Cleaning Up in 2003

ow that there is a owned the original $1.1 billion settlement game. It was a lawsuit brought by Nagainst Microsoft, it’s against Ralph perhaps time to redirect the judicial Anspach, an economics professor squint at the other billion-dollar who invented a game called Anti- monopoly mess—the Monopoly® Monopoly. Ownership issues only monopoly. came up as an interesting sidelight According to a legend repeated since 1935, “Parker developed over the course of the legal struggle. The Brothers Real Estate Trading Game MONOPOLY® game company’s claim, and the court’s problem, was was invented during the by Charles with the inability of consumers to distinguish B. Darrow of Germantown, .” That’s between the words “monopoly” and “anti-monopoly.” what was printed on the game’s instruction sheets Trademark law has evolved in an atmosphere where, almost from the beginning, and the out-of-work Dar- as one lawyer put it, “The big fish eat the little fish,” row working in his basement has become an entrepre- and was totally incapable of sorting out a fairly simple neurial icon as a result. The word “invented” is vocabulary problem. It took 10 years for courts and noticeably absent in the current history presented on judges to figure out that people could be trusted to the Monopoly.com website. It’s still “the height of the know the difference between the two words. You can Depression,” but now “Charles B. Darrow of German- read ’s The Billion Dollar Monopoly® town,Pennsylvania, showed what he called the Swindle available in paper at Amazon.com or as an MONOPOLY game to the executives at Parker Broth- e-book from X-Libris at www.Xlibris.com. ers.” The italics are mine, and the game probably can Finally, because it’s the most successful proprietary be traced to Elizabeth Magie Philips decades before, board game of all time, we should consider whether to be later developed as Atlantic City monopoly, a the game is harmful to children. It does encourage board game played by Quaker ladies and gentlemen behaviors that would land a player in real jail if some in the area. In court testimony years lat- of the game’s business strategies were applied in the er, Charles Todd and his wife Olive revealed that they real world. And the point of the game isn’t to build a taught the game to . Darrow was so financial empire. That’s not enough to win. You have interested, he copied the board, and Todd gave him to destroy your competitors. Darrow is quoted offer- several typed copies of the rules. The game was a ing the following advice for those who want to win: nonproprietary folk game played by many at the time. “Be a hard-hearted landlord.” So the message is be An anomaly of Todd’s homemade copy of the board ruthless, don’t worry about the law, and know that was the misspelling Marven Gardens, and this was to getting and owning is all that counts. Sounds like it show up in evidence years later in the court case. deserves one of those warning stickers we put on ■ PHOTOGRAPH: MICHAEL CASTELLUCCIO The court case, ironically, was not about who questionable video games.

0 1 STRATEGIC FINANCE I February 2003