How is the Subverse fight going to affect Adult Game Developers?

[User_17502]

For people uninformed about the situation, Studio FOW started a

You must be registered to see the links

last month. They quickly gained all the traction and media attention they needed to skyrocket past their goal and are bounding over every stretch goal in their way.

Tim Pool, a fairly accurate journalist I follow, has also created

You must be registered to see the links

a company/channel he has been growing for years.
However according to Tim there can only be one Subverse and he vented his frustrations

You must be registered to see the links

Studio FOW has refused to engage with Tim regarding his concerns.
In response, he will be taking legal actions against Studio FOW in order to protect his trademark.
While I do understand his situation, I do not agree with his reaction.
But this conflict has raised a question in my mind, Do Developers have to trademark our projects or be forced to give up our names to "respectable" companies due to legal action?
If this is the case won't independent content creation become impossible as fear of legal ramifications would stymie any innovation?

I am hoping a few other developers way in on this as well as the community at large.

 

[Insane_Laughter]

I am not a developer, just a fan of porn games and Tim Pool. I do not know should happen, but I do hope both Tim Pool and Studio FOW find a solution to this problem. I think it is fair for the game to at least give ground on the US side, internationally Tim Pool's case does not seem to have any legs, since his trademark is in the US, so I hope that they at least could find a compromise and not go to court.

 

[Daxter250]

For people uninformed about the situation, Studio FOW started a

You must be registered to see the links

last month. They quickly gained all the traction and media attention they needed to skyrocket past their goal and are bounding over every stretch goal in their way.

Tim Pool, a fairly accurate journalist I follow, has also created

You must be registered to see the links

a company/channel he has been growing for years.
However according to Tim there can only be one Subverse and he vented his frustrations

You must be registered to see the links

Studio FOW has refused to engage with Tim regarding his concerns.
In response, he will be taking legal actions against Studio FOW in order to protect his trademark.
While I do understand his situation, I do not agree with his reaction.
But this conflict has raised a question in my mind, Do Developers have to trademark our projects or be forced to give up our names to "respectable" companies due to legal action?
If this is the case won't independent content creation become impossible as fear of legal ramifications would stymie any innovation?

I am hoping a few other developers way in on this as well as the community at large.

interesting info and it doesn't surprise me that studio FOV skyrocketed that hard. these people are damn awesome!
the thing with trademarks or names in general can be quite tricky. ya know resident evil? it's actually called biohazard in japan and capcom wanted to release it with that name in europe and america too. however a rockband with that name took legal actions against capcom, forcing them to use a different name for their game.
now here is the deal: you can't simply take a name as your own and sue others for using it when it's a word often used. especially not so when other firms aren't even in your segment. e.g. apple can't really sue apple companies for selling ...apples while also calling 'em apple or whatever. personally i don't think he will succeed. fov's project is a game name, not a name for a new found firm or so... and tim pool doesn't have that much influence as ya often need to force your claiming through the court. so i doubt something will happen here.

 

[thanatos69]

I don't really see how this could affect other adult devs. Change the name of the game and problem solved?

It seems to me that the youtube guy just smelled the money and want a piece of it.

 

[Dark_Siren]

I don't really see how this could affect other adult devs. Change the name of the game and problem solved?

It seems to me that the youtube guy just smelled the money and want a piece of it.

don't think tim is that type of guy. though have bin watching him for while and this first time i have ever heard him talk about his brand

 

[DarthSeduction]

don't think tim is that type of guy. though have bin watching him for while and this first time i have ever heard him talk about his brand

Opportunity. He shouldn't be doing this at fucking all. You shouldn't be able to own words. He'll lose if he takes it to court anyway, but on principle this shouldn't even be a thing.

 

[Dark_Siren]

Opportunity. He shouldn't be doing this at fucking all. You shouldn't be able to own words. He'll lose if he takes it to court anyway, but on principle this shouldn't even be a thing.

i think might give up as people where saying in comments that cause is different genre he might not have claim to it and pretty sure there is other small company that used before him

 

[User_17502]

I don't really see how this could affect other adult devs. Change the name of the game and problem solved?

It seems to me that the youtube guy just smelled the money and want a piece of it.

Its a fuck ton of work to change every single instance of code that uses the name Subverse to whatever the new name is.

don't think tim is that type of guy. though have bin watching him for while and this first time i have ever heard him talk about his brand

He's not one to sue frivolously however I don't think he needs to even have this fight.

Opportunity. He shouldn't be doing this at fucking all. You shouldn't be able to own words. He'll lose if he takes it to court anyway, but on principle this shouldn't even be a thing.

I don't agree that owning words is a bad thing. I think it should be restricted.
Like I don't want someone running around with the name Heartlessnobody95 and competing with me.

i think might give up as people where saying in comments that cause is different genre he might not have claim to it and pretty sure there is other small company that used before him

I agree.

 

[DarthSeduction]

I don't agree that owning words is a bad thing. I think it should be restricted.
Like I don't want someone running around with the name Heartlessnobody95 and competing with me.

So get rid of the competition problem rather than making it so that a company can claim you're harming their image by merely existing in a market. To be clear, I don't even agree with intellectual property. The only thing I'm for as far as such laws go is plagiarism. Make your own thing, if you want to use the characters I designed to do it, cool, more power to you.

 

[Vetto]

Fear of legal action ?

Most likely no. "honest" developer will always try to make an original name on their game (by doing research and try to avoid similar name). In other case others devs don't use the name but use a known story and try to make their own.

