Unfair name banning

I cannot find where to issue a ticket for this matter, Please direct me how to.

Untill then.

I had my character "G U I L D W A R S" banned for an offensive name.

Here are a few reasons why I find this decision unfair.

#1. This name is not offensive, It is showing passion for this game.

#2. The guild I am in (Knights Templar)was awarded GOTW #7, and half our members were selected as top 25 alpha testers, therefor, by reputation, I have no reason to be viewed as offensive.

#3. This was my storage character, on which all my important items were stored on, this action (banning) decreases playing pleasure dramaticaly.

#4. I was told the many spaces could haave been the reason for the ban, if so, I will change the name at any cost.

#5. I should not be banned from a game i have waited for, and played for over a year, because of someone who did not do their research on this particular ban.

Please contact me on this matter.

The best I can suggest, would be to email support about this issue.

This topic is familiar and I do hope it will not be looked at as a rant, though it does seem rather, interesting, that it has been banned for an 'offensive name' however, I'd go to support and email them about this, it'll get to where it needs to go through them I believe.

O_o

All I can say really. wtf?

Done.

I issues a ticket about a Windows Media Player GuildWars Skin, and don't remember as how to issue another ticket.


Of corse this is not a rant, nor do I want any flmaes, or rants replied.

I would just say, if anyone finds that name offensive, why are they playing this game anyways?

NO

it was banned because you chose a copyrighted trademark name for a character

GW has NO CHOICE in banning it because if they do not protect their trademark an attourney can move to make it public as *obviously they dont care enough to stop people from using it*

you have only 2 choices

1 delete it and all the items on it

2 wait until they find a way to change names however you will be taking up a slot

Tell me where it says a gamefan based name is illegal.
I searched the rules, I only need to address their copyright. this is INGAME, and the game itself is doing taht for me.

You forgot #3
3. Crylike a baby, and rant

it's probably much along the same lines of AOL members not being allowed to choose the screen name "Steve Case"....it probably had nothing to do with being offensive

By that logic, any names we use such as "Fiery Dragon Sword" "Prince Rurik" "King Adelbern" and the such will also be banned, right? Since they are trademarks.

Hehe I'm going to go report the person who chose Prince Rurik as their name. Hopefully he/she is a retarded W/Mo.

I suppose that does maker perfect sense, it is a copyrighted name, and like most things copyright, it isn't really allowed, even though it is in game. It could be worse, you could have named yourself Alesia [Healer Henchman] XD

Agreed, If this were true, then all would be gone.

HEY GUESS WHAT!!!

Each top 25 alpha tester had an NPC named after them...

Seeing how the Tester names werent registerd, coulen't GW ban them too

Can't a guy stay up 'till 12:01 to get a name?

right on the box it says GUILD WARS is a trademark of the company

in case you dont get trademark law

they have to protect their trademark at all times it comes to their attention (and in the game is pretty attention getting) or it can possibly be put into the public domain

This is a serious matter, uless you are over 18/lawyer/GW staff, do not reply.

I would surely hope that a development company is not "trying to figure out how to change names"......

"I cannot find where to issue a ticket for this matter, Please direct me how to."

Not, please tell me how you can flame me,

why does it matter where you can issue a ticket? they're not gonna give you the name.

for the fun of it i am not only over 18 but (unfortunately) more than 1 multiple of it.

oh yes i also remember my business law courses in college

this is one you will not overturn because they CAN NOT let you use their trademark

Loviatar, using the -character name- Guild Wars in ArenaNet's own game has nothing to do with trademark violation. Stop acting like an authority on fields you clearly know nothing about.

My guess is they took measures against the name because this is typically the name someone would choose to impersonate ArenaNet staff in order to extort money/items from gullible players. Taking preemptive measures against this sort of abuse is solid policy, but I do agree they should just change the name for you, or implement some way for you to change the name yourself - it's clear you did not intend to abuse the name in this fashion.

I don't see anywhere on the box the words "fiery dragon sword is a registered trademark of NCsoft Corporation". I do, however, see Guild Wars on there. So yeah, they have every right to ban that name.

It sucks, but it's legal.

Actually, quite a few testers did. And that's a separate topic, as the names were slightly modified.

