(Not legal advice) When AI can clone your game faster than you can make it, consider protecting yourself by filing for copyrights, trademarks, and/or patents—within your means, of course. Costs of doing so in the US:
- Copyright $45+
- Trademark $350+
- Provisional patent $65+
- Nonprovisional patent $400+ (but you may need a lawyer)
Supplementary notes:
- Registering your copyright before an infringement occurs will qualify you for statutory damages and attorney’s fees. It’s better to do it early.
- Trademark can be used to protect names (word marks), characters (design marks), and even “look and feel” (trade dress).
- Game mechanics are seldom patentable. Modern game patents are mostly filed to protect processes; e.g., steps you take and components you use.
- It is true that many fly-by-night cloners may not be deterred by any of these. However, in the rare occasions that a clone becomes wildly popular, you’d at least have a chance to sue to recoup some money. An imperfect but easy-to-understand example: ConnectU got $65M from Facebook.
(Image sources in alt text)
[Originally posted on 2026-10-03 Pacific Time]
