Leif
Adventurer
Lawyer here, too, but no IP specialist. Still, let me take a stab at it:Lawyer here but don't know IP stuff. Didnt all the rights etc owned by TSR get sold to WotC. so I don't understand how someone can claim to copyright the words TSR and link them to OSR stuff?
Mike
The mark/name "TSR" was abandoned by Wizards of the Coast, UNLESS they took steps to maintain their legal ownership of the mark before they chose not to use it. When WotC made the active business decision to no longer use that mark in their business, if it was abandoned and not maintained by them, then the clock began to tick until the time when it could again be used in the RPG field without doing damage to the IP purchased by WotC. I'm not sure what the specific period is here, or even if there is a certain period under the applicable copyright law, but my sense is that the more time has passed since the abandonment of the mark, the less damage can be claimed, let alone proved, because of any supposed infringement. I do know that a third party would be in a better position to revive the TSR mark than would someone who had some interest in the company from before, because that person's claimed rights to the mark were specifically subject to the sale to WotC.