Re: Legal Stuff (was: [OFFICIAL] FALLOUT 4 (June 99))

	Howdy!

On Fri, 4 Jun 1999, Laserlight wrote:

> The unofficial but generally agreed on view is "stand back five feet
and
> squint".  If they look the same, they're close enough to start a suit.
 A
> Lara Croft figure or similar would be more arguable since there are
quite a
> few women in the world who might have been used by your designer, but
a
> not-TIE-fighter would be kind of difficult to defend.  I suppose the
big
> boys could recover all your profit from whatever of those designs
you've
> ever sold, if they were really motivated, but a "cease and desist" is
more
> probable.  I hope you're incorporated, so you are not personally as
well as
> corporately liable?

	Thanks to the FASA v. Hasbro, precedent has been laid down.  In
the words of the judge "...a robot is a robot, a spaceship is a
spaceship....".  The result was that FASA had no case because even
though
a number of toys were almost exact copies of some of their Battletech
designs, they were not *exact* copies.

	As long as there is a minimal level of difference, and the name
is
not the same, you should be safe.  However, a company could always
threaten to sue, and if their war coffers are larger than yours, it
makes
little difference *how* different your designs are.

	In the miniatures business, as long as the name is different and
the designs are slightly modified, you are pretty safe.  Unless you are
WotC.... :)

	Ken