> From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf > Of [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Sent: Tuesday, May 27, 2003 12:11 PM > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Subject: Re: [Ogf-l] RE: Press Releases and indicating compatibility > > > > This is true. However, people were talking about "d20" by > itself, which is why I didn't include those, as they were > "d20" plus other words. The one I cited was a stand-alone "d20".
A point to remember about trademarks. If a trademark dispute ever gets to court (and let's hope it doesn't), one of the main factors considered is likelihood of confusion on the part of the consumer. Now at this point, under current Wizards and Hasbro management, my personal opinion is that they won't go ballistic legally. I have no proof of this, just an impression: they seem to be trying to be as reasonable as possible while protecting their IP. But it's possible that my impression is wrong, and they're litigious creeps. And it's certainly possible that future management will be litigious creeps. So here's some advice to anyone who wants to use "d20" in promoting or labeling a product WITHOUT complying with the d20 license: don't just worry about whether you're legit (a good concern), but whether some litigious creep might disagree that you're legit; and if they might, worry about whether your use of "d20" might be done in such a way that they could claim consumer confusion. I'm not saying they would be right to do so, but rather that you could lose your shirt trying to prove them wrong. I'm also not saying you can't use "d20" in such a way as to avoid both the d20 STL AND consumer confusion (though I don't know what that might be). But I suspect that public proclamations that "I want to indicate my product is d20 compatible without complying with the d20 STL" will make your defense more complicated if the litigious creeps take over. I like the d20 STL. It makes it hard for Wizards to sue. Of course, it also makes it hard to do certain kinds of products. But if I were making such a product, I would trust market awareness to make the association between my product and d20. I'd avoid giving ammo to the litigious creeps. Martin L. Shoemaker Martin L. Shoemaker Consulting, Software Design and UML Training [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.MartinLShoemaker.com http://www.UMLBootCamp.com http://www.TabletUML.com -- The UML tool you don't have to learn! _______________________________________________ Ogf-l mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://mail.opengamingfoundation.org/mailman/listinfo/ogf-l
