(TFT) TFT TM

["Craig W. Barber" <craigwbar@comcast.net>]

Hi guys!

    I caught that line about "not IP lawyers!"  ;)

    (And yes, I started playing DCG's system just a bit a couple of months ago
and I like it too.)

    I agree completely that we want to encourage DCG and that what we want is
to see TFT go back into print and onto the shelves.  Clear ownership of the IP
rights is a prereq. for that: stores don't want to handle products that might
get them sued!!  The trademark is an easy place to start: trademarks lapse
after a few years and you can easily pick it up (as DCG did) by applying for a
the same mark (they're / you're using the Gothic lettering version, the owner
is one of the module designers, and the app. was filed back in 2004).

    A next logical DCG step would be to explore copyright, which is a totally
different game with totally different rules.  Basically, it looks like the
original materials will come out of copyright about 50 years after HT passes
away, and obviously we'd like to see HT live forever (and get back to making
good games!) and not have to wait 50 years.  One solution would be to do what
they're obviously doing: get games out with similar *mechanics* but different
*expression of the idea*.  Copyright protects expression of an idea, not the
mechanics of something.  (Think "Sword of Shannara".)  Tough in this case, as
you'd not want to be held to be "merely paraphrasing" the original material.
(No idea how Terry Brooks (Shannara) escaped charges of paraphrasing TLOTR!)
But DCG is not apparently paraphrasing at all: they / you have their / your
own game system out, it's not TFT and it'll become more not TFT as it grows.
Presumably, 2x damage for pole weapons stays vanished, they / you could adopt
1d20 rolls (one of you guys already did that in your list of house rules)
without adopting the d20 (R) system (don't think any of us like it, tho'), the
rule about dodging and retreating after a hit is brilliant, they can easily
stack skills and so on.  I mean, I think we all want to see "TFT II", not
GURPS.

    The caveat is, as an IP lawyer, I'd say we don't want DCG taking an
aggressive stance to try to wipe out the TFT fan community.  I can think of
nasty steps they / you could take (lips locked here), and I can think of some
nasty things that could be done to DCG's trademark rights (lips locked again).
Let's not go there and let's hope the / you DCG guys don't want to either!
The shared objective is to revive a commercially viable TFT... I hope!

    Q: has anyone directly asked the folks (aka you guys) at DCG if they (you)
plan to use their rights to protect the TFT fan community and get TFT out
there into the stores?

    Q: what was the "recent" incident in which HT expressed complete
disinterest in TFT?  I was looking through the archives the other day and
noted a comment to that effect.  Has HT been located?

    Your little ray of sunshine, Craig

    PS Please don't disenroll me from the list!  Lawyers, like other forms of
slime, are a necessary part of the ecology!
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