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Geek Culture / is the word tycoon or sim copy writed ?

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Supremacy
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Posted: 30th Oct 2004 19:38
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can i use the prefix sim or sufix tycoon at my description ?

like, can i make a "darkbasic tyccon" , or ill be facing law suits ?

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EddieB
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Posted: 30th Oct 2004 20:00 Edited at: 30th Oct 2004 20:03
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Try getting hold of the comany's.

I know lots of games with them names
School tycoon
rolacoaster tycoon
seaworld tycoon

sim ant
sim safarie
etc.

Myned my spelling.

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Philip
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Posted: 30th Oct 2004 21:52
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No, names cannot be copyrighted.

You might inadvertantly find yourself infringing somebody else's trademark but thats a separate matter.

Philip

What do you mean, bears aren't supposed to wear hats and a tie? P3.2ghz / 1 gig / GeForce FX 5900 128meg / WinXP home
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IanM
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Posted: 30th Oct 2004 22:25
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... and be careful not to associate your games with the games of other companies that have similar names.

I've decided not to market my own 'DirkBasic semi-professional' after consulation with Philip

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Dave J
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Posted: 30th Oct 2004 23:38
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Quote: "I've decided not to market my own 'DirkBasic semi-professional' after consulation with Philip "


So that means I can now use it, right?


"Computers are useless they can only give you answers."
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OSX Using Happy Dude
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Posted: 31st Oct 2004 00:05
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Dont think its ready yet - wait a few minutes whilst bugs are added, and then ask again...

He who knows the cat becomes his slave; he who knows the dog becomes his King.
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Andy
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Posted: 31st Oct 2004 00:20
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>can i use the prefix sim or sufix tycoon at my description ?

Perhaps.

>like, can i make a "darkbasic tyccon" , or ill be facing law suits ?

Don't take legal advice from the internet. You don't see many IP lawyers around here, and even if you did they wouldn't advise you over the internet.

A lawsuit is not just a question of winning or losing, indeed it is often more about putting pressure on the other side. Many people have learned the hard way that 'might makes right', and have had to bow out.

On http://www.uspto.gov you can search for registered trademarks, but be aware that you may still be in trouble.

Andy
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Ian T
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Posted: 31st Oct 2004 00:29
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Quote: "Don't take legal advice from the internet. You don't see many IP lawyers around here"


Hehe... you'd be surprised

Sim stands for simulation and tycoon is a common English word; neither can be trademarked/copyrighted/reserved. As long as you made it clear you weren't affiliated with-- what is it, EA?-- and didn't directly steal a name (Sim City, The Sim) then you're probably safe. If you turn out to be incredibly popular they might threaten to beat you up for using something like 'Sim Alien Park' because of the similarity to their line of games, in which case you'd simply need a good lawyer-- you'd still have the right of it.


Here we go again!
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Mentor
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Posted: 31st Oct 2004 01:08
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I recall UFO enemy unclothed from my Amiga days, complete with the X-pants organisation , it was almost an exact copy of UFO enemy unknown, but based on hunting down flashers in a town and forcing them to wear trousers (ok...so the Amiga community is a bit odd ) , there where also several games that where copies of PC games, they seemed to be ignored, there where a couple of good indi coders on the Amiga scene too (can anyone remember Daisy software and Sneetch?), umm starting to ramble, will shut up.

Mentor.

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Teh Go0rfmeister
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Posted: 31st Oct 2004 01:26
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sim is copyrighted. i tried to get a user name on the sims website yrs ago with the name "simreaper" and it wouldnt let me cos "sim" was copyrighted.

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Ilya
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Posted: 31st Oct 2004 01:28
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You can't copyright names.

Quote: "I've seen the word programming and I'm not sure what it means. Anybody please explain?"


Quote: "We shouldn't sacrifice the truth to preserve "balance"."
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David T
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Posted: 31st Oct 2004 01:32
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You can trademark however.

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Teh Go0rfmeister
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Posted: 31st Oct 2004 01:34
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ok, i'll rephrase what i said by adding an "according to maxis" in the middle of the sentance

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Ilya
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Posted: 31st Oct 2004 01:18
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end.

Quote: "I've seen the word programming and I'm not sure what it means. Anybody please explain?"


Quote: "We shouldn't sacrifice the truth to preserve "balance"."
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Andy
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Posted: 31st Oct 2004 05:27
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>Hehe... you'd be surprised

Not really.

>Sim stands for simulation and tycoon is a common English word;

True.

>neither can be trademarked/copyrighted/reserved.

True, and yet Microsoft did exactly that.

>As long as you made it clear you weren't affiliated with-- what is
>it, EA?-- and didn't directly steal a name (Sim City, The Sim) then
>you're probably safe.

*Propably*

>If you turn out to be incredibly popular they might threaten to
>beat you up for using something like 'Sim Alien Park' because of
>the similarity to their line of games, in which case you'd simply
>need a good lawyer-- you'd still have the right of it.

But when would you be able to 'have the right of it'... I know two people who were dragged through lawsuits even though they were right all along. Being sued is not funny and places an enourmous strain on your life...

Andy
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Eric T
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Posted: 31st Oct 2004 05:33 Edited at: 31st Oct 2004 05:33
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Actually there was a lawyer that posted in this thread, gave a talk at the convention on Copyright(or as Raven would say CopyWrite) law.


http://www.liquidzsnake.dbspot.com/StairwayToHell.txt
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Philip
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Posted: 31st Oct 2004 06:50
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But we don't know who he is. Could be anyone. At a wild guess, I'd imagine he's lying low at the moment because RobK is making a game called "Lawyer Hunter 2".

Not_Presently_Philip

What do you mean, bears aren't supposed to wear hats and a tie? P3.2ghz / 1 gig / GeForce FX 5900 128meg / WinXP home
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Jeku
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Posted: 31st Oct 2004 07:06
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THere's no way "tycoon" can be copyrighted, because it's a word. "Sim", on the other hand, is short-hand for simulation, and so IANAL but I think it *is* copyright EA.


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Andy
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Posted: 31st Oct 2004 09:54
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>THere's no way "tycoon" can be copyrighted, because it's a word.

Agree and yet Microsoft managed to trademark 'Windows'

I am simply saying that if you mess with EA, then you're going to get hurt. You are saying 'the consequences be damned', if it's legal then do it.

Andy
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the_winch
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Posted: 31st Oct 2004 09:07
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If EA decide they want to throw their weight around it's easy enough just to change the game name and avoid any trouble. Most people here make games for a hobby so it's not really that much trouble to change the name of the game.

the default IDE sucks
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Oneka
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Posted: 31st Oct 2004 09:10
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okie so I want copyright the name Oneka but this stands in the way http://www.oneka.com/ can I do it?


Making better games everday!
Oh yeah and just so you know its Oh-nek-a not One-ka!
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Supremacy
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Posted: 31st Oct 2004 09:45
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ok, the word tycoon was the one that really interested me, ill use it, thanks guys.

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Dave J
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Posted: 31st Oct 2004 14:26
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Well I know a few games were forced to change their name because they used the 'tris' suffix and were similar in style to Tetris. Tris isn't a real word though.

I can guarantee that you wouldn't win if you used 'Sim' and Maxis cared enough to take you to court. It's used in the same way (prefix) and it's a computer game, the court would definately see it as you trying to benfit from the fame of the 'Sim' name.


"Computers are useless they can only give you answers."
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