You're going to hear about it sooner rather than later, so I'd rather that you hear about it from me.
Wizards of the Coast has received a patent which basically covers the fundamental aspects of the TCG system. If you want to read the text, point your browser at:
patent.womplex.ibm.com/claims?patent_number=5662332
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What does this mean?
Nobody knows yet. Peter is out of town, and has scheduled a meeting later this week with the internal legal team to review the scope of the patent and the obligations that come with it. No decisions have been made at all, and there is no "plan" afoot to squash all the competitive games on the market. I don't speak for the company on this matter, but I can tell you that the timing of the patent decision was something of a surprise to the management of WotC - they didn't know when it would be awarded and found out yesterday that it had. They don't have a plan in place yet, and it will take a few weeks before they make any sort of official announcement.
For those of you scoring at home, the Magic decks have carried a "patent pending" notice for several years - most of the industry was aware to some degree that a patent filing had been made.
If you're interested, I personally think that the patent, as described, is very legitimate. I've seen hundreds of patents and patent applications down through the years as a part of my "other life" in the computer industry, and I can say that this particular item is fairly well structured, concise, and fits the specifics of patent law to a "t". It will be upheld if tested.
Unlike the famous "Compton's Encyclopedia" patent that claimed rights to the "idea" of multimedia, the WotC TCG patent is a specific list of functions embodied in a TCG that were created by Richard Garfield, and were unique and distinctive when Magic was released. The patent citation lists, interestingly enough, a couple of other game type systems based around collectible sports cards.
So to review: No, this isn't some evil WotC plot to overthrow the gaming industry. There haven't been any official decisions made. When there are, I'll let you all know. In any event, nothing will affect FRPG anyway.
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