Path: utzoo!utgpu!watserv1!watmath!att!bellcore!rutgers!usc!pollux.usc.edu!papa From: papa@pollux.usc.edu (Marco Papa) Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga Subject: Re: Tetris variants Message-ID: <25337@usc.edu> Date: 16 Jun 90 18:06:17 GMT References: <21774@snow-white.udel.EDU> <4091@milton.acs.washington.edu> Sender: news@usc.edu Organization: Felsina Software, Los Angeles, CA Lines: 28 In article sean@ms.uky.edu (Sean Casey) writes: >Saying "Clearly, something is true" doesn't make me any more convinced >one is speaking the truth. SH does not have a trademark on the game Tetrix, ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ >and thus haas no rights to protect. The name is "Tetris", not "Tetrix". Sean, it is clear you absolutely know nothing about trademarks. Changing a letter doesn't make much difference, because trademark law ensures that you are not trying to USE somebody else's name. Clearly anybody reading the name Tetrix will "associate" with "tetris" and that is enough for trademark infringement. ELORG HAS a trademark on the name Tetris, and that can be enforced with ALL other "similar" names for products of the same kind (i.e. computer games). If Tetrix was the name of a lawnmower, that would be different, but Tetrix, xtetris, textrix, and so on, do infringe on the Tetris trademark when used to identify computer games. Trademarks protect the "public association with the product name". That is, whenever a name can be associated with a "trademarked" one, there is possible infringement. Tetrix can clearly be associated with Tetris, and that is enough for infringment. -- Marco -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= "Xerox sues somebody for copying?" -- David Letterman -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=