[ANSTHRLD] Permission to conflict??

[Jay Rudin]

> Why, if this is a hobby and a game, does getting something that has no
> real world legal implications have to become so difficult and 
> complicated?
> After all, they are made up names and devices.

You are assuming a false premise -- that our hobbies don't exist in the 
"real world".

The SCA sells registration of names and devices, for exclusive use in their 
venues.  It makes no difference how unimportant you think those venues are, 
the selling of registration is a contract and is subject to contract law.

*Any* time two entities (such as a 501(c)3 corporation and I) make an 
agreement in which money changes hands, it becomes a real-world contract 
and has just as many "real world legal implications" as any other contract.

Furthermore, it's not true that the importance of an issue is directly 
related to its difficulty.  Typing this email is trivially unimportant 
compared to breathing, yet breathing is much less complicated.  Making an 
Elizabethan collar is much less important than stopping at a red light, yet 
stopping is much easier.  There is no connection between the level of 
importance and the level of difficulty and complication.

The complications are caused by the difficulty of making sure that the 
things we have sold tens of thousands of people, all over the world, remain 
protected.

It's worth remembering that trademarks are also "made-up names and 
devices", and a great deal of law is involved in their use.

Robin of Gilwell / Jay Rudin