Ralph Anspach

Ralph Anspach
Residence Redwood City, California
Alma mater University of Chicago
Occupation college professor (retired)
Employer San Francisco State University
Known for Monopoly legal fight
Notable work Anti-Monopoly game
The Billion Dollar Monopoly Swindle
Ralph Anspach
Allegiance US
Service/branch Army
Years of service 1945-1946
Unit artillery observation
Ralph Anspach
Allegiance Israel
Service/branch Mahal
Years of service 1948-1949
Unit anti-tank

Ralph Anspach (born 1926) is an American retired economics professor from San Francisco State University. He is a graduate of the University of Chicago, and fought with the Mahal in 1948 in support of the independence of Israel. He is best known, though, for creating the game Anti-Monopoly, and the legal battles that followed.

Life

Ralph Anspach was born in 1926. Anspach grew up in Germany where he belong to Zionist youth groups.[1]

In 1938, he escaped Germany for the US. Anspach was enlisted in the US Army serving from 1945 to 1946 in an artillery observation unit based in the Philippines.[1]

He attended University of Chicago. During college, he heard about concentration camp survivors' problem being shuttled about and not being allow into Palestine. Thus he volunteer, under the cover of being agricultural laborers, to fight in Israel's War of Independence on Israel's side as a part of the Mahal, foreign volunteers. Anspach served it an anti-tank unit.[1]

Amspach created the Anti-Monopoly game which resulted in a 1974 trademark infringement lawsuit brought by Parker Brothers. In 1979, the parties reached a settlement allowing Anspach to continue marketing Anti-Monopoly.[2] In a 1983 US Supreme Court case, Anspach won the "Anti-Monopoly" and the suffix "-opoly" trademark rights from Parker Brothers. He then wrote a book about the true history of monopoly and his legal fight over monopoly, The Billion Dollar Monopoly Swindle.[3]

Work

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 Katz, Leslie (June 5, 1998). "U.S. veterans of '48 war recall their Zionist passion". Jewish News Weekly of Northern California. Retrieved November 3, 2016.
  2. ↑ Pilon, Mary (October 20, 2009). "How a Fight Over a Board Game Monopolized an Economist's Life". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved December 3, 2011.
  3. 1 2 3 Collins, Doug (Nov/Dec 1998). "Go to Court, Go Directly to Court". Washington Free Press (36). Retrieved November 3, 2016. Check date values in: |date= (help)
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