In this case, who is in the right ? The one who trademark first. I hate to say that but first come first served.

He builds his stuff for a while and it was somehow known.
They create and plan their game but was unknown by the public until recently.

It is legit to take legal action. His credibility is on the line.

 

[Dark_Siren]

Fear of legal action ?

Most likely no. "honest" developer will always try to make an original name on their game (by doing research and try to avoid similar name). In other case others devs don't use the name but use a known story and try to make their own.

In this case, who is in the right ? The one who trademark first. I hate to say that but first come first served.

He builds his stuff for a while and it was somehow known.
They create and plan their game but was unknown by the public until recently.

It is legit to take legal action. His credibility is on the line.

depends he might not even have trademark for it and there are company that have that name before him to.
also if has trademark i could only cover certain thing will have wait see what happens

 

[dirkbones]

I'm not a lawyer, so I reserve the right to be completely wrong...but...

I'm pretty sure trademark law requires you to specify the industries your trademark covers. For example, if he only trademarked 'Subverse' as a youtube media channel, than any industry that isn't a youtube media channel can use the 'Subverse' name. The only way he would have a case is if in his trademark application he specified any digital media or game.

That's why if you were to look up the 'Ford' trademark it covers basically everything in existence, even things that Ford does not produce or has any intention of producing. So while Ford doesn't make games, if PhillyGames were to announce "Ford Fuck Fest: CARnal Drive" or some such, you can bet your ass Ford's lawyers will be beating the door down.

So it all depends on what is in Tim Pool's trademark. If he specified something that could be applied to games, then he'll have a case. If not, then StudioFOW can tell him to take a hike.

 

[Dark_Siren]

I'm not a lawyer, so I reserve the right to be completely wrong...but...

I'm pretty sure trademark law requires you to specify the industries your trademark covers. For example, if he only trademarked 'Subverse' as a youtube media channel, than any industry that isn't a youtube media channel can use the 'Subverse' name. The only way he would have a case is if in his trademark application he specified any digital media or game.

That's why if you were to look up the 'Ford' trademark it covers basically everything in existence, even things that Ford does not produce or has any intention of producing. So while Ford doesn't make games, if PhillyGames were to announce "Ford Fuck Fest: CARnal Drive" or some such, you can bet your ass Ford's lawyers will be beating the door down.

So it all depends on what is in Tim Pool's trademark. If he specified something that could be applied to games, then he'll have a case. If not, then StudioFOW can tell him to take a hike.

he filled for trade mark to cover gaming as well on 8th of April this year so he did not on it when they all-ready made there name

 

[Dark_Siren]

G & S: Entertainment media production services for the internet; Entertainment services, namely, providing online video games; News reporters services; Providing entertainment information via a website .
here the trademark this kind scummy he seen that they where getting more popular with name decide to fuckem.However since they had the name before he trade mark it they might be able to keep as heard you cant force company that name before you trademark to give it up.he does noting related to providing games but got it to fuckem

 

[baneini]

Tim Pool has done nothing to associate "subverse" with the tim pool brand, it's not found in channel descriptions or related channels, no links to the other channel anywhere in sight or the word seen anywhere. If he actually cared about building subverse as a brand he's not very business minded is he? Now it's leaning in the direction of dropping the brand to save money and focus building a better brand.

Of course laws exist to protect businesses from spending money into a brand just to have it co-opted by someone who comes in later but litigation is expensive so what can you do.

The real question is why would Studio Fow dislike Jordan Peterson?

 

[Dark_Siren]

Tim Pool has done nothing to associate "subverse" with the tim pool brand, it's not found in channel descriptions or related channels, no links to the other channel anywhere in sight or the word seen anywhere. If he actually cared about building subverse as a brand he's not very business minded is he? Now it's leaning in the direction of dropping the brand to save money and focus building a better brand.

Of course laws exist to protect businesses from spending money into a brand just to have it co-opted by someone who comes in later but litigation is expensive so what can you do.

The real question is why would Studio Fow dislike Jordan Peterson?

where they say the dislike jordan peterson

 

[baneini]

where they say the dislike jordan peterson

 

[Dark_Siren]

View attachment 282355

the statement can mean anything really you probably should check there discord if see what mean cause it could just be shit talk or something else.like the could not like i just don't know

 

[Sam]

• His 'brand' has produced a grand total of 8 articles in 4 years
• Before the launch of the kickstarter, his site was ranked ~17.5m in the world
• His 'brand' isn't used in commerce, throwing the trademark registration into question
• He wasn't the first to use the word 'subverse'
• He wasn't the first to register the trademark
• He wasn't the first to own a TLD (the .com was registered 18 years before he thought up his .net)
• Studiofow registered their trademark in the UK in February
• Tim registered his in the US in April 2019, after the launch of the kickstarter
• His trademark registration includes the word "gaming", an industry he isn't involved in, and is just used in an attempt to exert control

Regardless of your feelings of the guy and if you're a fan of him or not, the facts are these. It's clear he's a trademark troll/attention seeking idiot who wants to try and make a quick buck.

 

[polywog]

Too often, trademark owners make the common mistake of failing to comply with trademark requirements after their marks have been registered. Much to their dismay, they lose their rights to their marks and are left without the protection of the law. It is important to remember that trademark rights can be lost almost as easily as they are granted.

A mark that has never been traded upon, is forfeit.