PlaneShift
Gameplay => General Discussion => Topic started by: Moogie on July 18, 2003, 03:48:36 am
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Hiya,
As a result of a Google images search of the word \'Planeshift\', I discovered something that could possibly mean this project\'s title has to change.
Apparently, there is a Magic the Gathering pack of the same name. I assume they have this trademark copyrighted.
Is anyone aware of this? Will this have an impact on the project, forcing us to change it\'s name? Or am I just worrying unneccessarily?
Thanks,
Moogie
[Edit: Apparently it\'s nothing to worry about. I don\'t believe that though :P]
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Yea, it\'s been talked about before...it\'s not a problem like it appears you were told, I think the reasons were because PS is free/open-source and something to do with dates...or maybe i\'m just an idiot and remembering something that didn\'t happen :)
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Planeshift was used by this project several years before it was used in that card game by WOTC. Thus we have prior use. I expect that shortly after we sue them, the black helicopters will encircle their headquarters and inform them that All their Base are belong to us!
It isn\'t an issue.
- Venge
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Originally posted by Vengeance
Planeshift was used by this project several years before it was used in that card game by WOTC. Thus we have prior use. I expect that shortly after we sue them, the black helicopters will encircle their headquarters and inform them that All their Base are belong to us!
It isn\'t an issue.
- Venge
The PS team has black helicopters at their disposal? Gotta get on the dev team... :)
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For great justice! :)
Thanks for that, Venge. You\'re the only one I can trust... *eyes the surroundings nervously*
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Would just like to point out that prior use of a title doesnt mean you own it, since you can only own a title if you fork out the money to have the name registered. So im affraid WOTC **would** own the title planeshift, there products name might be actualy more than just Planeshift but often companies will register the individual words of there products as well ie, \"Magic\", \"Magic the gathering\", \"Planeshift\" and \"Magic the Gathering: Planeshift\".
You also have to be carefull since some owners of copyrights are fanatical in there protection, point in case would be Anne McCarthy and the Pern books, heck i could get into trouble even mentioning those words on the net. They are so tight with there copyright they will and have filed law suits against those that even write fan stories or do \"Pern\" style dragons in there artwork. Although this behavioure seems thankfully rare. But being free and open source means nothing if those sueing you have the best lawyers and a ton of cash to back them up.
Be carefull
ps:- a piece of software i use had to have its name changed only a few months ago since a company bought the copyright to the name and ordered the software maker who is just a guy makeing the programme for fun and a little profit, to change the name or else... and hes had the name in use for 5 years now, sept he didnt have it registered as a copyright.
If you realy want to avoid trouble you should register/copyright the trademark, although Im unsure of the price to do so. Its not THAT expensive, but worth it in the end.
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why couldnt the game be called \"planetshift\"?
isn\'t that 10 times better than planeshift.
i mean, whatahell is plane shift?
p.s. when i searched for planeshift on google, i also got magic bull****, and i thought that this game is the result of that magic crap.
whata relief to read this thread
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Planetshift? There are no planets in the game, this is not Star Wars! Planeshift comes from the different \"planes\" in the game, which there are eight of, and you can travel, or even \"shift\" between them.
Simple!
P.S. I mean planes like a large flat open space, not the ones that you get deep vein thrombosis on, foolio.
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It wouldn\'t be the first time an Open Source project ran across IP laws. Its a shame really because some guy in Magic probably stole the name from you guys. I would definitely see about getting it trademarked or something.
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how would you go about copyrighting a name?
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I don\'t know, I really don\'t see it as a problem...they haven\'t done anything about the names yet, so why would they do it now? And if they do then PS can just change it\'s name, it\'s not like everyone is going to leave just because it is called something else...
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Not so sure Kiern, unfortunately.
Anyone knows this wonderful tool that was named Windows Commander (http://www.ghisler.com/) ? After several years, they had to change it because Microsoft noticed them, and the word \"Windows\" was in it.
