Household products have their "seal of approval," courtesy Good Housekeeping magazine. What about a
seal for the coin -op industry, courtesy ADMA?
A Possible Intra-industry
Solution
Despite this being boom times for coin-op
amusements, the industry finds itself beset by a
multitude of problems-not the least of which is how to
deal with copycat game ma~facturers.
To date, manufacturer~{ in-house developed or
legally licensed games havi ' each been hj,cking their
separate ways through ~, quagmire of , egalities to
differentiate in court what
be copyrighted and what
can be done to protect their proprietary rights.
For the most part, th~r efforts have met with
success. But even granting s\kcess in this endeavor, it
still seems there's another \ vay the indust~ should
address itself to this and other problems.
''
The establishment of an '''i ndustry seal of approval
would clarify, both within the industry and without, what
coin-op amusement devices the industry lays claim to as
being its own.
This seal of approval would appear on all industry-
approved games, on promotional material dealing with
those games, and in any national coin-op advertising
program promoting the play on these industry-approved
devices.
Since the manufacturers' newly formed organization,
Amusement Device Manufacturers Association
(ADMA), has shown a special interest in addressing itself
to the matter of copycat games, perhaps it should be this
association which would take it upon itself to establish an
industrywide seal of approval on gam~
ailn
The seal of approval could serve to incorporate later
industry positions. For instance, if so-called gray area
games are determined not to be in the best interests of
the industry as a whole, then perhaps the association
could make it a stipulation that gray area games would
not be granted ADMA's seal of approval. If federal safety
standards pose severe problems for the manufacture of
the games, then again the industry association could
offer itself as the watchdog by withholding its seal of
approval on all games judged to be unsafe. It could cut
through a lot of bureaucratic red tape at all levels of
government.
Such a program would not preclude any attempts
within the industry to establish government recognition
of, say, video game copyrights; but it could go a long way
toward clarifying within the industry what is in the best
interests of coin-op entertainment and what is not.
David Pierson
Editorial Director
EDITORIAL
6
PLAY METER, june 15, 1981