Re: Re: will everyone concerned about copyright please read this

>
> I think it is actually more common for trademark /not/ to be registered
> than to /be/ registered. Look around you. Every time you see a little
> (TM) what you're seeing is someone saying "I claim this word or phrase
> as my trademark, but I probably haven't registered it." The circle(R)
> (®) means "I've registered this trademark." Which do you think is more
> common?
>

Still, that leaves you with publicly proclaiming every singe one as
trademarked...and all the crap that comes with it. It's not that I'm
unfamiliar with this process, but I've seen how it plays out, and it's not
pretty, thanks. From what I've heard from legal counsel, it's NOT sufficient
to simply put that trademark line in the books. Were it so, life would be
much easier.


>
>
> To my knowledge, trademarks never expire, so long as they continue to be
> actively used to identify a specific tradesperson.
>


They can be declared "abandoned." I'm not fully conversant with what causes
this. I know you can elect to, but I also know it can be considered
abandoned if, I believe, the company has been out of business for X years
and other variables apply. So, what happens if the author dies? Does that
start the clock for "out of business?" I'm not a trademark lawyer, so I
don't know how it works, per se. Never thought to ask that particular
question.

I do know of authors who are deceased but have their surviving family making
deals on their IP now. Do you have to have a person of note to be doing this
to keep protections? If anyone knows, I'd love to hear the answer.

Beyond that, you mentioned confusion in the marketplace. That's a major
issue, especially with world names and character names. I've seen some
really stretching "it could be confused" complaints in my time that the
lawyers agreed should simply be changed to avoid litigation. Amusingly, one
of them we had to change, but I'm aware of another that predates the use by
that company that would force THEM to change, should the third company
choose to get picky with them. Beyond that, there are only so many
letters/sounds and ways to put them together. When you're creating world
words/alien names, chances are that someone else out there has created
something close enough to be considered possibly confusing. If you can't
protect it because of this problem, this system has little or no value to
me.

And I still fail to see how this is better than copyright. You'll have to
work harder to prove that to me.


> If I were counsel for that gaming company that is creating a game based
> on your Great American Novel, I'd be counseling them very hard to get an
> assignment of all your trademarks, as from a business perspective they
> are far more valuable that any copyrights. If I were your counsel I
> would recommend that you stick to your story that an assignment of
> copyright is the only thing they need, because from a business
> perspective the trademarks are far more valuable, and you want to keep
> us much value for yourself as you can.
>

While I find your sarcasm rude (probably because I am currently discussing
gaming rights for two of my worlds, which may admittedly be coincidence that
you were not aware of), I will concede that the gaming is slightly different
than the novel version.

Brenna
-- 
http://www.brennalyons.com    http://www.facebook.com/brenna.lyons
"Maybe they were counting on my feminine sensibilities to keep me from
killing my little charge. They were wildly mistaken. I could have gleefully
killed the little twerp. I could have smiled and whistled while I did it and
roasted marshmallows on his pyre." MONSTERS OF MYTH


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