Just got clearance from Microsoft, but...

[000]

I am the owner of the Project Gotham Racing 3 fansite, www.PGR3.com, and had recently sent a question to Bizarre Creations regarding the possible TM issues with the domain. Today I received this response:

Hi Tom,

I’ve followed this up with Microsoft (as they are the trademark owners for the Project Gotham Racing series) and they’ve given it the thumbs up as long as you comply with a few conditions – I’ve pasted their response below:

“Tom Hinks can build a PGR3 fan site provided he complies with the following 3 criteria:

1) Non-commercial = Tom can use the fan site strictly and only for not-for-profit purposes

2) Trademark reference = Tom should use the language below to reference that Project Gotham Racing is a trademark of Microsoft everywhere in his works.

"Project Gotham Racing is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation. Microsoft Corp. and Bizarre Creations have ownership of the names, logo, artwork, marks, photographs, sounds, audio, video and/or any proprietary material used in connection with the Project Gotham Racing trademark. Bizarre Creations and Microsoft Corp. do not endorse, and are not affiliated with (insert his name or the name of his company) in any official capacity whatsoever."

3) Link to PGR3’s official site = Tom should provide a prominent link to the official PGR3 site on his fan site.”

So there you are! Obviously we’d like a link to www.bizarreonline.net on there as well if you think it’ll be suitable

Good luck with the site, and we look forward to watching it develop from its great start!

All the best,

Sarah

I'm glad to see them give me the thumbs-up, but I have a couple questions:

1) Is it OK to display Adsense ("to cover hosting costs")? The problem would then be "how do you determine if I'm making a profit or not?" I'm thinking that I probably shouldn't, but just have some at the forums (which get 100 uniques per day).

2) Should I still be able to sell the site? I don't really want sued or anything for selling it, if you know what I mean . If so, around how much do you think I could get? The site is getting 200-250 uniques per day, is listed #4 of 640,000 in Google for "pgr3", and has an Alexa ranking of 215,245 in the last 1 week.

Thanks for any input, I don't want to get into any trouble with Microsoft :hehe:

 

[wisconsin]

Glad to hear ms gave the ok!

The short answer:

1) NO
2) a-Yes (as long as the buyer agrees to above terms)
b-depends on the buyer (it's a nice site by the way)

 

[000]

Thanks for the input

 

[DNQuest.com]

The one thing I would want is sometihing on MS letterhead giving you the ok. Using adsense is against the terms stated by MS. You think you just want to cover your hosting costs, but if you are a fan, it is a labor of love. That is the downside to fan sites.

As far as selling it, as long as the new owner abides by the terms set forth in the agreement, they will be ok. but they may want to get sometihng in writing for themselves, just to be safe.

 

[000]

I've decided for sure against putting up ads, and I guess I would now be comfortable selling it.

Thanks guys! Any other opinions?

 

[edmarriner]

i would prob agree with whats been said already.

but if you sell make sure you show the buyer the email saying you have permission and the T&C , show the actule email.


thanks,

-ed

 

[MastMnds]

hmm what if you were to sell links to the site, could you still do that

 

[Dave_Z]

hmm what if you were to sell links to the site, could you still do that

Any hints of commercial use, especially if Microsoft finds out, can matter.

 

[000]

Yeah I'm not going to risk selling links.

 

[labrocca]

Selling the site is PROFIT as well hence commercial usage on their TM. I am not sure MS has a TM for PGR3 though. Isn't it for the full game name?

 

[JYM]

Well a TM would go on the name... and anything that might represent, you COULD have pgr3.com if you could come up with say...a company name that fit the domain... Phoenix Graphics Rebellion 3 for example... then it would be okay since microsoft TM'd "Project gotham Racing 3" and not the acronym.

 

[000]

Yes, but since I am using it as a PGR3 fansite, I would have no case against Microsoft. If I WERE using it for something such as "Phoenix Graphics Rebellion 3", then I could probably get away with it.

 

[xclusive]

email them back and ask if you can put adsense on it to help cover the hosting cost...never hurts to ask.

 

[Robert Allen]

Always ask them before you take any action, otherwise they will complain about it. Also, i think your site is great and i think that microsoft crap at the bottom makes the site look worse than it would before. Anyway, at least this proves to everyone that microsoft are taking action towards people who create fan sites. If someone created a fan site about any of my software, games, e.t.c, i would just let them do it without any terms. I think that microsoft really do suck because of this. Anyway, i played the pgr2 on xbox a while back and i liked the game. I can say to you that microsoft like to annoy people who are not important, if were a million pound company i would stand up for my rights in court. We are not all rich so we do not bother with legal action or standing up for our own rights. And what, microsoft make 1million a day, so it would not even cost bill gaytes 1 hours of pay to get the job on and protect his rights.

 

[DNQuest.com]

The reason many companies protect their mark is to prevent dillution of their mark. "Aspirin" and "zipper" were TMs, but no longer because of dillution. Though I agree that companies go overboard in protecting their name, they are legally allowed to do so, and do it so their TM never becomes "general term".

 

[Domainating]

Very good information. I'm very glad this worked out for you.

-Doug

 

[jdk]

As long as you justify enough expenses to cover your profit then technically it is non-profit Good old accounting

 

[DNQuest.com]

As long as you justify enough expenses to cover your profit then technically it is non-profit Good old accounting

This is not true and not good advise. Nor is it the definition of a non-profit organization.

 

[rayhab]

Have you asked microsoft if they will buy the site off of you?

 

[DNQuest.com]

Have you asked microsoft if they will buy the site off of you?

argh, why did I have to be the first to read this one?????? I wish others would have beat me to it.....

Please read every post about TMs here, then you will understand why that question isn't a very good one.