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Name of Game

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John3xvi
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Joined: 12/31/1969

Good morning,

We are just about to place an order to self publish our first 5,000 games. The only part we are hesitant on is the name.

Say for instance we called the game "Play to Win" There is bound to have been a game previously called "Play to Win"

Is there a possibility of any legal wrangles?
Is there a datbase of previous game names?

Thanks,

John.

FastLearner
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Joined: 12/31/1969
Name of Game

There's always a possibility of legal wrangling.

On games with the same name, a quick search of BoardGameGeek -- http://www.boardgamegeek.com -- a database with over 18,000 games in it, shows no match. A quick search of Luding -- http://www.luding.org -- which is at least as big, possibly bigger, shows no match.

However, it's all about trademark. A search at the United States Patent and Trademark Office -- http://www.uspto.gov -- shows 41 matches, about half of which are "Live" (meaning the trademark is still protected). Trademarks only extend to places where there might be confusion, so I'd suggest looking at each of the live ones to figure out if they're trying to protect the name as the name of a game (or something else that will be confusing).

And then consult a trademark lawyer, since neither you nor I probably know enough to protect you.

-- Matthew

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