Now it\'s called \"Total Commander\".
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I don\'t think it would be as simple as that. I can see alot of problems developing if PlaneShift had to change it\'s name, as simple as getting everyone on the Internet who have ever mentioned it to recognise the change and adjust aswell (I\'m talking about things such as fan/guild sites, reviews, etc).
[Edited to add: They\'d also need to buy a new website domain.]
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Sorry Bigfoot. Prior use always takes precedence over registration.
Windows isn\'t a valid trademark either. There was a major lawsuit just resolved recently over the clone product called \"Lindows\" and the court ruled against Microsoft saying they shouldn\'t have used a standard english word if they wanted to protect it.
- Venge
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yay ..... all is peaceful again! Hail Vengeance for his wise and great knowledge! lol =D
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I looked at the Magic the gathering website and it said all trademarks for their planeshift were coined in 2001. I can\'t remember exactly when our planeshift started life, but I think that was either 2000 or 2001 as well.
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Originally posted by lostprophet
Planetshift? There are no planets in the game, this is not Star Wars! Planeshift comes from the different \"planes\" in the game, which there are eight of, and you can travel, or even \"shift\" between them.
Simple!
P.S. I mean planes like a large flat open space, not the ones that you get deep vein thrombosis on, foolio.
The word Plane in PlaneShift is used in the contemporary English sense of distinct worlds, dimensions or places.
There are eight layers in the construct of Yliakum, the civilisation in the great stalectite under the surface in the homeworld of PlaneShift. However there could be less, or more than eight \"Planes\" in PlaneShift depending on how many the devs eventually implement.
There are planets in PlaneShift. They may not be visited and depicted in the same way as Starwars etc, but the Planes/places in PlaneShift are not just sitting in some obscure foundationless setting. The stalectite is in a giant cave underground in a planet. Some of the other \"Planes\" which will eventually be reachable through the portals etc., will be set on other planets; the planet of the Klyros or Diaboli. Others will be different parts of the homeworld.
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Originally posted by lostprophet
I looked at the Magic the gathering website and it said all trademarks for their planeshift were coined in 2001. I can\'t remember exactly when our planeshift started life, but I think that was either 2000 or 2001 as well.
Don\'t worry, \'our\' lovely Planeshift was started way, way before that ;)
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Hi,
the PlaneShift Team is not made by inexperienced people and we always take into serious account the legal part of our project. This means that we already discussed and resolved long time ago that kind of problems and several others.
The name PlaneShift is currently used by more than one company and more than one product, including us. With the difference that we have used it long way before the others. In most countries the commercial usage of a name is what matter most and so we have to move from 1992 (when I\'ve placed some web pages about PlaneShift 2D on the web) to 1996, when I\'ve partecipated to a roadshow of the 2d version of PlaneShift for it\'s commercial usage. The roadshow was part of a big convention and we have all the documentation needed to prove that.
So we have a solid base to use that name. The only usage done before that date (1996) is an AD&D spell named Plane Shift (Player\'s Handbook, 5th level priests), but in that case \"Plane\" and \"Shift\" are really two separate english words and not a single name. Also a spell doesn\'t represent a branding of any sort.
Hope this clears up the issue.
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wow - I never knew this game had been in \'development\' (for lack of a better word) for so long
Good Job
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The name \"PlaneShift\" (as we know it) if used prior to the release of \"Magic the Gathering: PlaneShift\" by the Developers would more than likely retain the right to the title, so it should not be an issue. Also, the game does not make any money, therefore, it is not for-profit. The only way \"Magic the Gathering\" may interfere with the title in anyway is if \"PlaneShift\" (as we know it) were making money and using copywritten/trademarked material by \"Magic the Gathering.\"
Essentially, what I am writing now is copywritten. You do not need to go the Federal government of any other agency to \"copywrite\" a work of literature or what not. Once the work is completed and distinguishable as your own, it is copywritted by the respected author.
-Kreigore