Little Ball of Hate

Anyone know anything about trademark law? My question is...Do these laws apply if you wanted to use a name for, say a book, that was already taken by a video game; or something similar? Example...There is a video game called Spellslinger. Could someone write a book, and use that as a title? I'm guessing it would be OK, as long as the book did not copy any of the game content. Is this correct?

JW

Regarding trademark infringement:
http://www3.ce9.uscourts.gov/jury-instructions/node/233

Little Ball of Hate

That didn't answer my question. I may be using the wrong term. Is the title of a book considered a trademark? Or does that fall under a different category. Also, does the law apply if the trademark, or wh**ever, apply to two completely different types of product? It mentioned something about confusion as a result of using another's trademark. Would that law apply to a computer game and a book having the same title? I also think that a disclaimer might alter the legality. For instance, if you put a disclaimer in the book, stating that it has nothing to do with the game, would that protect you legally?

JW

Read just the top few lines on the page. That should answer your question. It describes what is infringement. Book titles are copyrighted so they are different than trademarks but the infringement rules could possibly be applied.

Boo_Boo Loc: Jellystone

Some book titles are trademarked, like Hardy Boys, Chicken Soup for .... , or even those silly books for "Dummies." So to answer your question..... be careful because some people do apply and receive intellectual protection. Rule of thumb, trademark law protects words, slogans, logos and even designs that identify the source of goods or services. Do not confuse this with copy-write laws, those are horses of a different giant. Copy-write laws do not protect book titles, it only protects "original works of authorship." That means that the content, to include characters, are protected. What this means, if the author applied for and received a trademark, then someone else can not use that title for a video game or to market an invention. But, if they do not apply or are denied a trademark, and only have copy-write, then a video game can use the same name because it would not be considered unique or original, regardless of how cleverly it is named. However, the characters, other than historical figures, of the book can not be used or portions of the book can not be used without giving credit. In either case, the author must make an application for protection under either copy-write or trademark.... publishers do not do this for you. Your last question.... no a disclaimer does not relieve an individual of legal obligation to the original author. You can get around this by simply writing to the original author and asking permission.... this normally comes with a price tag, like a percentage of the sales.... if you plan to do this make it a low offer like 1 percent and have them come back with their counter offer...but, do not ever go above 10 percent.

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Little Ball of Hate

I think it helped. Damn lawyers. Anyway, the term spellslinger is pretty generic. I don't think it would be a problem, as long as the content of the book was original. In any event, I was thinking about co-writing a novel by that name. It's going to be a Fantasy/Western comedy. Hey! Here's a thought. I could probably avoid trademark infringement if I titled it "THE Spellslinger".

Boo_Boo Loc: Jellystone

If you are unsure... I suggest you go to http://www.uspto.gov/trademarks-application-process/search-trademark-database and do a search.... this will help in finding any books or games by the name spellslinger... Good luck with the book.... ~~!!!

Kevyn

Trademark and copyright are two different things, I believe you are dealing with a copyright issue trademark deals more with specific brand identification. I believe you would likely have a problem if the originator of the copyright found out and told you to stop using their name. If you are successful this can be costly and if you choose to defend your use it is all done in Federal court with very expensive lawyers. Also the damages are statute rather than compensatory meaning the plantif does not need to show damages for you to be charged a pile of money.

lpnmajor Loc: Arkansas

Trademarks, patent and copy right are different things. COCA COLA is a trademark, so you can use the word in a book, but cannot title your book Coca Cola without permission from Coca Cola and they would automatically own the book as well as all proceeds from it's sale. You can write code for a new video game, but if you use any proprietary code that has been patented, you must buy a license from the patent holder. As for copy write, that refers to content, so you can have a book titled "Spellslinger", write a song titled "Spellslinger" or anything else - as long as none of the content refers to anything in the videogame of the same title. As an example, if the videogame has "spellslingers", i.e., magic users, you can refer to other magic users as "spell slingers" and not be in trouble. If the game has a character named "Spellslinger", the book cannot have a character named "Spellslinger", as that would be considered proprietary, nor can the book be about the video game, without specific permission from the copyright holder.


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Little Ball of Hate

Yes. That's why I think I can get away with calling it 'the Spellslinger', instead of just spellslinger.

lindajoy Loc: right here with you....

Not really sure what you want to know..Maybe you will find what your looking for here??

Trademarks protect the owner, can be used under same name if the product is diverse enough from the original...

A title of a book to a game, may imply the game is from the book and creates too much confusion or misleads unintentionally..

What are you trying to achieve in the protection dept??
Is the trademark what your after or something else??

http://www.bitlaw.com/trademark/common.html

Little Ball of Hate

I think I got it figured out. I believe calling it THE Spellslinger instead of Spellslinger, will avoid any problems. And even though the book would be similar in genre to the game, the story would be original.

lindajoy Loc: right here with you....

It may, but then again very close to the book which still may to the dept cause rejection..Presumably your design of the game would be different from the book in appearance??

Little Ball of Hate

I'm not designing a game. I'm writing a book. And spellslinger refers to an occupation, whereas THE Spellslinger refers to a person. I believe I would be on solid legal ground using that. And like I said, spellslinger is a generic term. Similar to spear chucker. I don't believe you can copyright a word that is already in existence, unless you use it with other words, thus creating original content. Am I correct?

lindajoy Loc: right here with you....

Yes, you are right...Generic term does not matter, if used by someone else regardless of the word, and it is copyright already, you will not be approved to use it...

If different intent, different substance different in appearance, then, yes you may..