The Classifieds: Trademark your guild name

Oh my god. Oh my god, you guys -- BlizzCon 2011 is freaking next week. Like, seriously, in a week, we'll be in Anaheim sipping Horde and Alliance-themed cocktails.
Interestingly, The Syndicate, which has played together for 14 years, has trademarked its name. This is what they say about the process:
Back in 2006, The Syndicate (www.LLTS.org) became the first online community to Trademark its name. Through development consulting and strategy guide writing "The Syndicate" came to mean much more than simply a tag within an online game. Thus the legal protections of having the name Trademarked were put in place. After five years of owning a mark, paperwork can be filed that makes the mark incontestable. That paperwork has been filed and approved and now The Syndicate® has been granted that status. Said another way, no one can come along later and claim that The Syndicate was used by them first within the online gaming space. The mark forever is limited in its usage to only the www.LLTS.org "Syndicate" group. In addition to that, The Syndicate has put several agreements in place with major game developers and publishers recognizing the mark and ensuring that its usage is appropriately restricted within their gaming worlds.
So. I guess everyone else with the name The Syndicate is infringing. Guess we better all get out there and start trying to trademark our name.
Random Acts of Uberness
It's when another player lights up your night with precise play, a wicked sense of humor or unexpected generosity that your login becomes something to remember. Share your Random Acts of Uberness with theclassifieds@wowinsider.com. Keep things brief (150 words or less, please), and be sure to list everyone's character names and home realms or battlegroup. Don't be afraid of sending an entry more than once if it doesn't appear; sometimes internet dragons eat email, and we'd hate to let that keep deserving players from getting their due.
Dîrtygurl of Dogma I've been looking for Chan's Imperial Robes for years. I had them on a character long ago, and have been trying to get them ever since. Supposedly the item is still in game after Cataclysm but I've had zero luck. Occasionally I check Undermine Journal to see if there are any for sale. Usually there aren't. Today there was one listed on Gul'dan (Horde) for 600g. I hopped over and created an alt. With little hope I offered Trade 1000g on my home server for 600g on Gul'dan.Dîrtygurl from the guild Dogma messaged me. She asked what I wanted the gold for, and after I explained she invited me, tossed a handy summon, and traded me the robes. No strings attached. Soon I'll be transferring back to my main server WITH my fancy yellow spider robes all thanks to Dîrtygurl. -- Ignition
Employment: Guilds recruiting
Looking for more? Send in your guild name, realm, a link to your guild website or armory listing and a sentence or two on your guild's focus (10-man, RP, late-night raiding, whatever) to theclassifieds@wowinsider.com.
Authorized Persons Proper authorization is a big deal to this guild, I guess. Authorised Persons Only (Argent Dawn (EU)) is looking for people of all roles to fill a new 10 man raiding team ready for patch 4.3. Particularly eager to recruit those new to raiding who lack experience but have the willingness and the enthusiasm to learn. For more information or to apply visit - http://apo.enjin.com/
Monty Python ahoy>Some things are just too classic to ever forget The Knights Who Say Ni are a small mature guild (both in time on server and average age of people playing). We have busy real lives and can not be on at set times but we enjoy the game have a good sense of humour and just want to have fun. We would love to have more like minded individuals in the game. Solid knowledge of Monty Python is a plus but not a requirement. One last note the Guild leader has the title of "The Rabbit" and this is our Crest.Filed under: The Classifieds






Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
mem0ryburn Oct 12th 2011 7:16PM
'the Guild leader has the title of "The Rabbit"'
Rushed to WoWhead to find out what this title was before realizing you didn't mean "title" per se
Phredreeke Oct 12th 2011 7:16PM
Trademarking "The Syndicate"? Seriously, that's such a generic name.
Thomas Higgins Oct 12th 2011 7:23PM
Trademarking "Syndicate"? Bad move. The fine men of La Cosa Nostra like that name too. Methinks a few horses heads may be found in the beds of whatever idiots came up with that idea.
mem0ryburn Oct 12th 2011 7:26PM
Generic translates to bad?
Michael Sacco Oct 12th 2011 7:34PM
It's true, though. When I worked at Blizzard, "The Syndicate" was one of the few names on our list of copyright-holder-requested disallowed names.
Phredreeke Oct 12th 2011 7:38PM
My post wasn't meant as a jab at their name. I just thought "The Syndicate" sounded too generic to trademark.
Noyou Oct 12th 2011 7:50PM
There might be a few fellas in Chicago who wanna piece a dat action. If you know what I'm sayin'.
Noyou Oct 12th 2011 7:53PM
My bad, I was thinking of "The Outfit".
mem0ryburn Oct 12th 2011 8:33PM
@Phredreeke Sorry, I incorrectly interpreted your point :/
SamLowry Oct 12th 2011 10:55PM
I'm sure EA, current holder of Bullfrog's properties, would also have a few words about someone trademarking a name that will grace the third iteration of a game which will release next year.
Rob Oct 13th 2011 7:05AM
I was skeptical too, but take a look.
http://tess2.uspto.gov/bin/showfield?f=doc&state=4004:d4rbdn.2.3
What a bunch of douchebags.
Rob Oct 13th 2011 7:09AM
@Sam man that is awesome. I was just thinking about that game. For some insane reason that is one of the best games i've ever played. Even 10 or 20 years later I still remember it in vivid detail. Best part? Blowing up buildings.
Funky Oct 13th 2011 9:23PM
Trademarking "Windows"? Seriously, that's such a generic name.
Nuff said... ;-)
llcjay2003 Oct 12th 2011 7:27PM
Hmm...
"The Syndicate is mostly a human criminal organization which originates from the former kingdom of Alterac. It is based in Strahnbrad and operates primarily in the Arathi Highlands and the Alterac Mountains, although a few small encampments are scattered in the Hillsbrad Foothills." http://www.wowpedia.org/Syndicate
So...yeah.
evets25 Oct 12th 2011 8:03PM
Actually, if you look at the guild's history on their website, they've been around longer than wow. They have their roots in playing Ultima Online, and were part of the wow beta. Apparently blizzard added the syndicate in-game faction as an homage to the guild, not the other way around. So yeah, completely legit.
Spellotape Oct 12th 2011 8:38PM
@ evets25
Is that actually true? With actual references or a quote where someone says that, I mean, because as mentioned above that is a quite generic name - if I had created a group and called it "The Syndicate" I would never have heard of the trademarked guild name before.
evets25 Oct 12th 2011 11:41PM
The website I was referring to that talks about the guild's history and their involvement in the wow beta can be found here: http://www.llts.org/History.php?p=64WoWBeta
The guild has been around for a very, very long time, and their history, which has been so painstakingly documented on their website makes for a fascinating read. If you read a bit of it you'll understand why the guild is considered famous/noteworthy enough to merit having its own trademark. Well, that or whatever the criteria is for trademarking something. They obviously satisfied the court system, and IMHO they deserve the recognition.
Mo Oct 12th 2011 7:35PM
My guild's name is tm. So if we decide to trademark, it will be tm™, won't it?
sjamesclarkson Oct 12th 2011 7:51PM
My god those guys are stuck up.
"The Syndicate® is the most successful Virtual Community in the history of Online Gaming"
Yeah, ok, that's nice.
RetPallyJil Oct 12th 2011 10:09PM
The more accurate response is:
"Who?"