Please keep this discussion constructive (and by "constructive," I mean actually have valid points to lay out instead of just following your #3 course of action ("cry like a baby, and rant")). Just email support clearly and politely stating your case, and wait. I know it's hard, and I'm sorry for your loss, but yelling in these forums won't help your case with any ANet employees that might be reading. Well laid out and well thought out arguments, however, might.

My only arguements were toward Loviatar 's childish replies, even if he did have a point, taht is no way to point it out.

[QUOTE=Silmor]Loviatar, using the -character name- Guild Wars in ArenaNet's own game has nothing to do with trademark violation. Stop acting like an authority on fields you clearly know nothing about.

QUOTE]

show me any place where it is legal and permitted to use a registered trademark under any condition without the WRITTEN permission of the trademark holder of record and i will be happy to admit i am wrong

until then in your own words

Stop acting like an authority on fields you clearly know nothing about.

TECHNICALLY speaking...G U I L D W A R S should be nine different words. Not the term "Guild Wars" which is licensed. Or am I wrong? Did Arenanet license the letters G U I L D W A R S so that if those letters appear consecutively in any way or form, it is a copyright infringement?

So...G-U-I-L-D-W-A-R-S and G_U_I_L_D_W_A_R_S are also off limit?

so if i have any in game character name like grenth or balthazar they are going to ban my character?

According to thier EULA looks to me they have it covered, even if they suspect you violated something.

http://www.guildwars.com/legal/user-agreement.html

section 4d

-snip-
There you go. In case you'd like to brush up on your 'business law', http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/tac/tmlaw2.html would be a nice place to start. The issue here clearly isn't trademark infringement, my guess is they're just making sure he can't be mistaken for a representative of their company in-game. Your statement 'they HAVE to protect their trademark' would apply if some company launched a computer game called Guild Wars as well - that's the sort of infringement these laws were drafted for.

Ofcourse they have the full right to moderate names as they see fit, all I'm saying is that banning certain names without prior warning or announcement is rather harsh, and I'm sure JjK will be able to solve this conflict with ArenaNet soon enough if he manages to communicate the misunderstanding to them.

I wish Anet was able to support renaming characters who are deemed to have inappropiate names

Anet has said it may be a future game enhancement

No, because they aren't trademarks... yet!

since it is obviously not obscene or objectionable the powers that be at Anet must have had a reason to protect their trademark by making it off limits

again i ask you to show the part that says that a person may use a registered trademark WITHOUT THE WRITTEN PERMISSION of the registered holder

Anet has taken this opportunity to say dont use the name of this game for a character as we have allready trademarked it

The way I see it...

Stupid player #879764 makes stupid unfit character name #9895674 and ends up getting banned. Intelligent player #22 feels no remorse.

Don't make retarded names YOU KNOW you shouldn;t be making and you won;t ever get banned. Aka don't name a character after a place or thing.

Look, according to your reasoning ArenaNet would be able to sue everyone who ever typed 'Guild Wars' on this forum, since they'd need to 'protect their trademark'. That's quite simply not how it works, and that's not what is at play here, regardless of how stubborn or stupid you want to be about it. I actually quoted the provisions that constitute trademark infringement, if you don't care to read or understand them, then that's that.

It's like I'd quote larceny law for you, and you'd challenge me to point out a specific law that says you are allowed to just touch other people's property, maintaining that until I find such a law, you'll consider that it's proven illegal to do so.

This is just another case that proves the banning procedure needs refinement. They should have a warning with a chance to change the name instead of deleting your account or char.

here is a small example which does not involve the creating of a game by a company but only the free distribution of a few icons

to quote the letter on that which was received by the person who had them up for a bit on his site

only icons by a fan mind you

you may substitute GUILDWARS for SIMPSONS to get the idea

True, except it was g u i l d w a r s, and not guildwars, and the fact that he isn't making any money off of his guildwars name, where the person who was selling simpsons icons obviously was making money.

Do you honestly, seriously believe that if I put up a webpage that said "Guild Wars", ArenaNet would be able to sue me for trademark infringement? Because that's the functional equivalent of the context of this cease & desist letter. Simpsons icons for Guild Wars letters.

I'm allowing for an incredible amount of leniency in your example, because the context and subject matter in both cases are totally different, and this is nothing more than a cease and desist letter that doesn't need to have any legal basis whatsoever - if you want to prove your point, present some jurisprudence regarding this issue.

