On Thu, 21 Feb 2002, Michael Cortez wrote: > Now something that I've been wondering about. If you'd care to comment then > great, if not -- no biggy. > > OK, let's assume if we claimed Free20 as a Trademark that WotC would have > ample reasons to litigate, and could possibly win. > > What if we didn't claim Free20 as a Trademark. > > Let's just call it a piece of Art, a simple Logo. No Trademark involved. > And I'm licensing people to use this artwork to indicate that their product > is compatible with mine.
It doesn't matter that you (meaning the group) doesn't refer to the logos (those on the right side of the link Mike posted earlier) or the names (either Free20 or Open20) as trademarks. You are using them as trademarks - that is as a mark which identifies your (and related) products. That makes them trademarks. Regardless of whether or not you try to register them as trademarks. So the answer is yes, WotC can sue you for trademark infringement if they are so inclined. Then the issue becomes whether or not the logos/names do actually infringe on WotC's (soon to be) registered trademark of 'd20 system'. And that's one of those issues no one can really give you a definitive answer because it's a matter for a court to decide. It's also the type of question that really should be left to trained & practicing trademark attorneys rather than even to dabblers in the field like Ryan or myself. (Although i do think Ryan's comments on trademarks have been very helpful & I'm somewhat sorry for opening up this thread when I was really just trying to explain where the 'd20 system' trademark was in the approval process.) alec _______________________________________________ Ogf-l mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://mail.opengamingfoundation.org/mailman/listinfo/ogf-l
