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
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Reader Comments (Page 2 of 2)
WNxSajuukCor Oct 12th 2011 8:08PM
Sorry, Warrior Nation trademarked their name back in 1997.
http://warriornation.net/disclaimer.php
:P
Scott Oct 12th 2011 8:25PM
No server for The Knights Who Say Ni?
Al Oct 12th 2011 10:59PM
Just the link to their armoury.
madfigs Oct 12th 2011 8:53PM
What exactly do they hope to accomplish by trademarking a guild name? If someone makes a guild called "The Syndicate" when The Old Republic comes out are they going to sue Bioware?
Gaurisk Oct 12th 2011 9:21PM
Who in the hell are The Syndicate (TM)?
Tyrrax Oct 12th 2011 9:24PM
As a former resident of Tarew Marr (EQ) I can attest that The Syndicate is nothing special. When I played back then their only distinction was that they were the largest guild on the server and would recruit just about anyone. The only other guild I've seen with this level of arrogance is Fires of Heaven.
Vask Oct 12th 2011 9:41PM
Agreed, another old Tarew Marr guy here. They were one of the bigger jokes on the server. They couldn't zerg bosses down.
Nerili Oct 12th 2011 11:41PM
I don't know if "oh my god, oh my god you guys" was intended to remind me of Legally Blonde: The Musical. But it did and I am not ashamed.
Amaxe Oct 13th 2011 12:05AM
I was going to make some sarcastic comment about how they shouldn't be able to copyright a name, but after seeing how much beyond a simple gaming guild the whole affair is (what with the working to create guides etc), I guess I can see them wanting to do this and see how perhaps the whole trademark thing could be recognized.
Even so, these people take games a helluva lot more seriously than I ever will.
pedge Oct 13th 2011 2:21AM
There's a "The Knights Who Say Ni" on just about every server, same us "Built Horde Tough" and "Your Mom's a Horde". Funny thing is I saw a Horde guild with the latter as their name. Ummmm...
serialjoepsycho3 Oct 13th 2011 2:56AM
The syndicates name was copy written on grounds unrelated to it's in game activity. The deals with the syndicate and other game developers are based on the syndicates notoriety and not its copyright status. The syndicates copyright status can not bar anyone from using the guilds name except in situations were such a predetermined agreement has been made or the games name is already in use.
Syndicate Oct 13th 2011 6:41AM
In response to some of the comments above:
A search of the USPTO website reveals several things. First, The Syndicate holds 2 Trademarks on their name and their logo. Second, Warrior Nation has no Trademark as referenced above.
The "EA" comment is an interesting one. First, when one Trademarks you do so for a specific area of commerce. EA making a game is a different area of commerce than The Syndicate being a virtual online community. That said, when EA went to Trademark their upcoming title's name, they were unable to do so as they were deemed "confusingly similar" to The Syndicate communities trademark. Fortunately The Syndicate lawyers and EA's lawyers talked about it and put an agreement in place whereby The Syndicate agreed the game was dissimilar enough that the EA mark was ok to exist and EA agreed to support The Syndicate's mark in all of their gaming titles. Similar agreements exist with many other publishers and developers.
seanst Oct 13th 2011 6:57AM
serialjoepsycho3, your comment isn't correct. First, its a Trademark (technically a Servicemark which is a Trademark based around providing services rather than manufacturing a product) not a Copyright. The Syndicate's books (Legend of The Syndicate and Beyond the Legend both on Amazon) are protected with copyrights. The name is protected by a Trademark.
Secondly, the trademark is specific to online gaming and the supporting websites. So it does, in fact, protect the name from usage within gaming worlds and on supporting sites.
You are correct in that predetermined agreements help with enforcement (but are definitely not required) which is why quite a few of those are in place with game developers and publishers.
Shade Oct 13th 2011 12:52PM
I think Blizz should honor The Syndicate's commitment to their elite status by making them distinct among any other guilds in the game!
....PvP red-flag them against every player and NPC regardless of faction, server, or function.