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Zenimax files trademark for "Dragonborn"
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<blockquote data-quote="I'm A Banana" data-source="post: 5918705" data-attributes="member: 2067"><p>What are you a communist socialist secret muslim thief terrorist pirate scofflaw who hates creativity and wants to make the shareholders of Zenimax poor because their innovative creativity of calling something a "dragonborn" cannot be capitalized on in a free market without regulation and I am Taxed Enough Already and the government should get its hands off of my Medicare!</p><p></p><p>Wait...what?</p><p></p><p>Anyway, trademark =/= copyright. The big difference, from <a href="http://www.uspto.gov/faq/trademarks.jsp#_Toc275426672" target="_blank">my idiot's understanding</a>, is that a "trademark" just tells you that the particular product in question came from a particular producer -- it specifically identifies the source of a particular good.</p><p></p><p>So if someone used "dragonborn" in the title of a game after registering this, Zenimax might get huffy and claim that their trademark was violated: "Dragonborn is our trademark!" they huff. "Dragonborn = Zenimax!"</p><p></p><p>So if WotC published a computer game called "Rise of the Dragonborn," that might be problematic. It might not be, though: if the two are unlikely to be confused, Hasbro would probably have some sort of case (not that they'd pursue it). The fact that an Elder Scrolls dragonborn and a D&D dragonborn are pretty distinct would probably be a point in Hasbro's favor (even though the dragonborn I played in Skyrim was a reptile with mammaries...yay Argonian!): someone is unlikely to confuse a D&D dragonborn with a Zenimax dragonborn....though Zenimax might have a case, there.</p><p></p><p>If WotC published a computer game that just included the D&D dragonborn as a playable race, the only problems might be from an overly litigious Zenimax (which is a risk: Zenimax IS overly litigious!), but it's unlikely that they'd waste much time on it. </p><p></p><p>It's also possible that they'd be turned down due to the word "dragonborn" not being <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trademark_distinctiveness" target="_blank">distinctive</a> enough. Given how...pliable...the agencies that regulate these things are, I don't personally hold out much hope for that. Much more likely to be decided later in court when an overzealous Zenimax sues someone who isn't going to just settle and a fair court is all like "Hey! This word is waaaaaaay to general to specifically identify a Zenimax thing."</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="I'm A Banana, post: 5918705, member: 2067"] What are you a communist socialist secret muslim thief terrorist pirate scofflaw who hates creativity and wants to make the shareholders of Zenimax poor because their innovative creativity of calling something a "dragonborn" cannot be capitalized on in a free market without regulation and I am Taxed Enough Already and the government should get its hands off of my Medicare! Wait...what? Anyway, trademark =/= copyright. The big difference, from [URL="http://www.uspto.gov/faq/trademarks.jsp#_Toc275426672"]my idiot's understanding[/URL], is that a "trademark" just tells you that the particular product in question came from a particular producer -- it specifically identifies the source of a particular good. So if someone used "dragonborn" in the title of a game after registering this, Zenimax might get huffy and claim that their trademark was violated: "Dragonborn is our trademark!" they huff. "Dragonborn = Zenimax!" So if WotC published a computer game called "Rise of the Dragonborn," that might be problematic. It might not be, though: if the two are unlikely to be confused, Hasbro would probably have some sort of case (not that they'd pursue it). The fact that an Elder Scrolls dragonborn and a D&D dragonborn are pretty distinct would probably be a point in Hasbro's favor (even though the dragonborn I played in Skyrim was a reptile with mammaries...yay Argonian!): someone is unlikely to confuse a D&D dragonborn with a Zenimax dragonborn....though Zenimax might have a case, there. If WotC published a computer game that just included the D&D dragonborn as a playable race, the only problems might be from an overly litigious Zenimax (which is a risk: Zenimax IS overly litigious!), but it's unlikely that they'd waste much time on it. It's also possible that they'd be turned down due to the word "dragonborn" not being [URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trademark_distinctiveness"]distinctive[/URL] enough. Given how...pliable...the agencies that regulate these things are, I don't personally hold out much hope for that. Much more likely to be decided later in court when an overzealous Zenimax sues someone who isn't going to just settle and a fair court is all like "Hey! This word is waaaaaaay to general to specifically identify a Zenimax thing." [/QUOTE]
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Zenimax files trademark for "Dragonborn"
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