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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Abstruse" data-source="post: 8317320" data-attributes="member: 6669048">Normally I make an effort not to be pedantic, but legal matters are about the only place where pedantry is damn near required because a misplaced comma can make or break a legal case.So yes, you're understanding correctly with the caveat that intellectual property law is complicated and Hasbro could make a case against the registered trademark as well.So a lapsed registration for a trademark doesn't make the trademark disappear. It simply means that it's covered by common law trademark protections. It's (more or less) the same as a copyright versus a registered copyright - it's the same set of rights (more or less), but registering it protects those rights better and makes it easier to prove those rights in court.That means when Wizards bought TSR (and Hasbro bought Wizards), they also bought all the copyrights and trademarks associated. Hasbro could, if they wanted to, make a case that they have continued to use the TSR trademark under common law through the continued reprinting of TSR material. In fact, TSR (Elliot) could make the very same case and stated so on social media, but it would require retaining a lawyer and filing a lawsuit and other legal expenses that would be too much for a small publisher. Hasbro is not a small publisher.The designs of the logos are also protected under copyright, which (as work for hire) Hasbro owns for another 80 years, give or take a decade. The designs may or may not have been registered with the US Copyright Office, but there's a clear ownership of those logos so it would be incredibly easy to prove in court. In fact, this is very likely the reason that TSR Games (Elliot) used a completely different logo from the 70s-90s ones.So if Hasbro were so inclined, they have multiple avenues to sue both TSR Games (Elliot) and TSR Games (LaNasa) because Hasbro owns TSR Inc (Gygax/Kaye/Blume). Doing so would make them look overly litigious and might cause PR issues for Wizards of the Coast, so the question will be whether they think the damage to their brand by consumer confusion between TSR Games (Elliot) or TSR Games (LaNasa) using the TSR trademark and TSR Games (LaNasa) using their copyrighted material is more than any damage from looking like a corporate bully.Again, this is all a general explanation of what's going on and I cannot repeat enough that intellectual property law is complicated.</blockquote>

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