Re: (TFT) Re: TFT copyrights

[Bryant Berggren <voxel@theramp.net>]

At 09:41 AM 7/4/98 -0500, amorris5@concentric.net wrote:
>>No. Though most gaming companies want you to think it is.
>>
>>The only way to infringe the copyright is to directly quote significant
>>passages from the original sources. Singular terms, names, etc. don't 
>>qualify.
>
>Not entirely true.  Some words can be trademarked.

It's still entirely true, since a trademark has NOTHING to do with
copyrights. We were talking copyrights; trademarks are an entirely different
branch of law.

Though, again, most gaming companies don't seem to know *that* either (the
old Rob Repp letter sent to Internet sites carrying AD&D related material
makes severely dain-bramaged use of "copyright" when trademark is obviously
meant).

>Certainly the example of having three attribtutes called Strength, 
>Dexterity, and Intelligence isn't a trademark infringement of any sort.  
>However, if you consistently abbreviate them as ST, DX, and IQ, *and* if 
>SJG or Howard can prove that those abbreviations in that order are easily 
>recognizable as unique to their systems by the gaming public, they could 
>win a case.  Of course, it would difficult to prove such a thing, but it 
>is possible.

It would be a severe detriment to their case that they (to the best of my
knowledge) never CLAIM those terms as trademarks in their legal disclaimers.

--
"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to 
do nothing." -- Edmund Burke (1729-1797)
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