Are game names trademarked?

[buddy]

Simple question. Are all game names trademarked? Like computer games, video games, and game shows on TV. I have seen cases where some are, but after a little research I found that some might not be. Anyone knows more....

 

Originally posted by kvinsencius
Simple question. Are all game names trademarked? Like computer games, video games, and game shows on TV. I have seen cases where some are, but after a little research I found that some might not be. Anyone knows more....

I don't know if there is some sort of conventional practice with games, regarding TM's, but I would assume it would be like any other business...marks would be registered to best protect intellectual property, and common-law trademark would apply.

You'd probably have to search on a case-by-case basis through USPTO.

Which games have you found that "might not be" trademarked?

Miles

 

[buddy]

Hi Miles,

Thanks for your post. Acutually when I said that I might have found something. I was referring to game shows on TV. I also found that all the games I checked (pretty new and famous games) were trademarked. The funny thing is that hardly any of the games hold the .com version of their name. Two examples are Counter Strike and Doom.

 

Originally posted by kvinsencius
Hi Miles,

Thanks for your post. Acutually when I said that I might have found something. I was referring to game shows on TV. I also found that all the games I checked (pretty new and famous games) were trademarked. The funny thing is that hardly any of the games hold the .com version of their name. Two examples are Counter Strike and Doom.

Counterstrike.com is being used by corporate security and intelligence company, which has had the domain since 1996. They seem to be a well-established business which has nothing to do with games; it seems that the company making the Counterstrike game would have no grounds to attempt a legal grab of counterstrike.com, either via the UDRP or civil court.

The makers of doom did in fact try to get the domain name "doom.com" via the UDRP, and they famously failed:

http://www.arbforum.com/domains/decisions/95002.htm

The domain seems to have been re-registered or bought since it's original reg in 1995, and is regged by someone in Quebec. Doom.com seems to currently unused. Perhaps someone else is familiar with the details of doom.com's current situation.

The original owner of doom.com got lucky, although the arb decision was, for once, legally and ethically corrrect (in this specific case, with no infringing activity by registrant).

Miles

 

[dotsofdomains]

In the U.S., TMs are protected BOTH under common law and by federal statute. Just because a name is not registered does NOT mean that there are no IP rights to worry about.

 

[buddy]

Great link about the Doom lawsuit Namethink. I don't recall hearing about that particular lawsuit. But it was a while ago so my memory might have gone bad My thinking is that games with generic terms like Doom, Mafia, Halo etc. would be very difficult to trademark since they do could represent other things than the game itself. It also ruins the chance for the name to be used for a more sigificant purpose than the game itself. Maybe these names are not the best example for my argument. But you can see where I'm going.

 

Originally posted by kvinsencius
But you can see where I'm going.

Not really.

Just as an fyi, a good source of info on trademarks is nolo.com's site. Here's the link for Trademarks & Copyrights at Nolo...click on the "Trademarks" link in center of page (not to the left) for a lot of good FAQ's and articles:

http://www.nolo.com/lawcenter/index.cfm/catID/804B85E3-9224-47A9-A7E6B5BD92AACD48

If you have a further question regarding the topic you posted in this thread, you may want to state it more clearly.

Miles

 

[buddy]

LOL Don't worry about it Miles. Sometimes I get too deep and I just wander off. I've actually been to Nolo.com before. Thanks for refreshing that into my memory. You seem very knowledgeble about TM issues. I might drop you a PM if I'm in need of a second opinion regarding a TM issue if that is OK.

Good luck to you!

 

Originally posted by kvinsencius
I might drop you a PM if I'm in need of a second opinion regarding a TM issue if that is OK.

Good luck to you!

Sure, anytime. Good luck to you, too.

Miles