> From: woodelf [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
> who has standing to challeng prior to approval? Anyone can write a letter. The USPTO generally only listens to companies who actually sell a product which would be impacted by the granting of registered status to the trademark. > can i, as a random > citizen, write a letter pointing out the numerous other "d20" RPGs > out there I'd be curious as to how many products currently being commercially published you can find that have created a trademark around the term "d20" - especially the number who did so >before< WotC did. Simply using a term isn't the same as using it to identify a product to consumers - you have to take the next step of putting that little (tm) notice on it, defending it, and actually trying to get consumers to recognize the trademark as meaningful. And being "generically used" doesn't mean anything, unless the term was "generically used" to mean a type of product. I've been in RPG gaming for more than 20 years. With a couple of exceptions (all products from companies that are defunct and no longer commercially publish a product), I've >never< seen a "d20" RPG. In fact, I'd argue that until the early 90's most publishers didn't brand their RPGs at all - they all used game brands, not system brands. You may be confused with patent law; where any evidence of "prior art" de facto kills the ability to patent something. Trademark law (as I mentioned before) is concerned with consumers. So the case you'd have to make in opposition to the d20 System registration is that there are a whole bunch of consumers out there who would become confused if WotC was allowed to register the term "d20 System" and preclude its use by other RPG publishers. I think you'll have a hard time making that argument. Ryan _______________________________________________ Ogf-l mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://mail.opengamingfoundation.org/mailman/listinfo/ogf-l
