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Introduction
Blipsgames trademarks are intellectual property, with value both to us at Blipsgames and to our community of users, clients, sponsors, developers, partners, and supporters. When our trademarks maintain their strong association with quality, compatibility, and fairness, the entire community benefits.
Trademarks are words or symbols used to identify the source of products, services and programs, enabling customers to distinguish one provider's offerings from another's. Trademark law protects the public's ability to rely on trademarks for information about product source and quality.
Overview of Trademark Law
We are providing a general overview of trademark law to help you understand the guiding principles and goals of these guidelines. This summary and the guideline are not legal advice.
What does trademark law protect?
Trademark law protects the public's ability to rely on trademarks for information about the source and quality of products, services and programs. To protect the public from misleading or confusing information, the law requires the trademark owners to monitor proper use of their marks and to “police” against use of identical of closely similar marks for similar goods, services or programs. Trademarks are compared based on similarities or differences in sight (visual appearance), sound, and meaning, as well as other factors such as whether the products are related. A mark that looks similar, sounds similar, or has a similar meaning to an established mark and that is used on similar products might be an infringement.
A “service mark” is a trademark that indicates the source of a service or program, rather than a product.
“Trade dress” describes a collection of attributes of features of a product or service (often its overall presentation) and/or its packaging. Trade dress can include colour palettes, pattern and textures of material of packaging, or other thematic elements that collectively indicate the source of the product or service to the public.
Referring to someone else's trademark in a way that does not confuse the public or tarnish the mark may qualify as “fair use”. Examples include discussions of a product by name in a news article, product review, or comparative advertising. To make a “fair use,” you must accurately identify the original product or service without misleading the public about its source or its affiliation with your own products or services. Using someone else's trademark as the name of your own product or service (including freeware or free information services) is never fair use. If you want to use one of our logos, you will need a permission or license.
Infringement occurs when someone (the “junior user”) uses a trademark that is identical or confusingly similar to an existing trademark (the “senior trademark”) owned by a senior user, on similar goods, services and programs without permission or a license from the senior user. Court use many factors to evaluate the likelihood that the public would be confused about the source of either trademark user's products or the relationship between the two trademark owners. The infringement can be intentional, e.g., when the junior user is counterfeiting goods, or inadvertent, e.g., when the junior user is trying to make fair use, but doesn't satisfy all the legal requirements.
What is required for a trademark license?
A trademark owner may license the use of a trademark to other companies or individuals for use on their own products. The license agreement must allow the trademark owner the right to control the quality of the licensee's products by setting and enforcing quality standards.