Monopoly

Because of the lengthy court process, and appeals, the legal status of Parker Brothers' trademarks on the game was not settled until the late 1970s. Anspach won the case on appeals in 1979, as the 9th District Court determined that the trademark "Monopoly" was generic, and therefore unenforceable. However, on Hasbro's pressure, the US Congress immediately passed a statute amending the Trademark Act to protect longstanding marks against 'generic' claims. Thus the game's name remains a registered trademark of Parker Brothers, as do its specific design elements. Parker Brothers' current corporate parent, Hasbro, again acknowledges only the role of Charles Darrow in the creation of the game. Anspach published a book about his research, called The Billion Dollar Monopoly Swindle (and republished as Monopolygate), in which he makes his case about the purposeful suppression of the game's early history and development.
In the US version the eight pawns/pieces are: dog, top hat, wheel barrow, race car, boot, iron, battleship, thimble, and formerly used to also include the cannon, horse and rider and bag of money. One piece: the train, appears in Deluxe versions only. The original version was sold by Charles Darrow, and later by Parker Brothers. The board consists of forty spaces containing twenty-eight properties (twenty-two colored Streets, four railroads and two utilities), three Chance spaces, three Community Chest spaces, a Luxury Tax space, an Income Tax space, and the four corner squares: GO, Jail, Free Parking, and Go to Jail. In the U.S. versions, the properties are named after locations in (or near) Atlantic City, New Jersey.
The monopoly games has 33 houses and 13 hotels. The notable changes are the colors of Mediterranean and Baltic Avenues (which changed from purple to brown), the adaptation of the flat $200 Income Tax (formerly the player's choice of 10% of their total holdings or $200) and increased $100 Luxury Tax amount (upped from $75). Similar color/amount changes are used in the U.S. Edition of the "Here and Now: World Edition" game, and are also used in the most recent version of the McDonald's Monopoly promotion.