DragonQuest Trademark

["rthorm" <rthorm@cornellbox.com>]

--- In dq-rules@yahoogroups.com, "Stephen Johnson" <HeadsUpNow@w...>
wrote:
> dbarrass_2000 wrote...
> 
> > I'd like to discuss some fundamentals first
> >
> > What is this new DQ to be called, presumably DragonQuest itself is
> > TMed up to the hilt
> 	Good Point, the means a new name for it.
> 

In fact, as best I have been able to determine, the trademark for
DragonQuest referring to a role-playing game has lapsed.  Trademarks
are much more volatile than copyrights, and must be actively used and
defended in order to remain valid.

This is, in my opinion, why TSR produced a board game called
"DragonQuest" a few years after they published the 3rd Ed of DQ.  They
wanted to keep the name, but they shifted it to another product. 
Close enough that no one else could produce a game called DragonQuest,
but taking the 'real' DragonQuest off the market.

I've done some research on the "DragonQuest" trademark, as well. 
Again, let me be clear that I am not a lawyer, and my research has not
been exhaustive.  But I have used the database of the USTPO, and all
that I have found seems to indicate that the trademark is dead.

Not only has nothing been done by Hasbro/WotC/TSR with the name
"DragonQuest" for many years, but, the people who *have* been trading
using the name "DragonQuest" are people like myself with DragonQuest
groups and the Newsletter and JohnR (who registered dragonquest.org)
and the like.  We of the DragonQuest community are the active users of
the name "DragonQuest."  

Read the attached bit about trademark attached to the end of this.  It
has certainly been more than ten years since there was any use of
"DragonQuest" to represent a role-playing game.  Even TSR's
"DragonQuest" board game (released in 1992) was most likely out of
catalog by 1994.  It's quite clear to me that no one else holds a
competing claim to the DragonQuest trademark.

  --Rodger Thorm

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Source: Department of Commerce, Patent and Trademark Office.

A trademark may be defined as a word, letter, device, or symbol, as
well as any combination of these, that is used in connection with
merchandise and that points distinctly to the origin of the goods.

Certificates of registration of trademarks are issued under the seal
of the Patent and Trademark Office and may be registered by the owner
if he or she is engaged in interstate or foreign commerce. Federal
jurisdiction over trademarks arises under the commerce clause of the
Constitution. Effective Nov. 16, 1989, applications to register may
also be based on a "bona fide intention to use the mark in commerce."
Trademarks may be registered by foreign owners who comply with U.S.
law, as well as by citizens of foreign countries with which the United
States has treaties relating to trademarks. American citizens may
register trademarks in foreign countries by complying with the laws of
those countries. The right to registration and protection of
trademarks in many foreign countries is guaranteed by treaties.

General jurisdiction in trademark cases involving Federal
Registrations is given to federal courts. Adverse decisions of
examiners on applications for registration are appealable to the
Trademark Trial and Appeal Board, whose affirmances and decisions in
inter partes proceedings are subject to court review. Before adopting
a trademark, a person should make a search of prior marks to avoid
unwittingly infringing upon them.

The duration of a trademark registration is ten years, but it may be
renewed indefinitely for 10-year periods, provided the trademark is
still in use at the time of expiration.

The application fee for registering is $325 per class.

(http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0002115.html)