--- John Nephew <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> Come on. "Lands" and "Realms" are synonyms. Given
> that we're talking about
> an FRPG setting, I'd say there is plenty of
> possiblity for a reasonable
> consumer to be confused by the name.
I've seen computer products with very similar names
that had no legal problems related to consumer
confusion. First there was "WordStar" then
"WordPerfect" then "Word" and then "Word Pro", all
produced by different companies. That's just the ones
I can remember at the moment and there was at least
one Mac product with yet another similar name. I
don't have a full list of every roleplaying game
product ever produced but I'm willing to bet that
there are a few things in there that are pretty
similar. I'm sure there have been bunches of fantasy
novels and place names with similar-sounding titles.
> Suppose I do a space opera movie called "Stellar
> Wars." Don't you think
> Lucasfilm might be giving me a call?
Actually, no. If your logo looked like the Star Wars
logo or if you featured any of the same characters or
settings then you'd have trouble. The words are way
too commonplace for anybody to get their panties in a
wad over them, IMO.
> Even without considering the worry about infringing
> someone's trademark, it
> seems very derivative and as a gamer I'm turned off
> by a name that seems
> like a weak knock-off.
It really didn't sound like that to me. I just got
through watching an old version of Hamlet on VHS last
week and was struck again by how many movie and book
titles come from there. So many, in fact, that
they've become such common phrases that people
probably have no idea where they come from. In the
fantasy genre [which includes the subset of FRPGs]
words in titles and place names are frequently
recycled, and "Forgotten" and "Realms" have been used
a number of times. Not as often as guys named Blade
but that's an extreme case. <VBG>
Neal
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