🕸Fergus Duniho wrote on Mon, Mar 22, 2004 04:45 PM UTC:
Roman Chess, another commercial variant, also has a piece called an Archer.
I almost used the name Archer for the Arrow in Yang Qi and Eurasian Chess,
but I could not find a Chinese character I was sure meant Archer. If I had
named the piece Archer, I would not change it because you have now used
the name in a patented game. Patents do not protect names. That's what
registered trademarks are for. Even so, a registered trademark would not
give you the rights you seem to think you have. Marvel Comics has a
registered trademark on the name Captain Marvel, which it uses to keep DC
from publishing any comic book with the name Captain Marvel in the title.
But, as much as Marvel might otherwise like to, it cannot stop DC from
using the name Captain Marvel for one of it's comic book characters,
which DC does do. If Marvel can't force DC to change the name of the
superhero Billy Batson turns into when he says Shazam, you surely don't
have the right to ask anyone to change the name of any piece previously
known as Archer.