Ummmm…say what???

[jfleisher]

https://www.wargamevault.com/product...-Metal?src=TMP

He says he updated Battlesuit? Sure looks like trademark/copyright infringement to me…

[HeatDeath]

I Am Not A Lawyer, but I wouldn't want to be in this guy's shoes.

Reimplementations of play mechanics are generally fair game under American IP law. [Mileage may vary in other jurisdictions.] But your words and art /have/ to be your own. You don't get to reuse any proprietary vocabulary or even overly specific nouns.

So yeah, he can be heavily inspired by Battlesuit, and even say as much. He can even make a power-armor tactical game that plays just like Battlesuit. But using the word Battlesuit in the name of the game is a pretty obvious infringement, and if he's reusing any of Battlesuit's text, that is clearly right out.

SJGames don't own tactical boardgames about dueling squads of power armor, but I think they've got a pretty legitimate claim to the use of the word "Battlesuit" in a game title at this point.

[Ashley]

Originally Posted by jfleisher

https://www.wargamevault.com/product...-Metal?src=TMP

He says he updated Battlesuit? Sure looks like trademark/copyright infringement to me…

Battlesuit is also used by Games Workshop, and as such it can't be.


Besides, the word is insufficiently unique to be trademarked, which was why GW are moving away from vanilla Space Marine's into Primaris SM.

Originally Posted by HeatDeath

I Am Not A Lawyer, but I wouldn't want to be in this guy's shoes.

Reimplementations of play mechanics are generally fair game under American IP law. [Mileage may vary in other jurisdictions.] But your words and art /have/ to be your own. You don't get to reuse any proprietary vocabulary or even overly specific nouns.

So yeah, he can be heavily inspired by Battlesuit, and even say as much. He can even make a power-armor tactical game that plays just like Battlesuit. But using the word Battlesuit in the name of the game is a pretty obvious infringement, and if he's reusing any of Battlesuit's text, that is clearly right out.

SJGames don't own tactical boardgames about dueling squads of power armor, but I think they've got a pretty legitimate claim to the use of the word "Battlesuit" in a game title at this point.

As I said above, Battlesuit is, in and of itself not copyrightable or sufficiently strong enough to be a trademark either.


Just google battlesuit. It's in the common domain.

[HeatDeath]

You may very well be correct, but having just, with my wife, gone through a ridiculously expensive legal proceeding against her ex, I still wouldn't want to be paying lawyer'$$$ bills to try to prove to a judge that another game company's actual title of an actual published game (and recently reprinted at that!) is a lapsed trademark.

Not on the margins that guys getting from Wargame Vault anyways.

[HeatDeath]

I have to think that a significant reason - not the whole reason, but definitely a significant reason - to do the Pocket Box Games KS at all was to authoritatively reestablish trademark protection on all that stuff.

[jfleisher]

Yeah, I get that anyone can create a game about man to man armor suited combat and call it “Battlesuit” or something similar.

But this guy comes right out and says he reworked the SJGames title…

[HeatDeath]

Also, the cover of the Battlesuit rulebook [2019 Reproduction] says

"Ogre" and "Battlesuit" are trademarks of Steve Jackson Games. All rights reserved.

That trademark may or may not stand up to a court challenge, but it was reasserted in 2019, and that ain't nothing.

[Failure16]

I originally thought the title itself was copywritable, but apparently that is not*, either. The actual game mechanics and verbiage should be, though. And marketing might well prove to be an Achilles Heel to Mike Nagel's otherwise nice-looking work insofar as he directly states and intends this to be a revised or updated version of a preexisting game.


*https://www.legalzoom.com/articles/5...cant-copyright

[Ashley]

Originally Posted by Failure16

I originally thought the title itself was copywritable, but apparently that is not*, either. The actual game mechanics and verbiage should be, though. And marketing might well prove to be an Achilles Heel to Mike Nagel's otherwise nice-looking work insofar as he directly states and intends this to be a revised or updated version of a preexisting game.

And even that is arguably just advertising. Think, just like x, but better.

[Steve Jackson]

Titles are subject to trademark, not copyright. Wholly different set of rules.

I was as surprised by this as anyone. Finding no contact info on the site except LinkedIn (hah!) I have reached out to the best e-mail address I could find for a Mike Nagel in our own records.

I believe Hunter will be locking this thread soon because all we can do is speculate, and we have accomplished that. Thanks for letting us know.