I haven't forgotten this: - Page 2

beekergunship · 2011-07-10, 02:46 PM

Dear Osama: please, sir, don't be mad at us. We want you to be happy and feel good.

Um. No. I'm a veteran who was at Tora Bora skipping 105's into caves. Sorry to get internet tough guy on you but I have a serious point:

So what if there is a Planetside 3? And they want to be trendy and call it Planetside Universe, a la Tribes Universe, are you saying they are within their rights to just seize this site on a whim? That doesn't seem right.

When they said they were going to have an API available to accommodate applications I seriously thought of developing one. But if I'm going to be sued for looking at Sony the wrong way, screw it.

Volw · 2011-07-10, 02:51 PM

Originally Posted by beekergunship

Um. No. I'm a veteran who was at Tora Bora skipping 105's into caves. Sorry to get internet tough guy on you but I have a serious point:

So what if there is a Planetside 3? And they want to be trendy and call it Planetside Universe, a la Tribes Universe, are you saying they are within their rights to just seize this site on a whim? That doesn't seem right.

When they said they were going to have an API available to accommodate applications I seriously thought of developing one. But if I'm going to be sued for looking at Sony the wrong way, screw it.

No it won't. PSU would not be considered as a cybersquatter.

Cybersquatting - the practice of registering an internet domain name that is likely to be wanted by another person, business, or organization in the hope that it can be sold to them for a profit

Gwartham · 2011-07-10, 03:15 PM

Yah not for sure what world the op lives in, or maybe its because I deal with this stuff all day, but to me thats just a standard cya cybersquatting letter.

beekergunship · 2011-07-10, 03:32 PM

Definitely not in a world where I deal with cease and desist letters all day. So, this isn't so obvious to me. I do live in a world where you catch more customers using molasses instead of vinegar.

Another question: if back in 2005-ish Planetside2.com was registered as a site where fans of Planetside could discuss what might have been like the Idea Labs, with certainty that SOE was not going to develop another PS game. A fan-fiction site, if you will. Would that still be considered cyber-squatting or fair use?

It seems people in the IP business are commenting on this thread, so educate me.

Gwartham · 2011-07-10, 03:49 PM

There has to be a "bad faith" contingency associated with the claim, generally associated with either attempting to profit directly from the trademark, or what we run into more commonly which is domain blackmailing.

As a general rule tho, anything associated with what could be associated with a trademark and a potential sequel to that trademark is generally not a good idea to attempt to register.

Fact is most major companies register their domains via special companies that also work on the companies behalf to protect the companies trademark, and these companies will immediately go after anything they see as a potential trademark infringement without even consulting the originating company.

Prime example markmonitor.com

Volw · 2011-07-10, 03:58 PM

I'm not a professional, just deal with a lot of patent attorneys and corporate lawyers (sadly).

Firstly, it's using a name that is trademark protected, so it could be pretty much taken down based on this fact only. It's like naming a website microsoft2.com

Obviously the intent could be used as a mitigating circumstance, however, it would be hard to justify why the owner of the domain assumed no sequel would be made only two years after release.

Gwartham · 2011-07-10, 04:09 PM

You also have to remember that all these ICANN laws and policies are in place because of the shit that has happened in the past.

It was a very common thing in the early days of domain registration to buy up a ton of domain names and then before the laws you could blackmail companies into paying large sums of money for that domain.

Fact is ignorant people still do this today, hence why generally the cease letters are pretty strong.

Firefly · 2011-07-10, 04:12 PM

Originally Posted by beekergunship

Um. No. I'm a veteran who was at Tora Bora

What a small world.

Originally Posted by beekergunship

And they want to be trendy and call it Planetside Universe, a la Tribes Universe, are you saying they are within their rights to just seize this site on a whim? That doesn't seem right.

That's almost exactly what I'm saying. If I went out and made a website called "planetside5.com", I'd be getting my asshole ready for some C&D sodomy. Just because it's not a touchy-feely "lemme stroke your dick" letter doesn't mean it's not perfectly within SOE's right. You think SOE is bad? Try Games Workshop. I got a C&D from them for making a Space Marine costume until I explained that it was for personal and private use, and there was no way in hell I was making a dime off it. They don't fuck around. A C&D is a warning shot across the bow - you don't use flowery speech when you're about to go to war.

Originally Posted by Volw

Obviously the intent could be used as a mitigating circumstance, however, it would be hard to justify why the owner of the domain assumed no sequel would be made only two years after release.

It would be virtually impossible. Pretty much everyone presumed there would be some sort of sequel.

Gwartham · 2011-07-10, 04:19 PM

Truth is there is a huge area for a company to go after you for trademark and branding.

Prime example, try and find domains with the word "Yahoo" in it that aren't registered via markmonitor.

fuckyahoo.com still gives me chuckles.

Redshift · 2011-07-10, 04:59 PM

Just sounds like lawyers letter tbh, i'd expect the same from any company

Rbstr · 2011-07-10, 05:29 PM

Originally Posted by beekergunship

So what if there is a Planetside 3? And they want to be trendy and call it Planetside Universe, a la Tribes Universe, are you saying they are within their rights to just seize this site on a whim? That doesn't seem right.

This is actually a great counter-example. PSU has exited since before PS was sold and has a easily verifiable history. It falls under the fair use clauses. It's not a cyber squatter. SOE has also tolerated its existence for too long. You typically have to enforce your trademark/copyright claims when you become aware of them.

If planetside-universe.com was at planetside2.com instead, things would have been approached differently.

basti · 2011-07-10, 05:31 PM

There is even more there.

Planetside Universe is a fan site with a forum, news about the game and a strong community.
Planetside2.com was just a single html page with some random images, nothing to do with planetside at all.

morf · 2011-07-10, 06:09 PM

Originally Posted by basti

There is even more there.

Planetside Universe is a fan site with a forum, news about the game and a strong community.
Planetside2.com was just a single html page with some random images, nothing to do with planetside at all.

Right. The deal is that PSU has invested time in branding the site and establishing an identity as well as a legitimate claim and interest associated with the name "Planetside Universe" - they aren't just piggybacking on a brand to steal business away or otherwise confuse customers.

If anyone is genuinely interested in learning about this, you can read archived UDRP decisions to see how these things are settled here:

http://domains.adrforum.com/domains/decisions.asp

It is actually pretty interesting stuff. Now these aren't lawsuits, they are UDRP complaints where an ICANN approved arbitration panel will decide the fate of the domain name. So no damages are awarded through this process. The owner of the intellectual property can still sue in regular court for damages, but this is a cheap and streamlined way to seize offending domain names. It also can be used across international borders, so in general it is much more flexible than a regular lawsuit.

Hamma · 2011-07-10, 11:19 PM

Glad you haven't forgotten it OP, we all have.

SOE was well within their rights to reclaim that domain.