From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]On Behalf Of Jason Kempton
Sent: Tuesday, August 01, 2000 7:40 PM
To: '[EMAIL PROTECTED]'
Subject: RE: Can we use "Dungeon?" Re: [RE: [Open_Gaming] Some license
updates]
<< I don't think we need worry about common words such as "Dungeon" being
outlawed re: copyrights from this document. You cannot copyright a
common term such as this. it's not like these guys are rewriting the
constitution here. When you read in Dragon Magazine that DRAGON is
copyright WOTC or whatever -they are referring to the body of work
encapsulated by the DRAGON magazine title. If we could take ownership
of words by thrusting the word copyright in front of them then we would
either have only 2 or 3 publishers in the world or an extremely large
vocabulary. >>
Sorry, but no. The issue here is not copyright but trademark. And according
to claims on their Web site (as so kindly noted by Russ), "Dungeon" is
indeed a trademark of Wizards of the Coast, Inc. Trademark does not prevent
use of a term, just use in a particular domain. In this case, it's the
domain of games. If I still had a copy of Dungeon (the old, old game, not
the magazine), I would not be surprised to find that it was trademarked back
then.
And the purpose of trademark is NOT to stop you from reproducing the work
without permission (i.e., the purpose of copyright); it's to stop you from
using the mark in a way that might mislead the unwary into mistaking your
work for that of the trademark holder. So you could use the word "dungeon"
in a book thousands of times and never once have the reader think that the
book was the game or the magazine. You could also make a book called
"Dungeon", and probably be OK. You could make a movie called "Dungeon", and
probably be OK. A meal, a theme park, an athletic shoe, and you should be
OK. Make a game or magazine called "Dungeon", though, and Wizards will be
knocking on your door.
And the more generic the trademark is, the harder they'll defend it, if it's
valuable.
<< What you can copyright are trademark names such Wizards of
the Coast(r). You would have a hard time copyrighting a name such as
"Steve". >>
No. You can trademark names, not copyright them. And given that terms like
"Apple" and "Colt" are trademarks within specific domains, maybe it's
possible to trademark "Steve" as the name of -- say -- an automobile. That
wouldn't mean that Messrs. Jobs and Wosniack have to go and change their
names. It simply means that nobody else can make Steve-mobiles.
<< Perhaps this document has a higher level of strategy to it...If you wish
to create an adventure that would coincide with a d20 rules system but
did not specifically say that or use any of the d20 logos/trademarks and
were careful I think you may actually have more creative power than IF
YOU DID sign the agreement. Wizards is giving you a tradeoff of
allowing use of D20 and their branding power, but forcing the adherence
to the OGL which will have a set of restrictions geared towards
preserving that which is valuable to them. These valuable properties
(words, names, whatever) may actually be very hard for them to protect
unless an agreement was in place that gave them a bit more power (that
we may all intend to sign). >>
I think you've got this one just about perfect.
Martin L. Shoemaker
Emerald Software, Inc. -- Custom Software and UML Training
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
www.EmeraldSoftwareInc.com
www.UMLBootCamp.com
-------------
For more information, please link to www.opengamingfoundation.org
