> From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]On Behalf Of Neal Rogers
> Sent: Tuesday, April 24, 2001 10:41 PM
> To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Subject: Re: [Ogf-l] Interest in Free/Community Setting
>
>
> 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.
There certainly was confusion among these, at least among users I had to
support. "Word Pro" is often confused with "Word, Professional Edition".
Note that "Star", "Perfect", and "Pro" have a low-probability of confusion.
Note further that "Word" is not a trademark of Microsoft's, nor is there
even an attempt to register it (as far as I can tell). Neither is "Microsoft
Word" (though that is the preferred usage, on their part). So I wonder if
their lawyers have already advised them that, in the field of word
processing, "Word" is just too generic of a term to serve as a trademark.
Sort of like trying to trademark "Automobile" as a mark for a four-wheeled,
gasoline-powered ground vehicle.
> 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.
I'm sure there are possible infringements all the time. I'm even sure that
many go unnoticed or unremarked. (As a non-lawyer, I wonder if this can lead
to a mark being abandoned, as many are.)
But that doesn't mean that it's safe to infringe. In this particular case,
we have an officer of the corporation that owns the mark suggesting that the
use in question may very well be viewed as an infringement. That's about as
close to legal advice as Ryan is likely to get. We also have at least a few
readers agreeing that the use in question is confusing. It would be REALLY
wise for John to consider a new name at this point. I don't think the odds
are with him on this one, and Wizards has a lot of money on their side of
the odds.
> > 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.
Forgive me if this seems impertinent, but are you an IP lawyer? Any kind of
lawyer? Or any sort of professional who works with IP on a regular basis? If
not, then your opinion has no weight. If so, your opinion has some weight,
but is only decisive if you can get a court to share it.
My completely weightless opinion: if the genre were space opera and the
names that similar, the very protective LucasFilm lawyers would be on the
case 30 seconds after George learned about it. The logo wouldn't matter one
bit; and the characters and settings would matter even less, since those are
a matter for copyright, not trademark. (Their names and likenesses might be
matters for trademarks.)
> 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.
Yep. But whether something is a title is unrelated to whether it is a
defensible trademark or not.
And these can still be trademarks, depending on the use. I could certainly
start Poor Yorrick Games and apply for the trademark. My suspicion is that I
would even get it, if I dotted all the i's and crossed all the t's, because
the USPTO lists ABSOLUTELY NO trademark activity of any sort involving the
word "Yorrick".
Commonness has nothing to do with the validity of a trademark -- just ask
Apple -- though uncommon and even made-up words are considered to be easier
to defend.
Martin L. Shoemaker
Martin L. Shoemaker Consulting, Software Design and UML Training
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://www.MartinLShoemaker.com
http://www.UMLBootCamp.com
_______________________________________________
Ogf-l mailing list
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://www.opengamingfoundation.org/mailman/listinfo/ogf-l
