrighted the game-playing mechanisms in such broad terms that it could have covered canasta! THEN they insisted that they were not going to dry up the market for card games and they weren't being anti-competitive, BUT everybody designing a card game had to bring it to them FIRST (no matter how unrelated) and they would either allow it or squash it. And, if they allowed it, royalties would need to be paid... even if it wasn't derivative. Otherwise, their lawyers would visit. A field which should have flourished dried to a dusty weedpatch full of thorns. I used to respect Richard Garfield for not only creating a game, but a genre... but then I loathed him for strangling his own child. Greed. It wasn't the first time that greed dictated a move which ended up hurting them. If it is a choice between running to a company and asking permission for each and every item you wish to make BEFORE you make it... or making something else? And what if they gave permission but you had to change it mid-process... do you have to go ask permission again? Sorry, but I don't want to live with fear that my product idea will be usurped, or that it will be made obsolete or redundant before getting out the door, or that I have inadvertantly trespassed despite all due precaution... or even that some other figure has to sell well in order to lift my boat, too. If I make anything and put it into this market, it will be stand-alone. It might not be the best marketing decision, but it is better than depending upon a competitor's grace. Carolly