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Trademarks And Tribbles...


maksw
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Bah.

 

http://dominion.maksw.com/2013/05/11/mak-studios-publically-acknowledges-a-potential-trademark-infringement-against-dominion/

 

"It's a sad truth - but it seems we've unwittingly fallen foul of the Trademark and Patents legislation.

 

"Dominion" is in use by Rio Grande Games for their card game and is apparently a pending trademark in the Video Games category.

 

As a consequence - they have (through their lawyers) requested us to cease and desist from using their pending trademark for our product."

 

 

Grumble, moan, complain... ah well, suggestions for a new name are welcome 😉

 

 


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Cody
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Would Dominium be too close to Dominion? I expect it would, somehow. <chortles>


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DarkOne
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Well that puts a wrench into your plans a little Maksw. At least it was caught now and not after release or significant funding was put into branding the game name. But as always its tough to get a game name noticed and get momentum behind it so its almost like you have to start your efforts over again.

 

Hmmm a new name, I was reading through the back story again and nothing really came to me, I think I would need to know more about the universe itself. But I would pick a contested area in 'Dominion' now and use that name or maybe tack on the word 'Wars' at the end of it for good measure.


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Pinback
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Can you get around it by adding a  subtitle like Dominion - Star Trader?.


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Geraldine
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I made a suggestion on the ks page, but yes having to change the name just when the project is starting to make steady progress is annoying.


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maksw
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Cheers everyone 🙂 I'd explored "Dominion - something of the something" - there are plenty of variations already out there. "Fall of Dominion" and of course ST:DS9 "The Dominion Wars"...

 

But, legal fear makes me want to steer clear for some reason!

 

Yes D1 - it's better now than after we're a product! 

 

I'm checking all the great suggestions out - but so far every one has a trademark on it somewhere, or used somewhere else... 🙁 Anyone know the latin for "Dominion"? 😀


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maksw
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Ha! Cody! You beat me to it 😀 

 

Dominion - Latin = Dominium!

 

It'd skip the trademark... but most wouldn't understand and confuse it with a typo 🙂


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Cody
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... but most wouldn't understand and confuse it with a typo

 

Ha... lawyers would understand it (not that I'm a lawyer).

I ain't so sure that it would be confused with a typo, though... hmm.


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maksw
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Np Cody - believe me, "Dominium" is on the list 😉

 

Stella Dominatus

 

🙂

 

Dominium Stellato (sounds like an italian ice cream!)


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Cody
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Heh... you gotta be careful with Latin. Astrum/Astra could be used too.

 

In which sense were you using dominion - as in a dominion, or as in the power of dominion?


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maksw
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"A" Dominion - kind of. The essence is the galaxy itself is called "Dominion" - being the realm / volume of space everything is in. There's a deeper backstory to it, but don't want to reveal just yet.

 

You win the day for now at least Cody 🙂 Dominium is the least amount of change to the art work to get me off the radar, and there are no trademarks I can find - or video games - using it.

 

I'm just re-cutting everything artwise to see how it fits. 😉


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Cody
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Well, it's a good placeholder anyway. In the case of a dominion, dominium is not quite as suitable, as it implies a power over something.

It's really legal Latin - but wtf, hey? As for an add-on - a date can be useful: Dominion 3200AD, for example.


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Geraldine
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Well I love it, sounds all official and important. Well done Cody!    Y'know this could have implications for the game content too by naming some things in Latin. Might give the game a sort of "ancient Roman's became a space-faring empire" type feel and just as their legacy is still felt in our own western architecture and language today, so it might also be true of the future?

 

Incidentally, my knackered memory just threw up a 30 year recollection of a story in the UK sci-fi comic 2000AD were the Roman Empire never fell and instead, went to the stars. Although the idea has also been done before in Star Trek and the book Empire of The Atom even before that.

 

Just my mad thoughts!


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Cody
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Might give the game a sort of "ancient Roman's became a space-faring empire" type feel and just as their legacy is still felt in our own western architecture and language today, so it might also be true of the future?

 

It's a nice idea, but I'd be wary of it - Romans in Space has been done many times, in many ways.

But the occasional use of Latin naming is very appealing, I must admit.


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maksw
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I'm a fan of Latin myself - I don't know it anywhere well as much as I'd like - but it does have that air of sophisticated mystique. That's probably a sad way to categorise a noble language I guess!

 

Although I wouldn't theme the game on it (sorry Geraldine 🙂 ) I can't see why there can't be a "Roman" stylised race lurking somewhere in Dominium waiting to be found 😉

 

The main player in the game's story is an Empire after all...


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maksw
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Well, it's a good placeholder anyway. In the case of a dominion, dominium is not quite as suitable, as it implies a power over something.

It's really legal Latin - but wtf, hey? As for an add-on - a date can be useful: Dominion 3200AD, for example.

 

 

Ok - that's something to bear in mind. It does sort of fit... or can be made to fit - the Empires power over the Dominion Galaxy = Dominium. But, I don't like things that "squeak" by, I prefer them to fit comfortably where possible. We'll see how it goes anyway. As you say, wtf 🙂 It's a game name. The date idea is a good one, sadly in the game context it would be "Dominion 24,000 AD"! Not one to roll off the tongue 😉 Hmm, but then "D24"... 

 

I could probably think about this too much 😉 Anyway - day saved there Cody, and I forgot to pimp Oolite off the back of the update! Nice looking normal mapped Cobra btw 😉 


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Cody
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Nice looking normal mapped Cobra btw

 

You mean the Cobra III on the oolite.org page (from my sig)? Griff does beautiful work on ship textures.

That one is an older model though - I fly one of these now. Custom paint-job and decals, of course!


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