On Tue, 2005-09-27 at 15:10 +0000, MJ Ray wrote: > James Damour <JDAMOUR@nycap.rr.com> wrote: [...] > > I'm fairly confident that my project does not infringe on the copyrights > > of the boardgame authors, given my reading of the US code[4], [...] > > I agree with you. I think others might not ("mise en scene" and all > that), so I leave it for them to suggest ways around the problems. > > By the way, be careful relying on US codes when trying to enter an > international distribution. Hence, my post. :) > > > The *real* problem is the use of registered trademarks from the game. > > The most common unit type in the game is called a "BattleMech" (often > > shortened to "'Mech" or "Mech"), which is a registered trademark. > > The scope of US trademark registration number 1479757 is "IC > 028. US 022. G & S: PLAYING PIECES, RULES, AND GUIDES FOR USE > IN PLAYING BOARD GAMES." Anyone know if that applies to computer > software and how? > > Assuming it does, I'd suggest being careful not to use the > exact spelling or styling of the trademark. That was my thoughts as well. > > > This > > term is used throughout the project's code. Similarly, we have classes > > named "MechWarrior" and "Protomech" which are also registered > > trademarks. I would be surprised indeed if this code can be distributed > > by Debian. > > MechWarrior at least is registered to Microsoft for computer software > (registration number 2508485). I think you shouldn't use that one! Surely not! > > I can't find a registration for Protomech. > > I hope descriptive things like acronyms of simple weapon names > are OK, but I don't know the law on that. Do you? IANAL. I'm not even a knowledgeable layman. Is this the sort of thing the SFLC[1] helps with? > > Hope that helps, > -- > MJR/slef > My Opinion Only: see http://people.debian.org/~mjr/ > Please follow http://www.uk.debian.org/MailingLists/#codeofconduct > > [1] http://www.softwarefreedom.org/
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