The Mana World Forums

Pajarico wrote:There was another game based in Mana or maybe Final Fantasy (could be about Chrono Trigger) and got forcer to shutdown their website.
I'm looking for a link but can't find it

Right. They droped the hammer alright. They made some good progress too.
http://www.opcoder.com/projects/chrono/

Drop a line, expect the worst. That doesn't mean that anyone should cave in though. Expect the worst, and use that expectation to plan a rebuttal. Draw a line in the sand where you are confindent to stand and state: "You will not cross this line."

If you expect them to demand you remove all referrences to SoM or be forced to shutdown, plan an answer to that- what ever you believe is enough.

If they want a stop to all development, (a la bnetd), be ready to answer that too.

If they say everything is cool, be ready to say, "Thank you, we appreciate the gesture." Even in the best case, maintain dignity. They still aren't your buddies.

EDIT: remember, although TMW has some inspiration from SoM, it contains none of that game's IP; unlike the above game.

So what does Elven think about us taking the initiative?

Would anyone of us happen to be a lawyer or have one as a friend or relative by any chance?

Yeah I'd like to hear the opinion of someone who knows how things work better. Many people offered to ask their teachers fathers or whoever else who was able to answer the question. But no answer were posted here so far...

If we know we're right, we could take the initiative and inform Square-Enix of the fact we exist, but I think they already know about us, we're too famous

Would be funny if we could have the big company to change their project's name.

Anyway, yea... I think we should inform them.

And my post title, also is i danger...

Well... Let me seek for a few links about trademark, but for the record. Yes, the name could lead to confusion, and there is a BIG change, this site is and the name proyect doing a "wrongdoing"...

The mana world "sounds very much alike to" the mana OF world...
And the theme of the games also is the same as the mana series...

Enough to get a lawyers attention.

Time based used protection can be sutained upon a lawsit

About trademark from a pthographer:
http://www.danheller.com/biz-trademarks.html

Mythos about trademark/copyrigth
http://www.templetons.com/brad/copymyths.html

About prior art (the "thing" could protect or damage the mana world)
http://www.tms.org/pubs/journals/JOM/ma ... -9707.html

Wikipedia Entry of trademark
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trademark

According to the Dupont Factors, as you are about to read, a Mark does not have to be the same exact phrase or spelling, or be identical, or even be in the exact same class, in order to cause the possibility of confusion in the marketplace.
This site is good ans simple about explaining trademarks likehood
http://www.cummingsdesign.com/trademark ... ontFactors

FYI: I own a few trademarks and copyrigths applied to Mexico. Basically the information I?m posting talks about the general issues about Intellecutual Property...

I really think, that we could change the name now, so we are not forced to change the content of the game, as it is now... They can go this far.

If you decide to change the name then how about changing it to:
The Mana World Online

I think it sounds pretty good and it doesn't look too much like The World of Mana...

hmm... now that I think of it the initials for The World of Mana would be TWoM and the initials for The Mana World Online would be TMWO...
I'm not sure if "The" would be part of the World of Mana though... and if it's not then it would be WoM, which looks fairly different

Adding "online" isn't likely to solve the problem, particularly since so few people actually bother to say, for exampe, "Ragnarok Online." It's just "Ragnarok" to most. If we're going to keep away from the ire of Square's lawyers, we're probably going to have to consider more substantial changes to the name (ie, ones that don't use the same two main words as their title).

What about "The Mana Soil" or the "Soil of Mana"? Or "The Mana Chronicles"?
Are them registered?

IF Square decides to see us as a threat to their business ventures, my first suggestion would be to simply change the name to TMW and state that it means nothing.

No doubt the lawyers wouldn't really agree.

Like:
-the Magical Globe
-that Kickass 90's RPG Online
-Magic and Mistery
-Hooked on Spells
...
?

I tried to think of a good one as well, sorry... no succes.

Why not "123456" ? It's a nice name after all...

I think still using "Mana" in the name would probably be fine, so long as we keep it distanced from any of their trademarked names. Lets see what I can come up with off the top of my head (don't know if any of these have trademark issues, but whatever)...

Age of the Mana Realms
The Mana Wars (still keeps TMW, although people might call it the Man-O-War's)
Kingdoms of Mana
Realms of the Mana Gods
Realms of the Mana Spirits
Trogdor's Burnination Special Supreme Go!

Other TMW acronym keepers:

The Multiplayer World
Through Moist Waters
Three More Wine
Thriving Maniacs Win
Trees Make Wood
Two Men Whisper

Actually, in the spirit of many open source projects, TMW should of course be a recursive acronym:

TMW Makes Worlds (I actually like this one, heh)
TMW Means Women
TMW Must Win