Little tidbit: if he's trying to trademark the name, it's obvious he doesn't want it used as the genre name. It dilutes the brand and reduces the amount of protection available.

It's why Gillette does not want it's name being used as a synonym for razor blades, Xerox insist on it's name not being used as a generic term for copying machines, Google has taken issue with it's name being used as a generic term for searching. When a brand name becomes a common word, part of the trademark protection is lost.

Also, a good name for a game and a good name for a game genre are two very different things. "Platformer" works well as a genre name, but would be a most stupid name for a game. "Super Mario" works well as a game name, but would be stupid as a genre name. If you think about it, most genre names would be stupid or clunky as game names, and vice versa.

BTW, apart from franchising operations, I don't think there is much trademark licensing going around. Companies are (understandably) protective of their trademarks. Instead of licensing, what I usually see around is the trademark owner either subcontracting the company that will make products under the trademark, or doing some kind of partnership while keeping the right to prevent the trademark-using product from being made available if it does not meet the trademark owner's standards.

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