Rumble Between the Junglers: Questions about the DotA name

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2-24-2012 @ 11:28AM

DarkWalker said...

@Nathanyel

You most likely can trademark "Fire" and "Wheel". For specific uses not directly related to their generic meanings. Say, you might trademark "Fire" as a beverage name, or "Wheel" as the brand name for a line of tools.

Heck, "Windows", when used to name computer programs, is trademarked by Microsoft. It's a completely generic term, a dictionary world, otherwise.

And you can't block other people from using your trademarked term for it's generic meaning, or for any use not related to the use you asked your trademark for. It's why Intel had some spectacular flukes trying to block other companies from using the "intel" term as applied to other areas (specially for intelligence or investigation related uses, where it's a common term). It's why WB had spectacular failures trying to protect the "shire" name (besides the name of the place where Hobbits live, it's an actual common name).

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