MTG: So Somebody Copyrighted A Magic Deck – What Happens Now
As if net-decking wasn’t enough of a problem already–now it seems that a “legal provocateur” copyrighted his deck of Magic Cards.
What use is a deck list when the compilation of cards it comprises are copyrighted? That’s the question that Robert Hovden, a physics professor and well-known copyright troll provocateur posed to the public earlier this year by registering a deck with the United States Copyright Office:
The story, detailed by Cory Doctorow on Twitter and in his blog, Pluralistic, explains that Hovden–who has a history of filing copyright claims solely to highlight “…some of the internal contradictions and bizarre results of copyright’s applications”–recently filed for and received a copyright on a Magic: the Gathering deck titled Angels and Demons:
Hovden’s latest is filing for – and receiving – a copyright on a Magic: The Gathering deck he calls “Angels and Demons.” This deck – a collection of cards made by a corporation through work-for-hire arrangements with creators – is now claimed as Hovden’s exclusive IP.
Hovden’s public communications around this tease that he may prohibit others from using this deck in tournament play, and says it’s all about “owning culture and people’s participation in culture through copyright.”
What this could mean for the game is anyone’s guess. As Doctorow explains, it seems like Hovden is looking to stir up discussion about what this could mean for the game. After all, players routinely find themselves facing deck archetypes–Wizards of the Coast monitors and names common/powerful decks. Check some of the latest banned or restricted announcements and you’ll find that actual rulings on the game track things like the win rate of “Izzet Phoenix” or “Jeskai Control” which are deck archetypes that are typically built around cards like Arclight Phoenix and whose lists can be found online.
With Hovden’s communications dancing around the idea that he might prohibit others from using the deck in tournament play, there’s a lot to worry about because of the implication.
The implication is that this could spark a stampede to register copyright in M:TG decks – which are painstaking assembled for home games and tournament play, sometimes with big-dollar cash payouts – and take the best decks out of the game.
Of course, the law is unclear 0n where the line is in how you could or couldn’t copy/remix Hovden’s deck (and by extension any deck). After all, you can’t copyright a recipe as long as it’s a mere listing of ingredients. But the second you start sprinkling in “substantial literary expression in the form of an explanation or directions, or when there is a collection of recipes as in a cookbook,” there may be the required ingredients for copyright protection.
Which is why you have to read about how someone’s grandmother used to love making this red potato salad every September when she would travel back from her yearly sojourn to visit the Oregon coastline. The air smelled of Juniper berries and crisp mustardseed upon her return, which always heralded the turn of summer to fall.
According to Doctorow, it is “an interesting question” whether or not someone playing Hovden’s Angels & Demons is a violation of any law:
If you sold copies of his collection of cards, maybe you would violate. But if you assemble your own deck with his cards in it? The argument is much weaker.
It’s only a matter of time before someone starts copyrighting decks containing characters from other worlds, which will make the upcoming M:tG/Games Workshop copyright wars a sort of legal Ardenne that I wouldn’t want to trudge through, but this is the world we live in.
What do you think of the whole idea? Are you racing to copyright your deck now? I’m currently waiting to see if “Five-Color All Mythic Rares” is worth copyrighting.
