07-04-2003, 10:07 AM | #241 |
Legend
Join Date: Apr 2002
Name: Richard
Home MUD: God Wars II
Posts: 2,052
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Actually the "®" means it's a federally registered trademark, under U.S. trademark law. The "™" however can be used used freely, without having to register your mark.
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07-04-2003, 10:18 AM | #242 |
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Which is hardly surprising, given that the situation was resolved to Michael Seifert's entire satisfaction before it ever came to that.
I can't help but note, however, that while the EQ dispute was very public _and_ publicized by Michael Seifert himself on the Diku website, the Medieva affair remains completely out of the spotlight, the same Diku team apparently content to relying on AxL and yourself to fight their cause in their stead. Worse, the EQ allegations were based on hearsay from an uninformed person making a bad PR line which backfired, while there is plenty of documentary evidence against Medieva. Now don't take this wrongly, but I think that at any stage, the Diku folks making a public statement directly would lend a lot more weight especially to the Med situation. And speaking of the community, the situation of a Vryce stealing your code and running a healthy profit on it is quite a bit more replicable (and occurs a lot more often) than the next EverQuest. What I mean by that is not that the fight against Med should be stopped. Or that it is meaningless. Or that we shouldn't care. Or that _you_ should care less. What I mean is that at some point, it would be very much appreciated that the Diku team, having had other people devote themselves to defend them in public, ought to pay that effort back by being more present themselves on the issue. If you feel I implied that in any way, my English must be getting a lot worse lately. EDIT - First quote was too long and my reply didn't make any sense... |
07-04-2003, 05:44 PM | #243 |
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Join Date: Nov 2002
Posts: 66
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Ahh right, I misread my notes from an IP seminar. MS has registered, but the mark is (or was, at the time of the seminar) on the supplemental register rather than the principle one due to the fact that Windows is classified as a descriptive mark (the least legally defensible classification). What this does is simply allow them to sue in federal court, and have minor benefits if attempting to register the mark overseas. It does not provide the other benefits of a mark on the principle register--most importantly it does not serve as prima facie evidence of the validity of the mark. In fact, the fact that the mark is on the supplemental register is, in and of itself, a strong indication that the USPTO doubts the validity of the mark.
*edit* Btw, Alastair, I seem to remember the members of the DIKU team releasing some very strong public statements re: Vryce/Medivia, up to and including something along the lines of "I left the MUD community because of him". The reason you don't see any more of those is probably because it all happened what.. the better part of a decade ago? |
07-04-2003, 06:11 PM | #244 |
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I see them - private e-mails reposted on KaVir's site. Not public statements on the Diku site.
What point is there in fighting for someone who, to the vast majority, doesn't seem to care at all (anymore)? At some point or another, Diku has to take an open and public stance. At least an endorsement of those of their most vocal advocates. If the story of Matt contacting them and offering money for them to conduct a legal action is true, the sad part here is not whether they accepted or refused, but whether they bothered to even reply with Thanks but No. I'd go even further - yes, the overall positive support the community has given the Diku team in helping protect their IP is certainly both deserved and owed (both to the Diku team and the community itself). However, I think that the case of _any_ single derivative (starting with Merc and Godwars) which has been ripped off would be immensely helped by Diku deciding to speak up themselves. And on a certain level, the moral obligation the dikurative community has to also defend Diku's own IP also creates, in my eyes, a reciprocal moral obligation towards all of those who have spent countless years defending them. And if nowadays they can't be bothered anymore, it would be at least decent of them to donate the original Diku code to public domain, so that the derivative coders who still feel enough motivation may finally efficiently defend their own copyrights, and not remain with tied hands because the original copyright isn't being defended by the IP holders. 'Nuff said. |
07-04-2003, 09:07 PM | #245 |
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Join Date: Nov 2002
Posts: 66
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That would have absolutely zero impact on the legal implications of violating the license of a DIKU derivative. Either way, the creators of the derivative only own the modifications they made. Placing DIKU in the public domain would, if anything, actually weaken the overall case that can be made against Medivia.
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07-08-2003, 01:09 PM | #246 |
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Join Date: Sep 2002
Posts: 100
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Since I commented on the Achaea area that sounded a lot like a Wheel of Time phrase ("Aran'rhiod" or similar):
"Arianrhod" (note the movement of the "i") is a British isles goddess (moon/stars/night). Stilton |
07-08-2003, 10:46 PM | #247 |
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Join Date: May 2003
Posts: 45
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07-08-2003, 11:05 PM | #248 |
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Join Date: May 2003
Posts: 45
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