Character Studio release

[Dabz]

I know that Ron me auld fruit, but the word is such a generic term for a specific natural object that has been around since... Well, billions of years... You shouldnt be allowed to own that as your own...

I would understand something like... Hoover (Not sure if this is the same in Germany Ron matey), I'll explain...

In the UK, people tend to say "I'm just going to hoover the living room", now we all know that is a brand, but people say that regardless if they are using a Dyson or Vax or whatever... It's hoovering, noone ever really says "I'm just going to vacuum clean the living room"... The brand has made it into the language that represents an action.

So yes, if I made a game called "Hoover Dodge", then, aye, come get me Hoover, I have actually infringed a brand name, like a real brand name, where someone has coined it themselves... But if I made a game called "Banana Dodge", using the name of a specific natural object which is, a banana, then no... I shouldnt have to be bullied into changing it... A banana is a banana and an asteroid is a bloody asteroid, which the word for it was coined over 200 years ago, long before Atari was a thing, so unless William Herschel who coined the term had the rights to it, turned it into a brand, and sold the bloody rights to Atari 200 years ago, then I'd agree... But they didnt, and the word should be one of them words people can use freely.

At the minute, and forever, I just think it's a twatish setup and bloody annoying!

[GrindalfGames]

@dabz I think you would have won that in a legal setting but then again how many of us can afford to get bullied around by big companies with deep pockets.

@blinkok I agree and I did try to keep things as simple and easy to use as I could(I also thought the video of me making a character would show how to do the things I didn't explain very well) but I'm sure I missed a lot of things. When I port it across to Max I'm probably going to try and focus on making it as user friendly as possible.

[Derron]

@Dabz
I am not agreeing to what happens with "trademarks", "names" etc.
"Generic" terms should not be "registerable" ... what when is "generic" really "generic" ?
This sooner or later leads to "Apple" (the company).

For me "Apple" should not be something you could register. They should allow "Apple Software Incorporated" (or so) -- and need to ensure it does not get shortened more and more "Apple Incorporated" ... "Apple Inc." ... "Apple".

Nor should games be able to get called "Apple", "Hammer", "Asteroids" ... or maybe even "Civilization", "Populous", ...


As I understood trademarks it is easier to register generic terms for something NOT connected to the category of the term.
"Apple" for software
"Unicorn" for hardware
"Banana" for electronic boards
...
The issue I have here is not necessarily the simplicity of the registered words ... but that as soon as a company gets "popular" it often recognizes that it needs to ensure it "protects" its rights (if it does not (try to) protect them, they loose their rights on it ... one of the reasons why "Nintendo" sues so many people). So "Apple" sues "Sweet Apple" or whatever people name their cafés, their fruit shakes, ...). Even if the brand is in a different (nizza) category.



Regarding "hoover" -- it is not such a big brand here in Germany, we have "Tempo" (paper tissues), "Maggi" (Maggi is a brand - famous for "Maggiwürze" - a brownish sauce tasting a bit like "Levisticum officinale" - Lovage in English - it tasted so similar to it that people call "Maggikraut" / "maggi herb") ... even diapers are often subsummarized as "Pampers".
People call them genericized trademarks. "Aspirine" is surely well known too.

Another important genericized tradmark is "app store" (by Apple Inc)



In my game TVTower I am not allowed to use original movie names, original actor names, ... as my game would benefit from them ... the popularity of "their" names would rub off on my little game. So - in the lights of "laws" - they would need to be compensated for it (I would need to contract with every actor, with every movie distributor ... to gain allowance to use THEIR names, titles...). Yet I am allowed to use "generic" movie titles -- so if a Sharkmovie was called "Shark" I was able to use it without asking.
BUT ... I would not be allowed to use their "story summary" - as this might be "advanced" enough to be protectable  -- similar to copying a poem without allowancy).
Just to clarify: we asked lawyers about this ...  so it is not based on some personal google-search-research

You might know similar stuff from sport league names, logos ... in games.



One could write so much about this stuff ... but we are not able to change it that easily - maybe it needs more time (similar to free open source software ... which gets more and more accepted - even commercially).


bye
Ron

[Dabz]

Yeah, its a bit indepth I know, and I do know what your saying matey, so, no sweat, it's just all a bit poo!

Dabz

[GrindalfGames]

Makes me think of Sky vs No Mans Sky
Or Sky vs SkyDrive(now oneDrive)