From: Pieter Stouten DUPONTMERCK COM> Date: 26 may 1998 Subject: Hodges, Reilly and NShB On 98/05/25 at 22:26 -0400, Sam Sloan wrote: >Hodges [...] claimed that he had the exclusive right and monopoly to >organize shogi everywhere in the world outside of Japan. Essentially he >claimed an international copyright or patent on the game of shogi. > Peter Blommers told me that as well. What I never understood is how Hodges managed to make other people believe he could make that stick. Shogi is a game played by many people (both in and outside Japan) not associated with the Nihon Shogi Renmei. If anybody anywhere would want to start an organization, they could. Hodges could threaten all he wants, but it seems clear he had no legal chance whatsoever. >Therefore, when Reilly started the American Shogi Association and my friend >Blummers started a shogi association in Holland, Hodges wrote them both >threatening letters to cease and desist because they were organizing shogi >in their respective countries without his permission or authorization. > Peter and I actually talked to Hodges in London at the time about starting our own organization. He asked us "why do you need one; you have me?" We told him we felt there was a need for a national organization in Holland; we set it up and that was it. >Rielly hired lawyers and the resulting legal fees >put him out of business. > There was another story going around that Reilly had produced shogi material (sets?) that he could not sell and that that's (partially?) why the American Association went belly up. Does anybody knwo if there is any truth to that? Cheers, Pieter