> > Part of the problem with this market - one that shaped the industry - is
>the
>
> > previous holder of these trademarks tokk the most agressive legal stance
> > possible in these respects, and in most cases intimidated folks like
> > yourself in just the fashion you are referring to. In many cases this
> > stance was way beyond what the law or (IMHO) reasonability allowed.
>
>I'm not sure about that--if the positions were reversed, and WotC was
>infringing on MY trademarks, I'd try and intimidate them. :) I've only
>see a
>bit of the law, but legal wording seems to be rather harsh, especially in
>initial filings.
Incidently: In all my discussions I have been referring to a small
"Compatible with..." label placed unobtrusively on the box to inform
customers and not confuse.
If you go to your lawyer and say "lets sue these bastards for using our
trademark" and your lawyer says "I don't think the court would say this is
an infringement" then there probably is no infringement.
If you then turn around and (ignoring the law) use strongarm tactics and
empty threats to discourage competition in that realm, you are in fact
guilty of anticompetetive tactics. Make yourself a monopoly (or near
monopoly, as TSR was) and you are violating both federal and state statutes.
Further, if you know you are NOT going to sue, believe that you would LOSE
if you did, and you mis-represent that you have the legal grounds to sue and
threaten legal action *in*writing* to gain a competetive advantage, you are
in fact committing fraud - a felony.
Our lawyer friends would tell us that this is a stretch because people
rarely (if ever) get prosecuted for such a "small crime". I don't buy that.
Just because things don't get prosecuted does not make them any less
illegal or unethical. All intimations about this industry being "special"
aside.
This claim of "special" you hear over, and over, and over again from
monopolists seeking to retain that monopoly status unfairly - that (for one
reason or another) the rules that apply to every other corporation in
America somehow should not apply to them.
I don't really buy that either, but it is an understandable perspective
coming from a Brand Manager in a company that experiences very little
competition in this industry.
Faust
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