Nekromanti Varumärken för spel

[Caligo]

Jag undrar om någon haft någon praktisk erfarenhet av varumärkesregistrering när det gäller namn på spel (roll-, bräd-, eller dataspel).

Nu har jag väldigt bra koll på lagarna som gäller detta (har registrerat ett varumärke i Europa (Age of Adventure)) men skulle behöva lite input på om man behöver eller bör registrera varumärken. Jag har nämligen tre-fyra andra namn som jag funderar på att registrera men det är en del jobb och pengar varje gång så kan det undvikas så är det ju bra. Sedan är man ju lite orolig att något stort bolag kommer och säger att man inkräktat på deras varumärke.

En variant kan väl vara att släppa en produkt med namnet? Då har man ju automatiskt copyright och får ju liksom namnet på köpet (som t.ex., om jag fattat det rätt, Ereb Altor (se www.PRV.se)).

(Om jag postat i fel forum så flytta gärna till rätt plats)

 

[Caligo]

Att svara på sina egna inlägg är lite som att prata med sig själv; man får alltid bra svar

Jag hittade lite här (the forge):

Spoiler

I'm in the process of trade marking a title of an upcoming game. You can do it on line for $275. First you check to see if the words are already trademarked (a simple search on the government web page). I found my words were not trademarked but if they had been it might not have been fatal. When you trademark it is in a specific catagory. There are a LOT of catagories about games. Mine was under "Board Game" there is another for role play game book so the two wouldn't conflict. If you want to trademark for other catagories (like tee shirts for instance) it costs more cash.

When a word is trademarked and you use it in the same catagory there must be a lega risk but these things are self enforcing. Thus the company that published the Sorcerer game in the 70's is likely no longer around to enforce the trademark today. With my trademark it will be up to me to send cease and desist letters out.

You know my companies name is Hamster Press and there is another Hamster Press out on the west coast that publishes comic books (I think). No problems. I make Matrix Games (Engle Matrix Games) and have had no problems with Matrix Games the computer game company (in fact I've sold them puppets). One would suspect that a small RPG product is not going to even be noticed by a profit making magazine but at worst you get a cease and desist letter and change the products name. Don't print too many at any one time!

Och här (samma forumtråd):

Spoiler

Drkrash, I strongly recommend learning more about the terms copyright and trademark, and the legal history of those terms for this hobby. You probably aren't going to be able to do that here or at any public forum; even the most thoughtful of posters will stumble and give mixed messages, as Eero just demonstrated. The best we can do here is describe our own direct experiences, not as example for you to follow, but as examples of the range of things which happen in reality.

For example, one of my games, probably the best known of them, is Sorcerer. This has been the name of several role-playing products in the past, including a small wargame-ish type thing from the 1970s, and in part, a supplement from the 1990s. It's also the name of a character class in D&D. Outside of role-playing, it's the name of a commercially-unsuccessful but well-known action movie. Although it is obviously well over the line that Eero (speculatively) draws between safe and unsafe, I've encountered no legal difficulties of any kind by using it.

Other actual examples from people who've dealt directly with this issue are welcome in this thread.

Best, Ron

Och detta (White Wolf/AEON):

Spoiler

Just remember what happened when White Wolf published it's game "AEON", then got promptly sued by MTV for the name being too similar to "AEON FLUX". Court battles ensued, and even after the successes of the World of Darkness (at a time when White Wolf was a strong number 2 in the RPG market) and a small team of lawyers behind them, the might of MTV forced White Wolf to change the name to "TRINITY".

I'm not going to say pack up your bags and go find a new name. Take the fight to the big guys if you want, but I can't foresee them doing anything more than simply laughing at you and sending some very explicit notes about what they'll do to you if you don't follow a new course of action.

I guess the amount of effort they'll go toward pursuing you depends how much of a threat your product poses to theirs.

En som råkat ut för problem:

Spoiler

Post 8: the name of the game...

So what the hell is all this Crimson Empire being renamed to Cursed Empire stuff?

Well when CE came out it appeared under the banner of Crimson Empire. I was happily promoting the game over a year when we did our first US con: Origins 2004. I guess we must have appeared on someones scope as I received an email from lucasfilm a few months later. I have to say that I was extremely excited when this came through but when I read the email properly I realised that if was from the Antipiracy Dept!!! I was horrified and had to read the email 3 times over for it to sink in... I was basically being told to cease and desist or further legal action would be taken.

I had just had the 2nd Edition printed with 2,000 copies in hardback and just launched in the US!!! This nearly killed the game and I was so gutted. However I got in contact with Lucasfilm and we had a fair amount of correspondance. We managed to sort things out and I had to rename things. I was keen to keep CE as the initials of the game and most gamers would say "I'm gonna run a game of CE...". After a fair amount of brainstorming Cursed Empire was chosen. All Crimson Empire books will never be printed again making them a strangely collectable thing for some...

Oh yeah I hear you asking about why? Well Dark Horse Comics released a range of comics called CRIMSON EMPIRE some 7-8 years ago, relating to the Emperor's Guard: the red guys you see in Return of the Jedi...

Word of advice, double check all brands names etc. In my case Crimson Empire was not actually a published registered name but still the books were out there...