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

[pawsplay]

Sigh. How is "Army Builder" any more or less valid than "Player's Handbook" as a trademark?

Ways too numerous to list. But a few, off the cuff:
1. It is not merely descriptive. It's not sufficient descriptive, even. It's a handbook... for players. Most games refers to these things as rulebooks, player's guides, player books, character rules, etc. The only reason it would likely be used for a book for another game is because it had been genericized. Apart from Boy Scouts and HR departments, who even says "handbook" in conversation on a daily basis?
2. At the time it came out, it was a specific kind of book for a game which represented essentially the entirely of the industry. "Player's Handbook for D&D" is sufficiently distinct from "The Rules for Advanced Squad Leader."
3. It's not a phrase likely to arise from everyday conversion, as I said above. Asking someone not to use "handbook" in connection with player doesn't really stop anyone from saying something they wanted to say using ordinary terms.
4. Player's Handbook, from the Trademark Office's standpoint, may not be sufficiently intelligable as describing a kind of book common to all RPGs. In fact, many RPGs are one book games anyway, or folios.

etc.

And all that said... Player's Handbook is not that great a trademark. I would have gone with "Dungeons & Dragons Player's Handbook," and if someone tried to tm "Dragons & Dungeons Player's Handook," I would sue them, and block any registrations of just "Player's Handbook" as being generic.

Fact is, as JohnRTroy pointed out, "Army Builder" isn't all that different from tons of other legit, registered trademarks.

So? It is alike them in being a legit, registered trademark, and like many of them in that it shouldn't be.

I'm not happy with how Lone Wolf has handled the situation here, but there is a lot of ignorance in this thread . . . .

Well, that was rude.

 

[JohnRTroy]

So? It is alike them in being a legit, registered trademark, and like many of them in that it shouldn't be.

Law and legal precedent, going back almost a century, disagree with you. Descriptive Marks were and are very common. Between the USPTO lawyers who review and the peer process once it goes into the marketplace, there are enough checks and balances.

 

[Turtlejay]

Am I the only one, when struck by the generic nature of 'Player's Handbook' that thought it would make a great trap?

Like, a book on the cover that talked about how to get lots of women, but inside was filled with video game cheat codes?

Or a movie with Bill Bellamy writing a book on How to be a Player, and it was called 'Player's Handbook', only they manage to sneak some D&D scene in there. . .

Of course, this is the internet. I'm sure there's something on youtube already...

Jay

 

[Xyxox]

So all this talk about a product I've been meaning to buy, plus some issues the company that produces that product had a while back (as I discovered on another forum) has lead me to search out a different roster creation tool.

I found The Forge. I think I'll give ti a whirl while things sort out with Army Builder®.

 

[S'mon]

Law and legal precedent, going back almost a century, disagree with you. Descriptive Marks were and are very common. Between the USPTO lawyers who review and the peer process once it goes into the marketplace, there are enough checks and balances.

Checks and balances? Maybe in your bizarro world.

 

[S'mon]

A search for Player's Handbook on amazon brings up the following at #4:

[ame=http://www.amazon.co.uk/Players-Handbook-Pickup-Seduction-Secrets/dp/0979860555/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1265313947&sr=8-4]Player's Handbook Volume 1 - Pickup and Seduction Secrets For Men Who Love Women & Sex and Want More of Both: Amazon.co.uk: Tommy Orlando: Books[/ame]

...and #5 was too rude to link to.

 

[falcarrion]

Mar 19, 2009 ... iBodger is a free WARMACHINE and HORDES army building app for the iPhone and iPod touch. Designed by Wendell Hicken, Ibodger contains the ...

I'm surprised no one took the time to look this up.
No wonder why Lone Wolf did what they did.
They had a right to protect there trade mark.
This app was dicussed quite often on the Pirateer website by the creator and the fans on the site.

At least Lone Wolf took the time to come here and discuss their reasons for what they did.
Makes me wonder why Pirateer Press hasn't.

 

[Doc_Klueless]

Gamers never forget and seldom forgive. Bad step for Lone Wolf.

Only if we're have eidetic memories and are all sociopaths or psychopaths. We're not.

I'm basing that on the Are People Still Mad? thread. It appears that gamers have a very long memory... or better yet: internet cruising gamers have very long memories and appear to hold grudges for quite a while.

To myself, this is a tempest in a teapot.

No doubt. Where it'll have an impact is if threads like this pop up in search engines when someone who's interested in Lone Wolf type products does a search. It's the little things that have grand impact for some reason.

ETA: Ah, I see we are now resorting to 4chan style postings now...jeez...

I have no idea what this means.

 

[ShinHakkaider]

Mar 19, 2009 ... iBodger is a free WARMACHINE and HORDES army building app for the iPhone and iPod touch. Designed by Wendell Hicken, Ibodger contains the ...

I'm surprised no one took the time to look this up.
No wonder why Lone Wolf did what they did.
They had a right to protect there trade mark.
This app was dicussed quite often on the Pirateer website by the creator and the fans on the site.

At least Lone Wolf took the time to come here and discuss their reasons for what they did.
Makes me wonder why Pirateer Press hasn't.

I dont understand what the issue is.
Privateer had their own app, NOT CALLED Army Builder. At no point did LW mention that was the reason for going after Privateer Press.

 

[Perram]

Mar 19, 2009 ... iBodger is a free WARMACHINE and HORDES army building app for the iPhone and iPod touch. Designed by Wendell Hicken, Ibodger contains the ...

I'm surprised no one took the time to look this up.
No wonder why Lone Wolf did what they did.
They had a right to protect there trade mark.
This app was dicussed quite often on the Pirateer website by the creator and the fans on the site.

At least Lone Wolf took the time to come here and discuss their reasons for what they did.
Makes me wonder why Pirateer Press hasn't.

Army building is not the same as Army Builder, my understanding is that trade marks are very specific exact phrases, not any variation of common words.