What would you do if you discovered that the board game you are yet to release is already being counterfeited? This is the case with Wonderbow games, and their new game “Kelp”, which is being released this October.
Wonderbow Games is a board game publisher founded by Laia Gonzalez and Sönke Schmidt from Hamburg, Germany. They design their games in English and German, which can be bought directly from their website: Rebel Princess, Seedrachen, or Lost Creatures.
Regarding their new game “Kelp”, this game was funded via Kickstarter from November 7 to December 5, 2023, and it successfully secured funding with the support of 20,000+ backers.
By the end of this crowdfunding, they discovered counterfeited copies of their new game being sold online in several marketplaces before its release.
“I recommend that future board game designers and companies prioritize brand protection through trade marks, as it can be an effective way to combat counterfeiting.” Laia Gonzalez – Wonderbow Games founder
IP Help desk team have contacted Laia, founder of Wonderbow, who has been kind enough to tell us more about this experience. If your company is on the verge of publishing or thinking of creating a board game, stay around and check what Laia tells in this interview:
We are not surprised that board games are counterfeited now and then, but yours is a game that has not been published yet! Could you tell us what happened here?
Thank you for your question. The situation with Kelp is quite unusual and concerning. We at Wonderbow were alarmed to discover counterfeit versions of Kelp being sold online around 3-4 days before our crowdfunding campaign ended. At that point, the legitimate game hadn't even been produced. The counterfeiters exploited data from the online tool Tabletop Simulator and stole our photos from the Kickstarter campaign page, which had attracted a large following.
In your experience, how can a game developer avoid counterfeiting on platforms like Amazon or any other e-marketplace?
In our experience, it's incredibly difficult to avoid counterfeiting on platforms like Amazon. We have our brand registered and have used Amazon's reporting tools, but counterfeiters often list our game under various made-up brand names like "Niktule," "Aizuoni," "Horypt," or even "Generic." When we reported these listings, about half of our reports were denied by Amazon's automated tools. Typically, Amazon requires legal and safety documents to list a game, so it's unclear if the counterfeiters have also faked these documents. So, in terms of advising on how to avoid fake listings, you will need to ask Amazon.
Apart from Amazon, we've also encountered numerous counterfeit listings on marketplaces like Temu, Alibaba, and various regional platforms. Some of these platforms are known for enabling the sale of counterfeit products, making it even more challenging to protect our brand across the global market.
Does Wonderbow games protect their board games with Intellectual Property?
We have our brand registered and maintain agreements with our partners to protect our intellectual property. For example, illustrations are generally protected under copyright law. However, these measures don't always prevent others from blatantly stealing the work. As a small company, it's challenging to protect every aspect due to limited funds. The protection strategy evolves as a game becomes more successful, allowing us to allocate more resources toward defending our IP.
What would you recommend to future board game designers and companies?
I recommend that future board game designers and companies prioritize brand protection through trade marks, as it can be an effective way to combat counterfeiting. However, having trade marks in place does not fully prevent criminals from stealing your product.
We’ve seen numerous counterfeit listings on various marketplaces (Amazon, eBay, Fruugo, Temu, AliBaba, etc), often advertised through Google Ads, as was the case with our game. In some cases, such as on sites like Temu, the products can be easily identified as counterfeits due to their extremely low prices. The real question is how these marketplaces and online stores can improve to stop enabling the sale of fake and illegal products. They should be held legally responsible for allowing such obvious fakes to be sold. We need to shift the focus to this issue rather than instilling fear in small designers who are just starting.