Copyrighting and Trademarking are different things.

You can't copyright a name anyway. You can copyright an idea or a concept or something. The limit of what you can do with a name is trademarking and registered trademarks.

http://transformers.wikia.com/wiki/Trademark

This above link is a fairly useful article on trademarking with regards to Hasbro, written, from what I understand, the advice of an IP lawyer.

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Semantics aside, is there really a diff between the two? You're still gonna get sued back to the Stone Age.

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Reason 10 for why people should never use wikipedia for accurate research purposes

In 2005, Fun Publications was forced to change the name of the BotCon 2005 Outback toy to "Fallback". The Outback Steakhouse restaurant chain has successfully applied for "Outback" across a vast number of categories. Since Hasbro had not used the name for a product since 1986, there was no way for them to wrest control of Outback Steakhouse's active claim to the mark.

Hmmm, hello. Night Force Outback.

Firstly, it's the Transformers Wiki, not the Wikipedia.

Secondly, Nevermore, being German, was simply unaware of the G.I. Joe character Outback as he was speaking from the perspective of the Transformers character Outback (probably the first Hasbro product to use the trademarked name 'Outback'). Or I told him and he forgot all about it.

And he researched the issue of trademarks by cross-referencing with US Trademark and Patent office and by consulting with intellectual properties lawyers. That's more than anybody else in any fandom has ever done in the service of explaining this complicated and frequently misunderstood issue, so I think you can grant him this mistake.

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Same to me.

As for this, "Since Hasbro had not used the name for a product since 1986." a Hasbro product means all brands, not just TFs. So you can see why a dumb ass like me misInterpreted this.

It hurts the wiki contributors in the nuts if somebody says we're the same as the Wikipedia, since we're generally more accurate with regards to Transformers information.

Seriously though, I edited the Outback thing to say 1993 as the last time (that I could track down, anyway) that Hasbro used the name. I hope that's accurate.

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I believe that is correct. Outback first appeared in the G.I.Joe line in 1987, and then joined Night Force one year later. There was, of course, the very interesting European Tiger Force Outback, who, along with Psyche-Out, was my first clue that there were Joes outside of the United States that were very different from their American counterparts (gimme a break, I didn't even own a computer until 1994, let alone internet access). Outback was part of the Battle Corps line in 1993, although he and Snow Storm were originally intended as extensions of Eco-Warriors until that segment died, which is why there were actually two color versions of Outback and Snow Storm in 1993, one version distinctly brighter than the other. To the best of my knowledge, there has been no Outback figure in G.I.Joe since that time.

BTW, where did the term "wiki" come from?
I'm aware of "WikiPedia", certainly, but I just wonder if it has any particular meaning.

Why? It's basically the same thing. Transformers Wiki IS funnier, but I'm not willing to go so far as to say more accurate.

Get a cup.

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All answers are on the wiki.

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I guess you didn't read further down on the package...

WARNING: Lanard products, packaging, and trademarks are fully protected by applicable intellectual property laws worldwide. Lanard vigorously monitors and prosecutes infringers.
Okay... well, Lanard won't vigorously prosecute... but the companies that WE ripped off might.

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We tend to go into more detail, though there are characters whom we've not adequately written about yet. What is important is we deal with each character from each continuity family seperately in seperate articles, rather than throwing them all into a single 'Optimus Prime' or a single 'Bumblebee' article. And personally speaking, we also talk quite alot about toys and the materials and technology behind them.

The problem with the Wikipedia Transformers articles is too often they're written based upon what people *remember* happening, without double or triple-checking. Also, with regards to Movie articles, the wikipedia became a rumour mongering board for people to post rumours they read on boards instead of concrete information.

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The day I rip off an idea from Lanard is the day someone needs to shoot me.

Believe me, there are distinct differences between a copyright and a trademark. First and foremost, COST. Second, DURATION.

Most artistic copyrights last the life of the creator plus 50 years. Trademarks, however, are transitory and have to be renewed. Trademarks involve huge searches, and the costs, are astronomical. Also, and this is what you have to cringe with regard to long term ones such as Coca Cola, just because you own the trademark, you have to individually pay for the trademark for each media and item you intend to use it on. There are separate trademarks for everything from T-shirts, to coffee mugs, each with separate costs.

I remember making a logo called "starving artist", with the wooden artist's dummy shrugging it's shoulders. I could get the copyright, for the image. But the trademark, was out of the question. Someone else had it, and if I wanted to put it on caps, T-shirts, or a sketchbook, the costs would have not been possible to pay.

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