Thread: using the words 'runescape' or 'jagex' in your open source projects

As far as I knew if you use the word in a different context they can't do anything to you, since their trademark only covers for the context in which they use the word.

Originally Posted by Gnarly

the jagex tos is not the law though

The Jagex TOS is an official End User License Agreement (EULA) which has the power to bind users to follow their terms (to the extend of being reasonable). We've all played RuneScape, we've all agreed to those terms; we are legally responsible to abide by them.

And if you do manage to avoid the EULA, they'll get you on the Digital Copyright Millenium Act (DMCA).

A common mistake made is that people think server emulators are legal as long as it's all home made. This is not true. Code that provides a reimplementation of a non-standardized software protocol is usually considered a server emulator. This means you could write it in a completely different language and still get sued over it.

Originally Posted by Chris Fletcher

The Jagex TOS is an official End User License Agreement (EULA) which has the power to bind users to follow their terms (to the extend of being reasonable). We've all played RuneScape, we've all agreed to those terms; we are legally responsible to abide by them.

And if you do manage to avoid the EULA, they'll get you on the Digital Copyright Millenium Act (DMCA).

A common mistake made is that people think server emulators are legal as long as it's all home made. This is not true. Code that provides a reimplementation of a non-standardized software protocol is usually considered a server emulator. This means you could write it in a completely different language and still get sued over it.

What makes you think it's a EULA? We're only using their service. Violating a site's ToS isn't a criminal offence. I don't know whether hosting a server called "RuneScape" is allowed, though. The ToS is irrelevant, in any case.

as long as it's educational, i don't think they can do anything about it. in the case of 317s, educational projects aren't causing loss to jagex and we aren't redistributing their copyrighted material. they can only sue people that are making a profit off of their copyrighted material or inflicting damage to their business using a product which is rightfully jagex's.

not to mention the product in question is 7-8 years old. not to mention, their case would not only be frivolous, but it would be a hard case to win due to the amount of work required to dig up something that old and get all the ducks in a row. not to mention they'd only be suing, in most cases, a single person.

it's basic business, bro. profit = income - investment. investment = a lot of money, income = nearly no money. you're safe.

as for using their name, i wouldn't. they can have it removed. also same goes for websites with "scape" in the name. if it's too similar ("scape" makes it extremely similar) and they can make the case that it can cause brand confusion and loss to their business then they CAN get it taken down.

Originally Posted by Graham

You can't copyright a name...

They do, however, have trademarks on the names RuneScape, Jagex, etc.



Probably, look at companies like Netscape. I expect 'scape' on its own is probably too generic to be protected by trademark law.

That's not right, you can indeed copyright a name, just not a phrase or something or those intentions.

Originally Posted by Ninth Legion

That's not right, you can indeed copyright a name, just not a phrase or something or those intentions.

nope.

[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]