Lone Wolf sends Cease & Desist letters to anyone using the term 'Army Builder'

[Alaxk Knight of Galt]

Can you explain what you mean to us non-Americans? Was there a similar trademark situation there?

From wikipedia

The NFL claims that the use of the phrase "Super Bowl" implies an NFL affiliation, and on this basis the league asserts broad rights to restrict how the game may be shown publicly; for example, the league says Super Bowl showings are prohibited in churches or at other events that "promote a message"; and venues that do not regularly show sporting events cannot show the Super Bowl on any television screen larger than 55 inches. Some critics say the NFL is exaggerating its ownership rights by stating that "any use is prohibited", as this contradicts the broad doctrine of fair use in the United States.

What it ultimately means is that you get a lot of references to the "Big Game" or a "Super Party" in advertising. For example, Best Buy might push for you to get a new TV in time for "The Big Game."

 

[Rodrigo Istalindir]

Don't make Morrus contact you personally!

He doesn't get his hands dirty with such things. He'll just sic the Attorney-General of London on you.

 

[Perram]

This is absolutely rediculous. This and their rather cavaleer stance on their absurdly restrictive DRM software completely put me off. This company may make some decent software, but it isn't worth doing business with them.

And Army Builder? They made their own mistake when they trade marked that phrase, because it is too generic to possibly enforce as strictly as they seem to want to.

(1 install every 6 months per product key, and if you have a violation, which their own patches have introduced on occasion, you have to email them and wait for a response that takes several days to be answered, in the mean time, your software is crippled.)

Quit doing business with these people, and don't cooperate with their absurd demands.

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

This is absolutely rediculous. This and their rather cavaleer stance on their absurdly restrictive DRM software completely put me off. This company may make some decent software, but it isn't worth doing business with them.

And Army Builder? They made their own mistake when they trade marked that phrase, because it is too generic to possibly enforce as strictly as they seem to want to.

(1 install every 6 months per product key, and if you have a violation, which their own patches have introduced on occasion, you have to email them and wait for a response that takes several days to be answered, in the mean time, your software is crippled.)

Quit doing business with these people, and don't cooperate with their absurd demands.

Not that it matters for people constructing military units, but it seems that WotC policies with their character and monster builders are a lot better than Lone Wolf's.

Seems the spectrum for software policies in the gaming industry is a lot wider then I knew.

 

[Runestar]

Superbowl is copyrighted?

So hypothetically, if I had this really great bowl I wanted to term "The super bowl"...

 

[Dragonhelm]

• Armed Forces Builder
• Militia Builder
• Band of Soldiers Builder

Oh, those are now trademarked under my name.

Beat me to it!

From wikipedia



What it ultimately means is that you get a lot of references to the "Big Game" or a "Super Party" in advertising. For example, Best Buy might push for you to get a new TV in time for "The Big Game."

Thanks for posting that.

Basically, the NFL doesn't want anybody using the phrase "Super Bowl" other than them, even though it has entered the common vernacular. So you often hear radio personalities making light of the situation by calling it things like "the big game" or "the end-of-the-year championship game." It sounds silly to say that instead of Super Bowl, and all this does is cause a negative image of the brand in the mind of consumers. Granted, people are so into football that it won't cause them any financial distress. Still, the possibility is there for them to do more harm than good.

 

[jaerdaph]

Really Slow News Day @ EN World?

Who the Hell is Lone Wolf and why are we supposed to care now?

Don't get me wrong and all - this is clearly the worst thing to happen since 9/11 and the release of Your Favorite System™, especially judging by its prominence on the front page of EN World. IMHO, IANAL, IYKWIMAITYD, but I'm still ready to go off all half-cocked over this and all in any direction if you need me to, but I do have a lot of hating I could be doing on Your Favorite System™ instead. Lemme know so I can schedule the rest of my day of not getting laid or having a life.

Thanks!

 

[Rykion]

Wow So they don't want people to generically use the name of their generically named product. I guess they should have thought of a less generic name.

I can see them going after people/companies that put out competing products that use army builder in their name or advertising, but to go after your target audience for using the term is just stupid.

 

[JohnRTroy]

Rather than just mindlessly "stick up for the underdog", I decided to do a little research. Here is the information from the free on-line USPTO.GOV site.

Word Mark ARMY BUILDER

Goods and Services IC 009. US 021 023 026 036 038. G & S: COMPUTER SOFTWARE, NAMELY COMPUTER PROGRAMS USED TO FACILITATE THE DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION OF ARMY ROSTERS AND ASSIST WITH RECORD KEEPING TASKS COMMON TO MOST MINIATURES WAR GAMES. FIRST USE: 19980131. FIRST USE IN COMMERCE: 19980613

Mark Drawing Code (1) TYPED DRAWING
Serial Number 76502421

Filing Date March 24, 2003

Current Filing Basis 1A

Original Filing Basis 1A

Published for Opposition February 3, 2004

Registration Number 2836150

Registration Date April 27, 2004

Owner (REGISTRANT) Lone Wolf Development, Inc. CORPORATION DELAWARE 42058 John Muir Drive Coarsegold CALIFORNIA 93614

Attorney of Record Robert A. Lippman, Esq.

Disclaimer NO CLAIM IS MADE TO THE EXCLUSIVE RIGHT TO USE "ARMY" APART FROM THE MARK AS SHOWN

Type of Mark TRADEMARK

Register PRINCIPAL

Affidavit Text SECT 15. SECT 8 (6-YR).

Live/Dead Indicator LIVE

This tells me a few things.

1) They've been using it in their products since 1998.
2) The registered it in 2004. There was no opposition.
3) They've had the Federal Registered Trademark for 5 years. Having it for 5 years gives you special privilages. According to Wikipedia under United States trademark law - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Registered and non-registered trademarks are both eligible for protection under the Lanham Act. The advantage of having a registered mark is that after five years of unopposed use, the mark becomes "incontestable". An incontestable mark cannot be attacked on the grounds that it is merely descriptive (even if it is). This means that the defendant in a trademark infringement suit cannot directly attack the plaintiff's mark, but must instead focus on showing a lack of a likelihood of confusion. Even without incontestability, a registered mark has a presumption of being a valid trademark, placing the burden on the defendant to attack the plaintiff's mark.

Bold is mine.

It sounds to be like these guys won the Trademark fair and square. I don't see them doing anything unethical or questionable at all. They did their due diligence and nobody opposed their registration.

I don't see their C&D statement doing anything wrong and in fact just trying to make other publishers aware that they spent time and money registering this trademark.

 

[Serendipity]

Lone who?
As a (potential) consumer, it's never good for a company when the first I hear of them is bad press. Privateer Press? They I've heard of.