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PETE LEYVA wrote on Mon, Mar 22, 2004 07:42 AM UTC:

By no means, do I plan to offend anyone.  I believe i'm doing just as
anyone else would do in my shoes.  I must ask any individuals using the
name(Archer) to please find other names suitable for their particular
piece in their chess variants.  I ask you as gentlemen to please respect
this request, for i do hold a patent on a chess variant.  This variant is
called Field chess and the new added piece is called an Archer.  Though my
Archer moves completely different from any of your archer pieces. I do
hold title rights to the name 'Archer'.  Suggested names you might
consider: bowmen & crossbows. i do appologise for your inconvience and
deeply appreciate your time on this subject.  I can be reached at
[email protected]



Sincerely Rooksarcher/KingsArcher

Michael Nelson wrote on Mon, Mar 22, 2004 03:56 PM UTC:

What would you suggest? If I change the name of my piece to Bowman, won't
someone else complain? Will Robert Abbott object because I use an
Immobilizer? Thank God FIDE Chess isn't patented so I can use a King and
Queen. Different pieces in different games have the same name all the time
and no one else asserts violation of patent or copyright. Perhaps this is
because other CV inventors are reasonable people, perhaps some are not but
realize they have no case.

The change you ask for is grossly unreasonable and I will make it if and
only if so ordered by a court of competent jurisdiction.

Michael Nelson wrote on Mon, Mar 22, 2004 04:10 PM UTC:

Assuming you could even have such a patent, it would be invalid because of prior art. See <a href='http://www.chessvariants.com/large.dir/dao.html'>here</a> for Jim Aikin's Dragons, Archers, and Oxen which was published on these pages in 1998, for example. I'm also fairly certain he wasn't the first to use a common name like 'Archer' for a CV piece.

Peter Aronson wrote on Mon, Mar 22, 2004 04:22 PM UTC:

<b>Feudal</b> by 3M (and later issued by Avalon Hill) has an Archer, and was first issued in 1967. It is probably now owned by Hasbro, whom I suspect would not be impressed by your reasoning. <p> This is all moot anyway, since what you have is a patent, and names are protected by trademarks. Good luck getting a trademark issued for Archer!

🕸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.

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