Trade Marks, Depends on intended use? question...

[dancarl]

HI

I have searched trade marks on the full domain and there are none... But

MinecraftHandBook.com
MineCraftHandbook.ca

obviously MineCraft is trademarked, and there is a minecraft hand book out there ( but no TM) if my intent was to create my version of a hand book to instruct players how to get the most out of minecraft, would that be safe?

Dan

 

[jdwaverly]

Minecraft is now owned by Microsoft. Paid $2.5 billion. Deep pockets. Making everything from Toys to Plushies
How would you feel if you spent years developing a site and then Microsoft sues you for Trademark infringement and then wants all monies earned by your site?

Nothing containing a Trademark owned by a Fortune 100 Company is "Safe"
 
The only way to "Safely" build a site like this is to get permission from the Trademark holder in writing and keep it on file.

 

[blade0817]

Yes I agree, those are very risky because Mindcraft is a name, not a generic word/phrase. Two things I would suggest if you really want to keep and use them:
1) contact Microsoft, tell them your intention and approve the site as such
2) develop the site (don't spend too much time/money because of the risk), make sure you have a disclaimer on the front page that you're not affiliated with Microsoft and the page is intended for information only, and don't try to make any profit from it as that's a sure way to Microsoft to force you to let them go.

I have done such a website working with a large production studio, I contacted them, they approved the site - even worked with me - but I made no profit from the site just did it for fun. It was still worth it for the thrill of it!

These things should keep you on the safer side but nothing is 100%.
 
Sorry for the misspelling of Minecraft/mindcraft

 

[flippawilson]

I was literally just thinking about the craft...lol

I think I'm going to do a personal case study (perhaps not done before yet) about the average amount of time it takes for a mega corp to swing the hammer down on websites they feel are too similar to their brand.

 

[jdwaverly]

Most mega corps farm this out to "brand protection" companies who are paid by the company's legal department. They use automatic tools (like internet crawl spiders) to search for "infringements" on everything from new domain registrations to forum posts. The threats then begin by email and progress from there.

Been there, seen that.

 

[blade0817]

Yeah ... these are always risky. You could try by posting a disclaimer on the first page (preferably with LARGE letters) that your site is not affiliated with MineCraft/Microsoft but operated by a fan/gamer ... but it's still considered risky.

I did have a buddy who way back in the 90s when DOOM was 'the game', he built some map editor modules for it where you could build your own rooms, posted these on a website as shareware. Next thing you knew the company hired him as one of their game developers (for a good salary too!).

 

[flippawilson]

Man, my hopes are getting slimmer. While I no longer have time for video games, I still keep up with them from time to time.There are a bunch of fan sites out there, but it depends on how much of a hassle the company is.

I figured there was some type of "scraper" these corps are using to spot trademark infringements.