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TSR3.5 Launches IndieGogo Campaign to "Stop" WotC
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<blockquote data-quote="see" data-source="post: 8480655" data-attributes="member: 10531"><p>If I understand trademark law correctly (maybe I don't, IANAL), it's not particularly murky.</p><p></p><p>Hasbro/WotC demonstrably was using the "TSR" mark in commerce (digital product and POD) continuously before, during, and since LaNasa/TSR3's first use (or USPTO filing), and therefore has priority over LaNasa/TSR3 on the mark. That the Hasbro/WotC registration lapsed doesn't change <em>that</em>, and neither does any older time period where Hasbro/WotC was not using the "TSR" mark in commerce.</p><p></p><p>Given those facts, at <em>worst</em> for Hasbro/WotC, since there was a period where two unconnected entities simultaneously used the "TSR" mark for game product (during the registered-by-TSR2 era), neither enforcing any claims against the other, the "TSR" mark has been genericized, and nobody can stop anyone from using it. Hasbro/WotC is free to keep using the "TSR" mark, TSR3 can use the "TSR" mark, and any other random person who wants to use the "TSR" mark can use the "TSR" mark. However, specific artwork renditions of the "TSR" mark remain under copyright, and given the registrations, are (in the absence of documentary evidence that the copyright registration was in error) definitively and exclusively owned by Hasbro/WotC, and Hasbro/WotC can stop people (including LaNasa/TSR3) from using those.</p><p></p><p>Under the same facts, at <em>best</em> for Hasbro/WotC, the direct corporate heirs of the original TSR (and the buyers of various rights from other people at the same time that WotC bought TSR), the lapse in registration and the period of use of the "TSR" mark by TSR2 didn't undermine their common-law trademark rights, and they can invoke them to prohibit LaNasa/TSR3 from using the "TSR" mark at all (over and above the copyright giving Hasbro/WotC exclusive control of the artistic renditions of TSR as a logo).</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="see, post: 8480655, member: 10531"] If I understand trademark law correctly (maybe I don't, IANAL), it's not particularly murky. Hasbro/WotC demonstrably was using the "TSR" mark in commerce (digital product and POD) continuously before, during, and since LaNasa/TSR3's first use (or USPTO filing), and therefore has priority over LaNasa/TSR3 on the mark. That the Hasbro/WotC registration lapsed doesn't change [I]that[/I], and neither does any older time period where Hasbro/WotC was not using the "TSR" mark in commerce. Given those facts, at [I]worst[/I] for Hasbro/WotC, since there was a period where two unconnected entities simultaneously used the "TSR" mark for game product (during the registered-by-TSR2 era), neither enforcing any claims against the other, the "TSR" mark has been genericized, and nobody can stop anyone from using it. Hasbro/WotC is free to keep using the "TSR" mark, TSR3 can use the "TSR" mark, and any other random person who wants to use the "TSR" mark can use the "TSR" mark. However, specific artwork renditions of the "TSR" mark remain under copyright, and given the registrations, are (in the absence of documentary evidence that the copyright registration was in error) definitively and exclusively owned by Hasbro/WotC, and Hasbro/WotC can stop people (including LaNasa/TSR3) from using those. Under the same facts, at [I]best[/I] for Hasbro/WotC, the direct corporate heirs of the original TSR (and the buyers of various rights from other people at the same time that WotC bought TSR), the lapse in registration and the period of use of the "TSR" mark by TSR2 didn't undermine their common-law trademark rights, and they can invoke them to prohibit LaNasa/TSR3 from using the "TSR" mark at all (over and above the copyright giving Hasbro/WotC exclusive control of the artistic renditions of TSR as a logo). [/QUOTE]
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TSR3.5 Launches IndieGogo Campaign to "Stop" WotC
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