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:

 

[DNQuest.com]

Come on, there is a difference between a non-profit organization and not making a profit.

Robert... don't help out if you don't know what you are talking about please

(my personal thread hell....someone help me)

 

[Rom]

Sounds fishy, why would M$ use a wink? ( )

 

[labrocca]

Sorry DNQuest..it's all you now. Seems like the comments in this thread get more and more ignorant. Maybe we should just leave?

 

[Zeeble]

Come on, there is a difference between a non-profit organization and not making a profit.

I don't see what you mean by that? Perhaps you could take the time to explain.

 

[DNQuest.com]

I don't see what you mean by that? Perhaps you could take the time to explain.

Labrocca... come back... help.... lol


Ok, it are reasons like this that I will admittedly be a little short with people. Read this thread again and the answer is there. That means you need to read EVERYTHING before you post. Read about 9 posts up and you will see your answer....


NP- is it possible to get a "head slamming against a wall" smiley here?????

 

[Dave_Z]

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

Someone else might have read it before you but just let you post first. :hehe:

 

[Zeeble]

Labrocca... come back... help.... lol


Ok, it are reasons like this that I will admittedly be a little short with people. Read this thread again and the answer is there. That means you need to read EVERYTHING before you post. Read about 9 posts up and you will see your answer....


NP- is it possible to get a "head slamming against a wall" smiley here?????

Thank you DNQuest. I had already read every post in the topic before I posted. Perhaps you should acquaint yourself with the theory of Revenues and Profits.

I'm not sure if you were aware of this, but high revenues can still mean no profit. The letter did not determine if advertising was allowed in order to cover costs. Most of any revenues can, if need be turned into costs .e.g Wage for the site workers etc still making it a non profit organisation.

 

[tgo]

Wow guys... non profit does not mean you cant use advertising to cover costs. As long as you dont actualy make more than you are spending to keep it running.(hense making profit)

I would email them again and ask about putting ads up. I would state that all money recieved from ads will go to the hosting costs and anything over and above will be donated to a charity. This way its still non profit but is not burning a hole in your cheque book.

Read the definition at wikipodia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non_profit

Particularlythis part

Non-profits must still generate revenue in order to finance their activities, but the extent to which they can generate income may be constrained, or its use may be restricted.

Mail them back with more questions about what they conciter Non-profit.

 

[seeker]

I dint want to get into this debate, so i wont.
I'll just make a statement that is unrelated to the debate itself.
the original 'email reply' seems very very fishy, and I doubt it came from MS or that even MS was consulted.
to me it looks like someone wants a backlink and could be possibly leading you on...

 

[TUFKATH]

If I were you, I'd e-mail 'em back just to ask.

 

[mch]

Wow tgo... I just posted that in post #21.
What was DNQuest talking about? Read everything before you post...?

 

[DNQuest.com]

Thank you DNQuest. I had already read every post in the topic before I posted. Perhaps you should acquaint yourself with the theory of Revenues and Profits.

I'm not sure if you were aware of this, but high revenues can still mean no profit. The letter did not determine if advertising was allowed in order to cover costs. Most of any revenues can, if need be turned into costs .e.g Wage for the site workers etc still making it a non profit organisation.

Perhaps you should acquint yourself with the legal definition of a non-profit organization in the eyes of the government.... and then maybe you might get it. (I believe there is a link on this thread here somewhere.. maybe two of them lol).

It is funny how one little tiny sentence is pulled from a full page describing what a non-profit prganiztions are.

OK, here is the one and only question that needs to be answered here, all I want is a yes or no answer...... ready????......

Was the site formed as a non-profit organiztion in accordance to federal regulations? If the answer is "no", then I hope no one else here posts another thing about the subject....

BTW- If you're expenses are more than your revenue, that does not mean you are a non-profit organization, it means you had a bad year or you are a bad businesman.......

ADD: This is a fansite. It is the labor of love, therefore, you absorb the costs. In doing so, you should not be found in using the domain in "bad faith". The result, you may be able to claim "fair use"..