Trademarked Names
I don’t think the names are checked unless they are actually reported.
If no one reports, then no one cares. Basically the moderators are only gonna notice if someone tells them Frodo Baggins is trademarked, and someone has that name.
“A conquered people will always resist you,
Edair. But allies-allies will fight by your side”~Cobiah Mariner
Edair. But allies-allies will fight by your side”~Cobiah Mariner
must it be exact spelling to be banned ? what if the spelling is twisted a bit like Obby One Kennobi ?
Cutie Phantasmer/Farinas [HAX] – CD Casual
Archeage = Farmville with PK
Archeage = Farmville with PK
It’s the same reason some players are allowed to use certain names and others have almost identical names changed. The rules aren’t applied fairly at all.
must it be exact spelling to be banned ? what if the spelling is twisted a bit like Obby One Kennobi ?
https://www.guildwars2.com/en/legal/guild-wars-2-naming-policy/
The name policy has this about exact spellings:
“Use misspellings or alternative spellings of names that violate any of the above rules”
None of those are being used for business purposes (by the players), so Disney or whoever is unlikely to be able to sue, even if they wanted to. Especially since it’s obvious that the players are not mice, and are not affiliated with Disney.
The stuff in the ELUA is just kitten covering, in case ANet decides they want to ban a name. ANet probably has a million character names flagged for attention, they have better things to do.
yeah, probably. i’ve seen quite a few misspelled Cersei Lannister lately…..
Cutie Phantasmer/Farinas [HAX] – CD Casual
Archeage = Farmville with PK
Archeage = Farmville with PK
Somehow, I think the “mispellings and alternative spellings” rule is probably aimed more at lewd or offensive names, which make a pretty big part of the list.
Naming policy is a tricky business, even just looking at trademark violations. Obviously, they can’t automatically block every third-party trademark, so they write policy that lets them deal with it as-needed. It might seem arbitrary or inconsistent, but what system for dealing with it wouldn’t feel that way?
(Note: I don’t have any experience dealing with name changes, but it seems a strange place to complain about Anet being unfair. I mean, it’s not a rule they can apply universally, but it seems like a weird rule to play favorites with, which seems to be warduke’s accusation.)
~The Storyteller – Elementalist – Jade Quarry~
Arbitrarily applying a rules in their TOS for some players and not for others because the player isn’t using it for commerce or whatever other reason, even when it violates their very own naming policy opens up all sorts of possible manipulation and favoritism for certain players.
When a name gets reported it gets reviewed by a CS agent. If it is found to break the ToS they are forced to rename it before they are alowed to log in with that character.
It’s a bit like asking why police don’t ticket everyone who breaks the speed limit: They can’t, as a practical matter. Anet could hire someone to comb through lists of player names all day, flagging trademark violations, and they’d still miss a bunch, simply from human error or not being familiar with the trademark being violated.
While it’s certainly possible that a GM might let me slide with a character named “Harry Potter” if I’m a personal friend of theirs…is that a situation people think is common? It seems more likely to me that they focus their enforcement efforts on names that are offensive, reported, or otherwise particularly problematic. Naming policy violations are always going to slip through, and they can’t catch them all.
I mean, corrupt enforcement of the naming policy is certainly possible, but I can’t say I’m worried that it’s an actual problem.
~The Storyteller – Elementalist – Jade Quarry~
None of those are being used for business purposes (by the players), so Disney or whoever is unlikely to be able to sue, even if they wanted to. Especially since it’s obvious that the players are not mice, and are not affiliated with Disney.
You might be surprised. Here’s a bit of history for you: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/City_of_Heroes#Suit_by_Marvel
The important part here is that if someone makes a copyright copy character in a game and it’s found out about by the copyright holder, they might feel they NEED to sue to protect that copyright, even if such a lawsuit is not reasonable.
As a fun side note, on one server there was a character named “Harry Dresden”. He had his name taken from him more than once, and had to file with support to get it restored each time. It seems Jim Butcher didn’t like having his personal character renamed.
Sarcasm, delivered with a
delicate, brick-like subtlety.
delicate, brick-like subtlety.
Interestingly the names Areanet, Ncsoft, Disney, Nike, Toyota, Pepsi, Coca Cola are taken and not banned either.
(edited by NightWalker.1405)
None of those are being used for business purposes (by the players), so Disney or whoever is unlikely to be able to sue, even if they wanted to. Especially since it’s obvious that the players are not mice, and are not affiliated with Disney.
You might be surprised. Here’s a bit of history for you: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/City_of_Heroes#Suit_by_Marvel
The important part here is that if someone makes a copyright copy character in a game and it’s found out about by the copyright holder, they might feel they NEED to sue to protect that copyright, even if such a lawsuit is not reasonable.
As a fun side note, on one server there was a character named “Harry Dresden”. He had his name taken from him more than once, and had to file with support to get it restored each time. It seems Jim Butcher didn’t like having his personal character renamed.
All the trademark claims in that suit were dismissed, because there was no commercial use.
It’s correct that companies do need to enforce trademarks, and often sue just to avoid losing trademarks.
Ironically, what was eventually settled in the lawsuit were some copyright issues, and you don’t actually need to keep suing to avoid losing a copyright.
Here is an official response regarding Trademark/Copyright names:
If the copyright owner contacted us to ask for a change, we would accommodate that request. Those of us choosing character names do not “own” them, nor have a copyright on them. Therefore, someone who does pay the fees and files the documents gets precedence.
Naturally, if someone uses a name that is already bound by copyright, the same process would apply.
Our practice with names has changed to be kinder and gentler than it once was for first offenders. In most cases, if someone has a disallowed name, we will simply flag the name for rename but we will not place the account under suspension for the first offense. The player must rename to access the character, but he/she can play without a time-out. If someone chooses an offensive re-name, or uses offensive names in the future, then he or she would be subject to suspension(s).
So in this case, if someone copyrights a term and it becomes bound by law with a corporate or individual Intellectual Property, we’ll handle it with a rename but not penalty.
Here is an official response regarding Trademark/Copyright names:
If the copyright owner contacted us to ask for a change, we would accommodate that request. Those of us choosing character names do not “own” them, nor have a copyright on them. Therefore, someone who does pay the fees and files the documents gets precedence.
Naturally, if someone uses a name that is already bound by copyright, the same process would apply.
Our practice with names has changed to be kinder and gentler than it once was for first offenders. In most cases, if someone has a disallowed name, we will simply flag the name for rename but we will not place the account under suspension for the first offense. The player must rename to access the character, but he/she can play without a time-out. If someone chooses an offensive re-name, or uses offensive names in the future, then he or she would be subject to suspension(s).
So in this case, if someone copyrights a term and it becomes bound by law with a corporate or individual Intellectual Property, we’ll handle it with a rename but not penalty.
That seems to cover more if a term becomes copyrighted/trademarked after you used the name compared to if the name is already copyrighted/trademarked.
All the trademark claims in that suit were dismissed, because there was no commercial use.
It’s correct that companies do need to enforce trademarks, and often sue just to avoid losing trademarks.
Ironically, what was eventually settled in the lawsuit were some copyright issues, and you don’t actually need to keep suing to avoid losing a copyright.
Ah, I always get Trademark and Copyright mixed up. Sorry.
The point still stands, though. A MMO was taken to court over people making copies of known characters that belonged to other people. One of the companies that had to defend themselves was NCSoft, who “owns” Arena Net.
NCSoft will not take kindly the idea of one of their game studios letting bad names slide and running the risk of another lawsuit.
Sarcasm, delivered with a
delicate, brick-like subtlety.
delicate, brick-like subtlety.