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"I am he who rules the world, don't you know? One little piece at a time. I am the stuff of Riordan Parnell's most outrageous songs, and I am a confused memory for those whose lives I've entered and departed." -- Jarlaxle, Road of the Patriarch
My response would be: "Who the hell is Lone Wolf?"
Never heard of 'em.
This as funny to me as if WotC tried to trademark "Character Builder", or "D20". "The D20 System" makes sense as a trademark, just as I guess "the Lone Wolf Army Builder" would also - but Army Builder by itself - Seriously!?
I guess if you have the money for lawyers, that's all that really matters.
"I am he who rules the world, don't you know? One little piece at a time. I am the stuff of Riordan Parnell's most outrageous songs, and I am a confused memory for those whose lives I've entered and departed." -- Jarlaxle, Road of the Patriarch
If I read that correctly, Lone Wolf has NOT sent any C&Ds. They simply sent a letter to Privateer Press to ask them to help police their trademark, "Army Builder". Lone Wolf is certainly within their rights to protect their trademark, the program IS the most popular tool for miniature wargamers and has been for years. "Army Builder" is just as a legitimate trademark as "Player's Handbook".
__________________ Hi, my real name is Brian Zuber. Fan of all D&D editions and campaign settings. Really!
Initial problem would be making Army Builder, a fairly generic terms here, as a brand as opposed to making a unique name. I suspect they'll find this an uphill battle.
Initial problem would be making Army Builder, a fairly generic terms here, as a brand as opposed to making a unique name. I suspect they'll find this an uphill battle.
Yeah, I'd have to dispute their "because of us the term is popular" claim. I know I heard that term used around the gaming stores at least as far back as the 80s.
__________________ David A. Blizzard
"The only constant I am sure of is this accelerating rate of change" - Downside Up by Peter Gabriel
I'm going to suggest that Army Builder is only barely more than descriptive. "Army building" is a common term from the wargaming hobby. It would be like trying to trademark Skip Rope for your brand of jump rope; it might be granted simply because there are no competitive trademarks, but so what?
Obviously they need real IP lawyers. They trademark a common descriptive phrase (they named their software what it does) and then they cry foul when people use that term for any software that does similar things. This would be like naming your word processor, I don't know, Word Processor and then complaining that people are diluting your trademark.
The Grandma rule prevents me from fully expressing my full opinion of this.
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