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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Doug Sundseth" data-source="post: 3796967" data-attributes="member: 52196">First, let me say that I am not a lawyer; this is my layman's understanding of the current state of the law.  Do not rely upon anything here to make legal decisions.  If you need legal advice about trademarks, talk to a lawyer who specializes in that arcane field. Not necessarily.  It is a violation of a trademark to "trade upon" a trademark you don't own or have some rights to.  What exactly "trade upon" means is very fact-specific.  (See also, "fair use" of a copyright.)If you make a true statement, don't use the trademark to draw customers to your product, and don't represent yourself as the owner of the trademark, you can probably say exactly that without any permission being required.  The trick comes in deciding where the line between information and promotion lies.  The original agreement between Mayfair and TSR addressed exactly this line.  Mayfair had a license from TSR to use the trademarks of TSR in very specific ways.Mayfair wasn't the only company that sold products that were noted on the packaging as being compatible with D&D.  (I worked for someone who sold similar products; hence the specific knowledge in this case.)  TSR had the money to buy lawyers and intimidated some companies into compliance; Darwin and Peter, though, had their own money, and IIRC were/are both lawyers, which rather changes that particular equation.If I understand the caselaw correctly, posting a statement in such a way that it isn't likely to draw the attention of a consumer passing by is unlikely to be a trademark violation, in the same way as saying that a specific replacement carburetor will work on a '72 Camaro isn't a violation of the trademark of Chevrolet.Copyright (note: not "copywrite"), patent, and trademark cover very different things (as you perhaps know, though others don't).  The use of "compatible with" or the use of logos, etc., falls directly into trademark law.Again, I am not a lawyer in any jurisdiction.  The above should not be relied upon as legal advice of any sort.</blockquote>

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