On 2002.02.21 19:48 Alec A. Burkhardt wrote: > On Thu, 21 Feb 2002, David Zakar wrote: > > > Aha, but _they are_. GDW is dead, but Twilight: 2000 (and Merc: > 2000) > > material is being released in a set of books. This trademark is > _still_ > > in active commerce. > > > > Look at www.farfuture.net. The licenses are still in active use. > > Ok, now all they need to do is prove that GDW ever used the phrase > 'the > D20 system' as a mark for the system in Twilight: 2000. Ryan has > stated > that he doesn't believe GDW could have really made that case. The > site > you mention never uses the phrase d20 that I could find, so I think > it'll > be even harder for these people. Certainly no one ever registered the > mark before. Whether or not the trademark Twilight: 2000 is still > active > is completely irrelevant. > > People need to recognize that there is a distinction between a > Trademark > and general use of words. The fact that Xerox actively defends it's > name > as a trademark in no way prevents me from asking someone to "go xerox" > something. Same with asking for a kleenex. The trademark prevents > the > words from being used in commerce to identify products. >
Numerous times in the Referee's Screen (where the whole system was introduced), they specifically refer to their system as "the D20 system" in a way that I think could be argued as branding. Hard to defend or not, that _is_ usage in a commercial product. -Erwos _______________________________________________ Ogf-l mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://mail.opengamingfoundation.org/mailman/listinfo/ogf-l