Finally, as you are undoubtedly aware, this cease and desist letter is a warning that gives the infringing party the opportunity to remedy the supposed infringement. Which is all JjK is asking for, and I believe that is entirely fair.

It appears you sir are guilty of this very infraction.
Stupid name choice by the way - I would have went with "Microsoft"



Talesin

From the GW EULA:

You may not select as your Character Name the name of another person, or a name which violates any third party’s trademark right, copyright, or other proprietary right, or which may mislead other players to believe you to be an employee of NC Interactive or its affiliated companies, or which NC Interactive deems at its sole discretion to be vulgar or otherwise offensive. NC Interactive reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to (1) delete or alter any Character Name or (2) terminate any license granted herein, for any reason whatsoever, including, without limitation, any suspected or actual infringement of any trademark or trade name right, copyright, or other proprietary right.

dude, why are you criticsizing Loviatar for being honest with you?

what he has told you is 100% correct

your 50 bucks for the game is not enough for them to warrant losing the Guild Wars IP just so you can have a name you like

it's stupid -yet true - legal mumbo jumbo that has forced them to protect their IP and thus axe your name

for this issue you need to blame the copyright lawmakers, not the devs

The main issue here is WHY this name was banned.

Reading over the EULA there's clearly no copyright infringement. Section 4d says that you may not use and THIRD PARTY copyrighted names. Thus, first party names should be alright.

They also say that you can't make names that mislead people into thinking you're an Anet representative. Seriously, who would ever mistake that name for an "official" name. It's pretty clear considering the number of spaces in it and that it simply says "Guildwars". "Guildwars Admin" or "Customer Service" I could see.

Now, also in section 4d they say that they can ban any name for any reason at their sole discretion. I know people are going to chant "you're on their servers so they can do whatever they want" but seriously, haven't any of you heard about BOTH maintaining order and keeping your customers?



I really don't like this. If they could force a rename the next time you log in then I'd be down with that. If they don't like my name for any insignifigant reason and simply required a rename then no one would lose anything and there'd be very little hurt feelings. BUT, banning a character and freezing all his assets because of a possibly arbitrary decision that a name is not right is really wrong. It's one thing to ban an extremely offensive name. Most people understand what words REALLY aren't allowed. I don't like the idea that my character could be taken away because I thought of something "witty" that I wanted to play under (Is Santa Claws ok? How about 'The red headed defiler'?)

This particular thing should have been written in big bold letters on the box of the retail game. The ONLY reference to this on the box is "Acceptance of certain agreements is required". It doesn't even provide a specific link. Ok...so this is basically saying that if you want to buy this game (say you're passing through the software section of you local computer store or Walmart) you should just go home and find where the license agreement is online? Personal purchase, birthday gift, graduation present...it doesn't matter. If YOU don't take the initiative to find all the legal disclaimers before making this purchase then you deserve what you get.

One thing that would make me "drop this" if they actually had the balls to write on the box "Anet reserves the right to ban/remove access to any account at Anet's discretion" then I would say that that pretty much covers every possibility. But, of course that's not printed on the label. That would scare too many potential customers.

You may not select as your Character Name the name of another person, or a name which violates any third party’s trademark right, copyright, or other proprietary right, or which may mislead other players to believe you to be an employee of NC Interactive or its affiliated companies, or which NC Interactive deems at its sole discretion to be vulgar or otherwise offensive. NC Interactive reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to (1) delete or alter any Character Name or (2) terminate any license granted herein, for any reason whatsoever, including, without limitation, any suspected or actual infringement of any trademark or trade name right, copyright, or other proprietary right.

Just thought I'd highlight the more appropriate bit.
The EULA pretty much gives them full right to terminate any name they want - license agreements are usually drafted in such a broad fashion to avoid this kind of petty discussion. That doesn't mean they will enforce this EULA absolutely - they will do so within reason, and as need dictates. In this case, the need is to thwart people attempting to impersonate official ArenaNet staff for illicit purposes.
Yes, it's a violation of the EULA, but since it was not intended maliciously I assume this issue will be resolved in a mutually satisfactory manner, and I hope to hear news from JjK to that end in this thread eventually.